Seniors Mike Betley (7) and Brian Quinn (6) helped lead Don Bosco to the Big North Freedom Division boys volleyball title, but not without a strong challenge from Marco Fontana (13), Delvin Diaz (8) and the rest of the Hackensack Comets. (STAFF PHOTO BY KEVIN R. WEXLER)
Today, the Aces bring you the a look at the final North Jersey boys volleyball standings. The reason this is Part I of the Taglines season finale… will be revealed at the end. Have to present some incentive to keep reading.
If you haven’t yet seen the All-North Jersey features that appeared in The Record today, here are some handy links to the stories on northjersey.com for your viewing enjoyment:
- The All-North Jersey 1st and 2nd teams
- Player of the Year: Petko Ljusic of Lakeland
- Team of the Year: Fair Lawn
- Coach of the Year: Bob Bollerman of Hackensack
- This season’s final Top 5 rankings
NOW, There are 20 boys volleyball teams in North Jersey, and they’re spread out over a few different conferences/divisions/leagues. We tried to do as thorough a breakdown of each as possible, but if Taglines missed anything, send an email before the FINAL final blog of the season appears…
FINAL BIG NORTH BOYS CONFERENCE STANDINGS
LIBERTYÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Div. W-LÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Overall W-L
Passaic Tech      10-0        13-9
Clifton                  7-3         11-13
Bergen Tech       7-3         7-12
Passaic                  4-6        11-15
Kennedy            2-8             3-17
Eastside               0-10             0-19
Analysis: Congratulations to Passaic Tech, which swept through its first go-around in the Liberty and did the same in all its rematches. The division title is the Bulldogs’ first in the eight-year history of the program, and they matched their single-season record for wins as well. Senior OH Marquise Hansford led the way with 161 kills in earning a spot on the All-Passaic first team, and senior middle Fidel Diaz was named to the second team after logging a team-high 64 blocks. … Bergen Tech got to the doorstep of posting its highest win total since 2008 with a 2-0 win over Kennedy that left it at 7-7. The Knights ended on a five-game slide but can enjoy the fact that they tied for second in the division. Middle Ken Vallespir of Glen Rock and setter Adam Mahdy were All-Bergen second-teamers, and the weekly Glen Rock Gazette tells me that Vallespir is a multi-sport athlete — at multiple schools, no less (he takes classes at both BT & GR, but the Panthers have no boys volleyball team).
Clifton had won the Liberty title in two of the past three seasons but was young and inexperienced this spring. The Mustangs won’t be in 2015. All-Passaic hitters Kamil Garbowski (194 kills) and Nabil Jamhour (163 kills) have one more year to go. … It is worth mentioning that Passaic was 6-9 at one point and won 5-of-7 to get back to .500 by the state cutoff. The Indians made it to 11-11 by adding a pair of last-minute matches and winning both: 2-0 over Newark Collegiate on May 12 and 2-0 over Paramus’ Frisch School on the May 13 cutoff. … Kennedy will graduate a strong player in 6-3 middle Shawn McCallum (83 kills, 42 blocks), who was looking to play at Berkeley College in Woodland Park last I heard. The return of junior DS Gene Quispe (108 digs), one of a line of brothers to play for Knights coach Ryan Kelly, will help. … The one bright spot for Eastside was that the Ghosts managed to take a game from Passaic in their May 5 match. Hey, you’ve got to look for some positives amidst a 22-match losing streak.
FREEDOMÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Div. W-LÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Overall W-L
Don Bosco             7-0*          17-4
Hackensack         6-2          18-10
Bergen Catholic    4-4          10-12
Teaneck             1-7          7-14
Bergenfield             1-6*         1-12
[*April 16 Don Bosco-Bergenfield match was postponed and not made up.]
