Glenn Girls Volleyball State Champs

It's been four years since the won the State Championship after so many close calls. That frustration may have been just the ticket to push them to capture the title at the NYSPHSAA Class B championship against Pelham, 25-12, 25-15, 25-13, at the Glens Falls Civic Center Sunday.

"I think that was clearly their goal from the beginning of the year, to get back up there and finally do it," Coach Kevin Harrington said.

The Knights were prepared for Pelhams' "unorthodox offense" after playing against them in semi-final pool play the day before, allowing outside hitter and State MVP Melissa Rigo to block four hits during a ten-point span on Sunday, setting the tone for the rest of the match.

"The day before we blocked them once in two games, then in the finals on Sunday we blocked them 14 times in three games," said Harrington. "I honestly thought Pelham played better against us on Sunday, but offensively I thought we were better prepared on Sunday than we were the day before."

Senior and outside hitter Karen Canales said the team was bursting with energy on Sunday.

"When we found out we were going to make the finals we were really excited, it was the first time we had been there in a lot of years so on Sunday it was all or nothing. We came out, gave it our all, and brought it back," she said. "The four or five of us [seniors] coming short, not being able to make the finals, really pushed us to want to get to the finals our last year. We've been playing together since we were in seventh grade and we knew that in order to get there we'd have to work harder than we've ever worked before."

Coach Harrington knows his five-senior core starting lineup is solid gold and it'll be up to the underclassmen to pick up where they left off come graduation.

"You can go your whole career and never get to do something like this, so I consider myself lucky," he said.