The Pearl River and Tappan Zee volleyball programs honored breast cancer survivors in attendance before their match Friday at Pearl River, which was part of the Orangetown Goes Pink: Volley for the Cure event.
One was Diane Stanford, the mother of Tappan Zee coach Mark Stanford, whose daughter Rachel plays for the Dutchies.
"It's kinda fun," Stanford said of the three of them sharing in the event. "It's nice to see her sitting in the stands. There's a lot of people who can't, unfortunately, say that. We're very lucky."
The event, which included junior varsity and varsity matches, is a fundraiser with the money going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. Pearl River Coach Julie Crowe started the event last year and ran it again this season, though on a smaller scale.
"Last year we raised $7,000," Crowe said. "The place was packed. We had 20 prizes. This year, we had so many (charitable) events going on in October, people couldn't give every time. We kept it simpler. We still raised a decent amount of money. The kids put a lot of effort into it."
"Julie ran it last year and this year and we'll take it next year," Stanford said. "It's a great cause. The girls got really excited about it. WE carried here about $7000. It's terrific."
Stanford's team gave him reason to be happy about the match, too. Tappan Zee defeated Pearl River by scores of 25-16, 25-19, 25-16, improving to 9-8 on the season and 7-0 in league play. The Dutchies will play Albertus Magnus for the league title at home Tuesday. Pearl River fell to 3-10.
"We have a very young team," Crowe said. "I have one senior playing. The majority of ourse are in their first year on the varsity. Because they are so young, when things go wrong on the court, they aren't sure how to react."
Outside hitter Angela Ricci led Tappan Zee with 11 kills, but Pearl River had particular trouble dealing with the height and ability of middle hitters Davona Paul (10 kills) and Valerie Dimuro (9 kills).
"Our hitters played aggressive the whole time today," Stanford said. "They were aggressive and I like that. I'll take a few errors if they are at least being aggressive.
"Our size was big. We played big today, which was nice."
Middle hitter Annette Krysiewicz led Pearl River with six kills and had eight digs. Outside hitter Victoria Grix had four kills for the Pirates.
The format was a bit different from a normal match, with the junior varsity playing first, complete with each player being announced as they normally would for varsity. Crowe said the later varsity start also allowed some parents who can't normally attend a match at 4 p.m. to see their daughters play.
