Its first championship match appearance since 2003 won’t be enough for Fieldston. The Eagles need to win it. After all, coming so far only to lose is not even in the equation.
“We came to win,” Fieldston senior Natasha Trepel said. “We can’t lose. It’s not even an option to lose. We need to win.”
Before Fieldston could achieve what it believes is the only option for its second-seeded team, it had to get there first.
On the back of a tremendous third-set comeback and 40 kills from the combination of Trepel and junior Arianna Francis, Fieldston put itself in position to win the NYSAISAA championship by defeating No. 3 Chapin, 25-15, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18 in the semifinals Friday in The Bronx.
“This has been such a long time coming,” said Fieldston coach Collin Henry of the possibility of becoming state champion this Sunday. “It’s been a long process, starting from training camp in August and all of these girls playing on club teams this summer. Hopefully it all pays off.”
Two of the emotional leaders of the Eagles (12-0), Francis and Trepel, both dominated play for entire stretches of the match. Francis tied with Catalina Jimenez for the lead the team in aces with five and led the team in blocks with two. She and Trepel also registered 27 and 13 kills, respectively, including Francis’ nine in the critical third set alone. Lauren Weston added 42 assists.
“We practice scenarios where we’re down all the time,” Francis said. “We have a drill where the starting six girls play against everyone else but the starters are down five points to start, and the first to fifteen wins. That drill helps us so much.”
“It really builds our mental toughness,” added Trepel. “When we’re down, we think about how we can’t lose, how great it feels to win, and how we need to win. We all have that mindset.”
In the third set, the Eagles were forced to play the way they practiced. Chapin jumped out to a quick five-point advantage, leading 7-2 after winning the second set 25-22. Once the Chapin lead became 22-14, Henry called a timeout to give his team a chance to regroup and to give Francis a chance to be a leader.
“I told them that this was just like how we’ve been practicing,” Francis said. “I feel like the team really listened and everyone stepped up after the timeout.”
Down but not out, Fieldston scored the final 11 points of the set, with Francis recording the set-tying kill and Trepel completing the comeback with her set-winning kill, breaking the backs of Chapin with a 25-22 third set victory.
“This team really feeds off of Arianna and Natasha,” Henry said. “I put a lot of pressure on them to lead and that’s exactly what they did out there tonight.”
This Fieldston team is already a special one, as this is the first time the Eagles have reached the NYSAISAA championship match in eight years, but Trepel believes that her team is special in more ways than one.
“We’re all family, we’re all best friends,” the senior said. “It really helps to look around the court and seeing your best friends supporting you. It would be an honor for us to put up a banner.”
