Grace Mesuch’s serve wasn’t returned, falling short of the net, and as the match ended, the Wallkill volleyball team gathered around and screamed out the one word that describes their regular season.

“UNDEFEATED!!!”

The Panthers swept the New Paltz Huguenots, 3-0, on Thursday night at New Paltz High School to finish with an unblemished, 14-0 record, and a 10-0 mark in Mid Hudson Athletic League play for the first time in program history.

“It means everything because we’ve never gone undefeated before in Wallkill volleyball sports history,” senior libero Hannah Stewart said. “It’s really nice, especially to do it with this group of girls. I’ve never been part of a volleyball team that’s this unproblematic. We’re all so close, and it’s really nice to win with people that you love.”
They may be the first Wallkill volleyball team to finish the regular season undefeated, but they’re not the only Wallkill team to post an undefeated regular season.

Their counterparts on the boys’ soccer team also posted an unbeaten regular season, but the postseason wasn’t immediately kind to them as the Panthers were beaten, 1-0, by Division II champion, Our Lady of Lourdes on October 18.
The Panthers will play in the MHAL semifinals on Wednesday at SUNY Ulster against Division II champion, Our Lady of Lourdes, who the Panthers dismantled in the Vinnie DeAngelis gymnasium, 3-0, on Oct. 6.

The winner will play the winner of the other semifinal, likely between Spackenkill and Mount Academy.

“Lourdes is very strong,” Wallkill coach Julie Michella said. “We cannot take them lightly at all. Then if we get through Lourdes, we’ll prepare for who we see next.”

It also means the Panthers will have to have a short memory because, as the boys’ soccer team finds out, an undefeated regular season means nothing in the postseason.

It’s a regulars season that started on a high with a 3-1 win over perennial Section 9 Class AA power, Pine Bush. They haven’t dropped a single set to a MHAL opponent during league play.

They’ve only lost three sets during Section 9 play all season. They lost one in the season opener against Pine Bush. They lost a set in a 3-1 win over Monroe-Woodbury on September 19 and dropped a set on October 17 in a 3-1 win over Minisink Valley.

“I think from the start, we were all just feeling a little nervous because we lost some of our best players and some of our best hitters,” Stewart said. “But I think we stepped up and it just clicked. I think, from the start, we knew something was different.”

While the regular matches have been perfect, the Panthers faced more struggles in tournament play. They’ve already seen Mount Academy at the beginning of the season, losing 2 out of 3 sets on September 3. The same day, they lost 2 of 3 to Millbrook.

But that was early.

They had a strong showing at a tournament in later September, losing only to New Jersey’s Riverdell. They saw Mount Academy again on October 8, winning a set there. They also faced Cornwall, dropping two sets to their Section 9 Class A nemesis.

But they used those challenges to prepare for the upcoming postseason.

“I think our last game (Minisink Valley) was a good wakeup call for us,” Stewart said. “I think it humbled us a little bit going into sectionals and MHALs. I think that was a good game for us to really wake up and realize there’s competition out there that’s more than what we face. I think we’re ready, though.”