Analysis: Don Bosco captured its third straight Freedom title and has won the last two outright. Senior OH Connor Mack was a worthy All-North Jersey candidate, but so was junior setter/MH Tom Wisniewski — and there simply weren’t enough spots to go around. The edict was eight on first team, eight on second team, and the versatile Wisniewski (242 assists, 104 digs, 72 kills, 24 blocks) had me wishing for just one more spot because it was really tough not to be able to include the Hawthorne resident. … Hackensack was right there with the Ironmen all season, and both their divisional matches went to three sets. The Comets have started a trend, going from 1-21 in 2011, to 7-18 in 2012, to 12-13 in 2013, to 18-10 this year. So, 23 wins in 2015? Taglines definitely won’t go out on a limb with that prediction, but they have plenty to be happy about this season, including that Hackensack Invitational title.
Not sure I ever blogged the final explanation as to how Bergen Catholic got into the state playoffs at 9-11, but the same rule that the NJSIAA applies to other sports (sub-.500 teams can be selected at-large to fill out 16-team brackets) has come to boys volleyball this season, and just in time for the Crusaders. They had no seniors but fielded a formidable front line of sophomores featuring Mike Babikian of Ramsey, Kyle Warnock of Upper Saddle River and Kevin Kim of Norwood — and with the experience that group gained this spring, BC should have more playoff berths in store the next few years. … The only two teams in this division that Taglines did not get to witness in person were Teaneck and Bergenfield, although if the numbers are any indication, they staged one of the closest Freedom matches all year on May 2. The Highwaymen won, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, behind a season-high 11 kills from Corey Young and a season-high 29 assists from Brian Sanchez (both were named to the All-Bergen second team).
Junior Dan Sela helped Fair Lawn serve up another Big North Independence Division title. (STAFF PHOTO BY KEVIN R. WEXLER)
INDEPENDENCEÂ Â Â Â Div.W-LÂ Â Â Â Â Â Overall W-L
Fair Lawn                    8-0           29-11
Wayne Valley         6-2         24-4
Lakeland                       4-4         20-7
Wayne Hills                1-7           11-11
Passaic Valley              1-7                9-13
Analysis: Fair Lawn has won all four Independence titles that have been contested since the initiation of the Big North Conference in 2010-11. That’s a pretty impressive stat that understandably can get overlooked with all the Bergen County and North 1 sectional championships the Cutters keep producing. … This very well could be one of the deepest divisions in the state, considering the top three teams all made their respective county finals, and the top two faced off for said North 1 crown. Wayne Valley had such a great season (second-highest win total in program history), it seems a shame the Indians didn’t come away with any titles, but such is life. Their very impressive senior class nonetheless had a fantastic four-year run, and the team still ended up with the most All-County first-teamers of any Passaic school: Soph MH Danny Sciolaro (193 kills), Sr. OH Alex Widovic (181 kills) and Sr. libero Ryan Brown (415 digs), and Brown received strong consideration for Player of the Year. …
In the end, though, the fact that Lakeland won the county title (plus the fact that he’s one of the most dominant hitters in the state) tipped the POY scales in favor of Lancers senior Petko Ljusic. Make no mistake, they also got excellent play from setter Matt Vogel (511 assists, 39 aces) and OH Dennis Fuehring (126 kills), both seniors, and the Holm brothers Jeff (422 digs), a sophomore, and James, a frosh. If the Bergen Catholic front row has a lot of good things to look forward to in the next few years, the Lakeland back row belongs in that same category. … Wayne Hills kept alive an impressive streak with a late-season five-match win streak that ensured a finish of .500 or better: the team has not had one losing season in coach Bill Eustice’s 19 years, going 327-148 in that span. In fact, this was just the second non-winning campaign of his tenure (10-10 in 2006 was the other). The Patriots will lose a couple big hitters to graduation in OH Cameron Ghassemi and MH John Hassert, but All-Passaic first-teamer Adam Santana (a junior) will return, and the emergence of sophomore OH Nick Cherekjian and junior setter Justin Donnelly this season was a big plus. … Another tough call Taglines wished wasn’t necessary: Passaic Valley senior OH Mike Predojevic finished second in the county in kills with 203, and there just weren’t enough spots available to recognize him on All-North Jersey — so we’ll recognize him here. His will be a tough graduation loss to overcome, but soph OH Troy Gondola was second on the Hornets in kills, led the team in aces and should be able to help pick up the slack. Now, who’s going to restock PV’s sibling supply after the Pisano triplets graduate?
