It shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows Mike Tully that instead of just thinking ahead to the next conference match, that The Montclair Kimberley Academy’s fourth-year head coach would also have his team’s weekends full of showcase tournaments against the best possible competition.
His credo, after all, is: "To see our girls compete at the highest level."
MKA’s girls volleyball team, which entered yesterday’s match versus Kinnelon with a solid 11-2 record, didn’t dwell on its 2-0 setback (25-16, 25-15) to defending champion Livingston in this past Friday’s quarterfinals of the Essex County Tournament. Instead the Cougars were up bright and early on Saturday morning to compete in the top-shelf Garden State Challenge, hosted by the state’s top-ranked team, Immaculate Heart, at Ramapo College. Twenty schools from four different states went at it in a very competitive day of girls volleyball.
"We competed well against some excellent programs," said Tully. "To be able to compete with the best teams out there is an honor, and it’s the only way you can really improve.
"You have to be willing to play the best and our girls are certainly excited by the challenge each and every day."
Earlier this season, MKA also took part in the Jersey Classic Tournament at Paramus, another top-flight, in-season flight tourney. Paramus is currently ranked No. 4 in the state.
MKA is 76-14 in three-plus seasons under Tully, not including yesterday’s result, and the 2008 campaign should produce yet another impressive won-loss ledger.
But, it’s the process that appears to intrigue Tully as much as any results, and his dedication to the sport he loves has not gone unnoticed. This past summer, he was selected as New Jersey’s girls volleyball Coach of the Year for the National Federation of High Schools Association award for the 2007-08 school year.
In announcing the award in a letter to Tully, John DuBois, assistant director at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, stated, "As a coach, your career and involvement with student-athletes have provided many intangibles which only a coach can give. It is our hope that these fine people whose lives you have touched will become positive role models and citizens in future years. You should be proud of your accomplishments and contributions. We are honored to have you as a coach in the state of New Jersey!"
For Tully, the award was an extreme honor.
"When you consider all the great coaches that there are in New Jersey, to receive such an award through the National Federations of High Schools is truly an honor," Tully said. "I have to give my assistant coaches [John Odell and Donna Bruno with the varsity and Jess Bishop with the jayvees] a lot of the credit because they are such a big help with what we do each and every day with the girls."
In Tullyville, the next match is the most important, and he has his team striving to achieve its still attainable goals for the remainder of the autumn campaign.
"We want to win our conference [Colonial Hills] title, and win a State championship," said Tully. "We have great competition with both quests, but right now, my biggest focus is on seeing our girls go out and serve and pass with consistency.
"This team has as much talent as any of our others, but they have to go out and prove that on the court."
Leading the way for the current Cougars are veteran outside hitters and senior co-captains, Leah Cerf and Blair Bell, two key members of the 2006 and 2007 MKA spikers, who reached the ECT finals in each of those seasons.
Cerf, who is tall (6-feet) and athletic, has the ability to register multiple kills in any big match while the extremely versatile Bell is in the middle of all rotations on the serve/receive. Each is a leader on and off the court.
Other experienced players comprise the lineup, including senior outside hitter Danielle Donatiello; senior Kelly Froelich, who is superb as a server; senior opposite Alyse Amato; middle hitters Laura Dudek (senior) and Lauruinne Ojo-Ohikume (junior) and sophomore libero Kerri Freeman.
Looking at the upcoming schedule, MKA hosts Newark Academy today at 4 p.m. on its home court at the middle school gym on Valley Road. On Saturday, the Cougars are scheduled at Morristown-Beard (1 p.m.) before hosting Whippany Park on Monday at 4 p.m.
Spiker Shorts: In the latest statewide girls volleyball rankings, published this past Monday in The Star-Ledger, MKA is fifth among Non-Publics in back of 1-IHA, 2-Holy Angels, 3-Union Catholic and 4-Roselle Catholic.
MKA lost to Livingston in the 2007 ECT final and to Newark East Side in the 2006 county title tilt.
Before coming to MKA in 2005, Tully etched an impressive career as the 11-year head girls coach at nearby Lacordaire Academy, where he also built a Non-Public volleyball power.
A huge regular-season CHC match to mark on your calendar is the Thursday, Oct. 30, home encounter versus Science Park, the one conference team to defeat the Cougars so far this autumn (2-1, Sept. 24, in Newark). Science is directed by Ed Grant, who was one of the coaches for last summer’s Newark Youth Games Team, which won a national tournament at the University of California at Berkeley. MKA’s Freeman was a key member of that summertime squad from the Brick City. Freeman has made a nice recovery this autumn from the painful heel ailment, plantar fasciitis, utilizing an effective orthotics device in her shoe and is now back to full strength for the Cougars.
