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- The M.A.T. girls volleyball team celebrates after winning the city championship.
Coach Erin Scutt had come to practice early on the first day of volleyball tryouts in the M.A.T. gymnasium in early September. After all, she figured, volleyball was a popular sport at the downtown middle school, and she wanted to make sure the net was ready to go for everyone that wanted to come try out for the team. As the students piled into the gym one by one, two by two, there was only one problem: 75 girls wanted to play. One net wouldn’t cut it.
“We had to take half of them outside in the yard with our Junior Varsity coach Sabine Kullman and I stayed with the rest. It was unbelievable,” Coach Scutt said.
Unbelievable isn’t nearly strong enough a word to describe the kind of cult following the sport of volleyball has at M.A.T. Girls practice before school in the playground. They practice during recess in circles, bumping and setting. They drive their parents and neighbors crazy by serving balls into their apartment walls. They beg their phys-ed teacher to give them free time in the gym so they can practice.
“Insanity,” said M.A.T. athletic director John DeMatteo. “That’s all I can call it. The school has gone nuts for volleyball.”
And rightfully so since no middle school in NYC has had as much success with girl’s volleyball as M.A.T. And after that first practice, coach Scutt knew she had something special. “From day one, I knew this was a special team … a team capable of playing the game the right way at such a young age and a team capable of winning a championship,” the coach recalled.
“These girls have set the pace for this city and have proved that girls in middle school are capable of playing at a very high level, even in New York.” NYC volleyball commissioner John DeMatteo says. “M.A.T. has set the bar high; because of Erin’s coaching and talent, she has inspired other coaches to work harder and realize what can be done through hard work and know-how.”
Seriously? Volleyball played in New York City? In a city dominated by basketball, when one thinks of volleyball, images are usually of California or Florida … with beaches, palm tress and sand courts; they do not think of indoor gymnasiums in Manhattan or Brooklyn. That was 10 years ago. Now, the NYC middle school volleyball league, created by M.A.T., has over 30 schools represented by four boroughs. The road to the championship is no easy one. After a regular season, 16 schools made the single elimination tournament. M.A.T. seeded number one overall with a perfect record, dominated the competition from the start and found themselves in familiar territory: championship game day. Playing in front of a packed recreation center, audience of over 300 people, including fans from both teams, M.A.T. faced the uptown champions from the West Side middle school 333. With the crowd going crazy and non stop volleying and action, M.A.T. won the first game, but found themselves losing to 333 by one point in the second game with the score 24-23 (they play to 25).
“The atmosphere was unreal. I’ve never experienced a sporting event like it,” said Coach Scutt. “The kids painted their faces, the parents made signs and people were just cheering as loud as possible. It’s what every youth sporting moment should look like.”
With the home crowd on their back, 8th grader Mairead Farrell made a perfect pass to Naomi Harrison Clay who then set to Margaret Matthews who finished off the 26 to 24 win. It was M.A.T.’s third time in the fall championship game and their first win.
A smiling Coach Scutt held the championship trophy in her hands and looked back to that first practice, where she envisioned this moment from day one.
“Yes, I knew my girls would be champions, not just because of what the scoreboard said, but because of how they played the game and because of the kind of student athletes they are,” said Coach Scutt. “I could not have asked for better role models for our younger girls than the 8th graders I had this year. I will miss them terribly, but I know they will go on to accomplish great things in life and on the volleyball court.”
The M.A.T. girl’s team consisted of 8th graders Mairead Farrell, Margaret Matthews, Nina Lehrecke, Ava Friedlander, Naomi Harrison Clay, Lauren Ng, Tiffany Yuen, Wen Lin Zhu, Natalie Martinez, Olivia Simonds and next year will look to their 7th grade returning players Sophia Marino, Georgia Greenleaf, Annalisa Valdivia and Jolien Louis.
