Kennedy Reaches End of Road in Semifinals

The Kennedy High girls’ volleyball team tried just about everything to make itself at home.

The band, the cheerleaders and several pro-Kennedy posters were there for the Golden Cougars.

But it didn’t matter as Westchester registered a 16-14, 15-5, 14-16, 15-10 victory over Kennedy in the City Section 4-A Division semifinals Tuesday night.

“I tried everything I could,” Kennedy Coach Mike Stanton said. “But it’s still not your court, your net, your ball.”

Third-seeded Kennedy (14-1) hadn’t been to the semifinals since 1978 and tried for its first-ever trip to the City final.

The Golden Cougars did just fine every time middle blocker Melissa Kuhn, who delivered 14 kills, was on the floor.

But whenever Kuhn finished her rotation in the front row and came out, the Kennedy offense suffered, especially in the second game, when Westchester went on a 7-0 run with Kuhn on the bench.

Strong serving also helped the second-seeded Comets (16-0), who had six aces and no service errors in the first two games.

Kennedy found itself trailing, 14-11, in the third game, but fought off match point and rallied to win the game behind a kill and a block by Kuhn.

Westchester’s balance was too much in the final game. Iris Bell had 22 kills for the Comets and Debbie Sclimenti had six of her 12 kills in the fourth game.

The Comets outscored Kennedy, 7-3, when Kuhn was off the floor, and the season was over for the Golden Cougars, the Northwest Valley Conference champions.

“We’re happy [overall],” said senior Christine Thach, who had 10 kills. “But there was always the thought of a City championship.”