What a game to get as my first volleyball match of the year. Most of them last the minimum three games. In fact, the two teams I saw today, Clarkstown North and Suffern, had dropped a combined three games between them all season. But when they met, they combined for a five-game extravaganza that had everyone on the edge of their seats. Including yours truly.

North emerged with a surprising 12-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-16, 25-18 victory. Surprising not because the Rams were incapable of beating the defending sectional champs, but because I didn’t think it was possible after what happened in the first two games.

Game 1 was a cakewalk by the Mounties. A close one early turned into a romp. Suffern’s big hitters were too big. Kristin Schmidt and Christa Baccas were getting a hand on every North hit.

Then came Game 2, when the Rams got up 23-14. The Rams hit it into the net, then hit one out of bounds. Schmidt had a couple of kills, Jackie Berks had a couple of aces, and suddenly it was tied 23-23. When Maggie Sharp made a block it handed Suffern a 26-24 come-from behind win.

At that point North could have been way down. The odds were so far against it at that point. Versus good teams you only get a few chances. North had just blown a big one.

Instead the Rams came back with a fury. They got up 22-13 in Game 3 before staving off another comeback. They led 19-16 in Game 4 when Meghan King closed it out with five aces in six points. In Game 5 they got up 5-0 and never trailed.

Cat Darling (pictured right, with Schmidt) was a force at the net with 22 kills and six blocks. She had a great off-the-cuff response when I mentioned Suffern’s big front line.

“I’m bigger.”

Viviana Zepeda was a defensive star on the back line. She dug out 16 balls, which is especially tough considering how hard Schmidt and Sharp hit.

“And they can go back and forth with the corners so you look silly sometimes,” coach Ann Metz said. “But she held her own, she held it and she kept pushing. And she pushed her teammates along, which is a big key. She started taking control of our defense, and that was huge.”

Katie Westervelt added 30 assists and 18 digs.

For Suffern, Sharp had five kills, 11 assists, five aces, seven digs, and two blocks. Schmidt had nine kills, although it felt like more.

Crazy ending at Clarktown South today. The Vikings won thanks to a North handball in overtime, resulting in the winning penalty kick.

With about four minutes left in OT, South sent a ball into the box that deflected off the goalie and bounced in front of the net. The two closest people to it were attackers Johann Schmidt and Sean Day, both of whom had already burned North with goals. As they went to knock it in, a North player stuck out his arms and almost grabbed the ball.

You don’t need to be Ronaldinho to know that’s illegal in soccer. Especially in the box. South was awarded a penalty kick. Phil Diffley converted it into the lower left corner for the 3-2 victory.

South players and coach Michael Ludwig called the North grab a smart play, saying that it prevented an immediate loss. At least with a PK there’s a 15-ish percent chance to stop the shot.

It was a nice recovery by the Vikings, who could easily been tight. They’d lost four in a row and watched North tie the game with 1:30 left in regulation.

Zach DeMinno had that tying goal.

Day and Schmidt had given South the lead with goals in the second half. Connor Nagle scored North’s first-half goal.

Kaitlyn Grogan showed up in exactly the right spot time and time again Saturday against Pelham.

She made a remarkable 16 saves to help New Rochelle beat Pelham 1-0.

Yunhue Tellez scored the only goal of the match. Grogan was clearly front and center most of the game as the Huguenots were outshot 20-6.