The Pascack Valley Girls Volleyball team ended with an 11-11 record and was the 6-seed in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 2 Tournament. A big reason for that was the performance of Team Captain and Libero, Maddy Romero. Romero was a senior on the team and led them to the second round of the State Tournament, where they lost to Demarest.

Romero was a three-year Varsity returner, and each year she contributed more and more. This year, she has 515 digs, averaging 25.8 per game, and has 51 assists. 

When asked about her season so far, as well as her expectations for the rest of the year, Romero said she looked forward to the state tournament. 

“We’re doing OK…we have played some pretty good teams this season, we expect to do well in states and push ourselves the best we can,” said Romero.

Romero initially played soccer, but made the switch to volleyball before high school. She initially started high school at IHA (Immaculate Heart Academy) before transferring to Valley in her sophomore year. 

“My sister started in middle school, and I wanted to play with her because we always used to play it in the backyard,” said Romero. “[So] I quit soccer and I started playing volleyball.”

Romero’s favorite memory from this season was when they managed to beat Old Tappan in two straight sets, at Old Tappan. 

The volleyball team has also picked up big wins against Ridgefield Park, Tenafly, Holy Angels, and Riverdell, which was in the second round of the county tournament, to advance to the Quarterfinal round. 

While Romero isn’t going to college for volleyball, she looks to continue playing the sport through club volleyball or intramurals wherever she ends up. 

Senior Cross Country runner Marcus Koshy has been named the Valley Echo’s boy’s athlete of the month for October. 

In his second race this season, at the Big North – National Batch Meet (5k), Koshy finished in third place with a final time of 17:25. He then finished second in the Brett Taylor Invitational (5k) with a time of 16:47, improving on his previous race time. 

When asked how he got into cross country, Koshy said, “I started track in middle school, where I ran to get better for soccer. I eventually switched to cross [country] once I got real good at  running.” 

Koshy had steady time improvements throughout the season. During the Bergen County/Lou Molino Meet of Champions (5k), he ran a personal best time of 16:27, a 1:28 time decrease from his prior race—just 35 days earlier. Some other notable finishes were his third place finish at the Big North – National XC Championship (5k) with a time of 16:40 and a third place finish in the NJSIAA Sectionals – North 1 (5k), where he ended the race with a time of 16:54.

When asked what he likes most about cross country, Koshy discussed his passion: “I really enjoy racing. That’s where my passion is, and I view racing as different from running, where running is just for training or casual.”

Koshy’s best performance came in the Bergen County Group Championships, where he finished in second place with a time of 16:27. 

In terms of his future, Koshy stated, “I would love to race in college, but if I don’t get to, I really don’t mind because I will have a big workload due to [my intended major].”