Did Ma'ayanot beat Cresskill HS? Tune in

Sarah Gordon (Advisor), Ilana Teicher, Tamar Novetsky(Captain), Jared Cotter (Host, “The Challenge”), Chana Garbow, Talia Moss and Yaffa Cohen (Alternate).

Bzzzzz!

With the press of a buzzer, Tamar Novetsky signaled that she knew the answer to the physics question.

At stake: the honor of Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls, where Novetsky is a senior.

The competition: Creskill High School.

The venue: MSG Varsity’s The Challenge quiz show.

Did Novetsky beat the competition to the buzzer? Did she have the right answer?

Tune in to channel 14 next week and find out.

The actual contest took place in November. Participants have been sworn to secrecy as to whether they won the match and will continue to the next level.

“There was definitely more adrenaline and excitement” than in local college bowl matches against schools such as the Torah Academy of Bergen County or the Frisch school, said Novetsky.

“There was a lot of excitement going into the match. There were a lot of people cheering. We brought a whole lot of friends to the taping, our parents and friends.”

All the girls – Novetsky’s teammates include Ilana Teicher, Chana Garbow, Talia Moss, and Yaffa Cohen – are taking physics, so the category “R’s in Physics” did not phase them, with answers such as resistance and range.

They were taken by surprise, however, by a series of questions in which they were given a year and a state, and had to answer which president was born there. (Again, tune in to see how they did.)

Lessons learned?

“Brush up on that history and geography, I would say,” said Novetsky.

“We can practice up our buzzer skills a little more, some times we knew the answer and they buzzed a little quicker.”

All in all, were they fast enough on the buzzer?

The match airs on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m. on MSG Varsity, Cablevision’s iO TV, Channel 14.