FINAL WEST JERSEY VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE STANDINGS
Summit                   11-1
HARRISON Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 10-2 (18-7 overall)
Jefferson Twp. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 8-4
Vernon                  7-5
Dover                 4-8
LYNDHURST Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2-10 (3-15 overall)
Pope John XXIIIÂ Â Â Â 0-12
Analysis: Only two North Jersey teams (for The Record’s purposes) in the WJVL, so both are listed in all caps to distinguish which ones they are… Harrison needed a win in its second meeting of the season with Summit on May 6 to earn a share of the title and came darn close, winning the first game before dropping the next two. Sophomore OH Piotr Namiotko led Harrison in kills (200) and blocks (41½), and junior David Penaherrera led the team in digs (169), service points (160) and aces (34). They should help the Tide overcome the upcoming graduation of setters Piero Martinez and Vinny Yoshimoto and middle Rafael Diaz. … Lyndhurst got off to a fine start in its first varsity season, which nearly ended on a two-match win streak. The Golden Bears beat Pope John, 2-1 on May 13, to stay out of the WJVL basement and pushed Edison to the limit in their May 15 finale before falling, 2-1. And those records they talked about establishing earlier in the spring? Here are the program’s top single-game marks so far — KILLS: 15 by Tom Hooper (4/23 vs. Veritas Christian); ASSISTS: 27 by Gio Arcentales (also 4/23); DIGS: 20 by Edgar Bravo (4/17 vs. Pope John); ACES: 9 by Beka Kobauri (5/13 vs. Pope John).
FINAL HUDSON CO. INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC LEAGUE STANDINGS
RED DIVISION Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Div.W-LÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Overall W-L
Bayonne                       5-1            N/A
McNair Academic       5-1           N/A
Memorial (W.N.Y.) Â Â Â 2-4 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â N/A
NORTH BERGENÂ Â Â Â Â Â 0-6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4-14
Analysis: Again, a limited number of North Jersey teams in the mix here, with North Bergen flying solo among its Hudson County brethren. Senior OH Steven Sanchez, the Bruins’ top hitter, was named to the All-Hudson first team, and I noticed a very high number of blocks when looking at the team’s stats this year — senior Ammar Suliman had eight in a season-ending win over Snyder, 2-1 on May 15, and had 11 in a three-set loss to McNair earlier in the year.
FINAL 2013-14 “NORTH JERSEY INTERSCHOLASTIC CONFERENCE†STANDINGS
Garfield             8-9 overall
Analysis: Ok, the heading is a bit tongue-in-cheek, since Garfield is actually the lone Bergen County team still playing an independent schedule. Taglines saw a lot of all-around standouts this season, and Boilermakers senior Kamil Weglinski (235 assists, 69 kills, 51 digs, 39 aces) definitely fit that bill. Last I spoke with coach Corinne O’Toole, he was interested in playing at the college level but hadn’t made a decision yet. Whoever gets him will be getting one of the wicked-est (is that a word?) jump-serves in North Jersey. Garfield returned to the state playoffs after a year’s absence, and it would have been interesting to see what senior middle Muzamil Abubakar could have done in the North 1 opener had he been at full strength.
“QUICK†ASIDE: It used to be the Boilermakers had Wallington with which to vie for the unofficial NJIC “titleâ€, but with the Panthers closing up shop this year, that rivalry has ended. Yet there are two other NJIC schools that field boys volleyball teams (Harrison and Lyndhurst), and both have wound up in the WJVL — which makes Taglines think it might make sense for the Boilermakers to hop on board. Sure, road games at Vernon and Jefferson are hike, but Garfield would bring the number of teams in the league to eight, allowing for the possibility of (somewhat) geographically-friendly divisions to form: perhaps Garfield-Harrison-Lyndhust-Summit in the “South†and Dover-Jefferson-Pope John-Vernon in the “Northâ€?
Just thinking out loud. I’ll stop now… mostly because we’ve come to the end of this entry. Tomorrow: Season Finale, Part 2 — the return of List-O-Mania.
—GT