After a truly amazing regular season, the John Jay Girls Volleyball team emerged victorious by a score of 25-17 in the Section Championship game against Lakeland at Westchester County Center after an extremely eventful sweep to close out the Section One playoff tournament.  

The Wolves matched up with the Hornets for the third time this season. The first time they played, it was a Hornets sweep with relative ease. This wasn’t the case for their second encounter, however. The Hornets were able to start off the match hot with a 2-0 lead, but the Wolves persisted and came back in unbelievable fashion, resulting in a 2-3 victory for the girls. 

The Wolves started off strong, winning the first set 25-21 and the second set 28-26. The Section Championship was in reach for the Wolves, and they just needed one more set to officially take home the title of Section Champions. A combination of Hellen Dollar’s impressive block, Jamie Bartley-Cohen’s incredible hands, and libero Olivia Casabona’s dig solidified the final score of the final set 25-17 John Jay. At the end of the game, the girls compared the county center environment to the “Olympic games” with all the colorful lights and the amazing atmosphere. At the end of the game, Wolves coach Tom Rizzotti was thrilled with the outcome and claimed that his players “worked tirelessly throughout the season to get to this point”. Rizzotti said that Hellen Dollar’s “Volleyball IQ is unmatched, she sees things before they even happen”. Rizzotti had faith in his players’ ability to win, and they pulled through when it mattered most, winning the 2024 Section One Volleyball title.  

After winning the Section One title, the Wolves will take on Burnt Hills at Yorktown High School at 2:30 PM. Burnt Hills has won 22 regional state finals and are hungry for another. We will see who will come out victorious this Saturday.