Sloatsburg — There’s a place tucked away at the top of Pine Grove Lakes with a clear, perfect view of sunsets that slide behind mountains to the west. The snaking traffic of the NY Thruway quietly makes its way far below. Somewhere near the bottom of that hill school buses drop off kids daily — elementary, middle, high school. Same place every year. It’s also the hill that successive Flaherty sisters, three in all, have climbed sometime during their school days, one after the other, each walking in the other’s footsteps.
All three share the lanky leanness of their dad, and all are modest and polite, with an easy smile. All three also have a fiery streak, gifted from their mother.
Years ago when Kelly Flaherty took up volleyball, no thought was given that it would become a defining family tradition. Kelly, a recent SUNY Cortland graduate and former stand-out volleyball player for Suffern High School, returned to Suffern to head up volleyball club programming for 7th and 8th graders and to coach club ball. Lisa, a 9th grader, just finished her first season of JV volleyball. And Elizabeth, the middle one and senior at Suffern, just killed her way to a second consecutive Rockland volleyball player of the year title, awarded by The Journal News.
But more importantly for Flaherty, she helped lead the girls varsity team in a long-time-coming win over sectional nemisis Arlington in November, as the team steamrolled through sectionals and regionals and into the state Class AA final four championship round. No Suffern girls volleyball team had made it that far before. Off court, Flaherty can be self-deprecating, always deflecting attention away from herself — she constantly mentioned how essential Suffern breakout player Taylor Anderson was to the team’s success. On court, Flaherty comes to life and can be punishing. With a county-leading 380 kills in 21 matches, Flaherty — team captain for the last two years — looked to close out her Suffern career with a sectional win but got much much more.
“It was an historic year,” said girls varsity coach Sean Barnes. “The first time ever reaching the state final four.”
Barnes, who also teaches Phys Ed at Suffern Middle School, has led the Mountie team for seven years now and his recently inaugurated Suffern club program is paying dividends. Flaherty gave up playing girls’ basketball a few years back to play club volleyball in Westchester. Barnes called the club program a “necessity” if Suffern wants to continue to be competitive at a high level. “Top programs, the ones winning section and league titles, were playing year-round volleyball. We were not.”
Except for Flaherty. “My sister (Kelly) started playing volleyball. She got me started,” said Flaherty, who took it to another level through sleep-away volleyball camp and winter and spring club ball. “It allowed her to see the game at a younger age,” Barnes said of Flaherty following her sister. “The exposure helped her to develop, definitely.”
“This year was a pleasant surprise,” Flaherty said as if delighted by a simple small present. “The last two years we had potential to go on, but this year the chemistry was so good. You can have six good players but if they don’t play well together, they won’t win.”
Her mother was much more animated, both about the success and the cost. “This season was the most amazing,” said Laura Flaherty. “She wanted it so badly. She believed in her team. It was exciting to see. Very special. But this volleyball season really wore us out, physically and mentally.”
In the Class AA state tournament, the lady Mounties fell to defending champion Charles W. Baker in their first match and never recovered their high energy, focused form. “It was kind of sad,” said Elizabeth about losing four straight matches in the final four round. “But we ended on such a good note.” For a bit of perspective — the girls team finished 4th out of 105 teams.
Coach Barnes said in the final rounds his girls just hit a wall. “For the first time I saw that the team felt it couldn’t do it. But they gave me everything.”
Samantha Uline, a freshman from Sloatsburg who was moved up to varsity, said playing with Flaherty was exciting. “She’s really good,” said Uline. “I never played with her before. The whole experience was a huge deal for me, and for everyone else.”
Uline is another star in the making. She’s the first freshman in Coach Barnes’ 10 year tenure with the team to ever move up to varsity, something even Flaherty didn’t do, although she was recruited as an 8th grader to play JV volleyball at Suffern High School. Barnes abides by his philosophy of allowing kids to develop emotionally and physically, but said Uline’s on-court competitiveness and maturity clinched her selection when the varsity team lost a player to injury. “Freshman players have a much different conversation on court than varsity players,” he said. “She was able to pick up on things and fit in. Hopefully, she’ll continue to develop like Elizabeth.”
So, what happens to a star player when that final buzzer rings? After being a 3 year starter, 2x team captain, 2x Rockland player of the year, voted a 2x All-Section player, and basking in numerous awards and applause, Flaherty may face her most demanding task yet — finding a volleyball scholarship that puts her through school. Although heavily recruited by Bard College, among others, Flaherty wants to pursue an engineering degree, which eliminates some programs pretty quickly. She takes Honors classes as well as both AP Calculus and AP Physics, which Flaherty called “the hardest class in the school. It’s not even human.”
Schools still on the radar include Union, Fairfield and Stonybrook, with its expansive campus on Long Island’s North Shore. New Jersey Institute of Technology is in the mix as well.
“It’s not really like I’m being recruited,” she said. “I’m talking to the coaches.” Flaherty’s mother said the process has been eye-opening after such a thrilling season. Laura Flaherty believes that the opportunity to play at the college level has sparked another competitive fire in her daughter. But, decisions about what to major in or where to go sometimes come faster than a Flaherty spike.
There’s hope that Elizabeth will get both, a volleyball scholarship and the degree she wants. Flaherty knows all about steep climbs.
Photos Courtesy of Laura Flaherty
