All season, the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk girls volleyball team wanted a challenge.
Saturday, it got that challenge at the New York State Girls Volleyball Championships in Glens Falls.
The Indians found themselves in a bracket with not one but three defending state champions, thanks to changing student population numbers. And though they tried their best, the challenge was too great as they lost their six Class B pool play games to John Glenn, Hendrick Hudson and Eden.
We had the opportunity to play three of the top teams in New York and see a different level of volleyball, said R-C-S coach Ron Racey.
The Indians had the record (24-0) that would seem to have put them on equal footing against John Glenn, Hendrick Hudson and Eden. What they didn’t have was the physical stature of those three squads.
`The hardest part we had handling was the physicalness of the other teams ` the sheer height,` said Racey. `When our tallest girl was the same size as the other team’s smallest girl it was hard to overcome.`
Though R-C-S found the competition to be too challenging, the players can look back at their first trip to the state tournament with fondness, especially after finishing the season with a 24-0 record.“