It’s official: Boys varsity volleyball team has come to Fox Lane

The story is the same when talking with most of the 15 members of the varsity team. They all showed up for an introductory meeting in August with no prior experience competing in volleyball, but there they were, coming together and taking to the court in their red uniforms as the first boys varsity volleyball team in Fox Lane history.

“We’re setting the foundation, and it is pretty amazing to be the first team in school history,” said senior Alex Eimer. “It sounded like fun so I thought I’d give it a try. I thought maybe four people might show up, but we had a really big turn out. We’re learning as we go, and I wish they had started it sooner. We’re having a lot of fun. It’s good that we’re passing it down to everyone else.”

It turns out just about everyone in the program was in the same boat. None had played the game before, and most didn’t even know the rules.

Senior Nick Dellorso was among them. “I just heard about it and decided to sign up,” he said. “Two weeks before school started, I had no clue how the game worked, and now we’re the first team in school history.”

For their first home match, the Foxes knew they were facing a tall task as Fox Lane hosted Clarkstown North, a school that has had a boys varsity program for 15 years. The Vikings swept all three games for a 3-0 victory, but it still was in the record books that the Fox Lane program had officially arrived.

The result on the court showed them what it means to have experience and to be newcomers competing in a new sport for the first time.

“Coach is explaining all the rules and putting us through the drills, but we really had no clue,” admitted Eimer. “We knew bump, set, spike, but none of us knew what a rotation was or serve receive. We’re still getting used to it. The first two matches the ref would blow the whistle and we’d all look up blindly like, what just happened?”

Even though they are newcomers, it didn’t take long for them to make their mark and prove that they are fast learners.

It was Fox Lane’s first home match, but it was already the third match of the season for the new program, and they started it off in style. Fox Lane opened the season with a thrilling five-set victory on the road at Arlington. The Foxes had fallen behind 0-2, but rallied back to win the next three games for the victory.

“It felt great representing the first Fox Lane men’s volleyball team in history, and it was pretty special to be a part of that first win,” said junior Brad Patterson. “Down 0-2, we battled back. I can’t even describe how much we have improved since the first day of practice. I’m having more fun every day. It feels amazing, winning that first match — just being a part of this is really special.”

Like Eimer and Dellorso, Patterson is a baseball player. None of them had played the sport of volleyball competitively before. They are now in the history books as the first team ever, but it looks like the sport is here to stay as a varsity option in the area.

The history of boys volleyball for Section 1 has always been in Rockland County with teams from Clarkstown North and South and Suffern competing for decades. Four years ago, Scarsdale and Eastchester both started programs in Westchester, and now they have company on this side of the river with six new varsity programs starting up this fall.

In addition to Fox Lane, Arlington, Lakeland, Walter Panas, Yorktown and Yonkers have all entered Section 1 as boys varsity volleyball programs this season.

At Fox Lane, coach Toni Racanelli approached Athletic Director Adam Lodewick with the idea. The AD worked it through the process to get the funding and approval from the school board to add it to the Fox Lane athletic program.

“There were some kids who expressed interest in starting a team,” said Lodewick. “Early last year, coach Racanelli came to me and said she could garner a lot of interest. We had a good sign up, we got it in the budget and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ Since then we’ve got the numbers for both a junior varsity and a varsity team, and here we are.”

Lodewick credits Racinelli for her advocacy that made the program happen. A star volleyball player herself at Fox Lane, she coached the girls varsity team for many years. She had also coached a club co-ed program with former Fox Lane coach Mike Galu over the years.

“Every Athletic Director I’ve hit up with the idea, and Adam was a big supporter and got it through the Board of Ed to make it happen,” said Racanelli. “I’ve always wanted to coach boys’ volleyball, and I’m just glad to see it here and so excited to be coaching. With their being the first team ever at Fox Lane, I couldn’t be more proud of them, going out there and competing against teams who have been there for a while. We’re winning points and every single day we are making huge improvements. I’m really looking forward to seeing how good they can be at the end — and we’re having so much fun.”

The current varsity team has seven seniors on the roster. All are new to the sport. Racanelli also has five juniors to build the program around, as well as two sophomores in the starting lineup in Will Weis and Bruce Perez Polonco.

Racanelli is excited to see the sport not only taking hold at Fox Lane, but to see the expansion taking place all around Section 1. She has the added benefit of coaching her son, Joseph, who is a freshman on the varsity team this fall at Fox Lane. She feels the program will continue to grow both at Fox Lane and around the area with more teams talking about starting programs in the coming years.

“Section 1 teams are finally coming together and saying we’ve got to get a boys league going,” said Racanelli. “I think next year it’s going to be even bigger. It would be great to see John Jay, Greeley, Byram Hills, all the local schools to start up a team. It’s such a great sport and the future looks bright.”