The first two weeks of the 2013 North Jersey boys volleyball season have produced some good storylines and a few important learning experiences (particularly for this reporter). So, with apologies to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, here are some impressions that I’ve gotten from the games I’ve covered so far:
* Clifton is off to a 5-0 start under new coach Nick Romanak. I was curious as to why the Mustangs made a coaching change, considering they racked up 335 wins and four county titles under Mike Doktor. Then I found out that Doktor stepped down to accept the vice principal job at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, and according to the rules (of most N.J. districts, as I understand them), folks in administrative positions aren’t allowed to coach (e-mail a correction if my understanding is off). That was good to hear, since I’ve seen too many coaching changes happen under less-than-desirable circumstances… at any rate, Clifton has taken firm control of the Big North Liberty Division and is the lone remaining unbeaten in Passaic County to start the week. Senior setter Christian Patti had a nice outing when I saw him on opening day, but how about the 41 assists he had in a three-game win over defending Liberty champ Passaic a week ago? That’s the top single-match assist mark in North Jersey so far this season.
* Fair Lawn is the real deal. I’ve only seen one of their first 12 matches, and that was the second one of the season against Don Bosco, but even from that small sample, the Cutters left no doubt in my mind that they deserve to be No. 1 in North Jersey and the state. What impressed me most was that Chris Nugent could put the ball away from literally anywhere on the court — front row, back row, it didn’t matter. It was one thing to read about how dominant he was in being named North Jersey Player of the Year last spring. To see it for myself was quite impressive.
* “Rivalry weekâ€, as it seems appropriate to call, was fun. Any match-ups that can be boiled down to two words, e.g. Hills/Valley or Bergen/Bosco, always are (NOTE: All school names are listed alphabetically). Wayne Hills took a three-setter against Wayne Valley — more on that one shortly — and Don Bosco swept Bergen Catholic, though I’m pretty confident it will be much closer in the rematch on May 3.
I spoke to BC coach Mike DeCastro about all the matches his team has played during opening week (which coincided with spring break), including the April 2 “quadruple-headerâ€. Four matches in one day is not uncommon, but to play a quad on the road 45 minutes away, then come home for one more that afternoon? That’s quite ambitious. DeCastro’s quote didn’t make it into the paper, but he basically said that with such young group (four sophs and two frosh have been in the regular rotation), and with a number of boys who don’t play during the off-season, he’d like to get them as much game experience as possible now to get them ready for the season’s stretch run. “With more experience playing, hopefully confidence will come eventually,†were the coach’s words… Bosco coach Beth Powell had a good quote from the same game that ended up on the cutting room floor. The Ironmen had yet to beat a North Jersey Top 5 opponent going in and clearly enjoyed ending the drought against their arch-rival, but the key was beating a top team, period. “You can think you’re good all day long, but you’ve got to go out there and win the game in order to prove it,†as Powell put it.
* Okay, our coverage of “rivalry week†ended with Passaic Valley at Bergen Tech, which isn’t a traditional rivalry. That said, regardless of win-loss records, games between two teams that are hungry for a victory are much better in real life than on paper. And, as was the case with Bosco/Bergen (there, now both sides are happy), the team with more experienced upperclassmen on its side (PV) prevailed against the young up-and-comers (BT). That the Hornets ended a nearly year-long victory drought was just one good story to come out of that match, too. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a feature on another before the season is out…
So that’s a bit of what I’ve seen so far this season. One thing that I hope does *NOT* become a recurring item is “Adventures in Spellingâ€â€¦ presently, apologies are due to Jan-Carlos Gomez of Passaic (not “Jane-Carlosâ€) and Wayne Hills coach Bill Eustice (not “Eustisâ€) for typographical trip-ups regarding their names in recent editions of the paper.
On the other hand, one of those errors has left us with the chance to run a recurring item that is well-known and widely-used the blogosphere over: reader e-mails! This one comes from a fellow connected with Wayne Hills and may be — nay, IS unquestionably — the most well-worded correction I have seen in 12 years of reporting on North Jersey high school sports:
Thank you very much for the coverage of Monday’s [April 8] match. The guys enjoy seeing themselves in the paper and it adds to their confidence. Plus they got to make fun of [Coach Eustice’s] name being wrong.
— Anonymous
I left the sender’s name anonymous on purpose, because they did not send it in for the express purpose of receiving praise. But I’m going to dish out some anyway… Note well: THIS IS THE BEST WAY HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO NOTIFY REPORTERS WHEN THEY MAKE MISTAKES. Most of the time, we realize our own errors as soon as we pick up the next day’s paper, and I have yet to meet any sportswriter that ever has misspelled a name on purpose or with some malicious intent/hidden agenda. Speaking solely for this reporter, if you help him make light of/laugh at his mistakes instead of berating him, he’ll be that much happier to correct them that much quicker.
And hey, it just might get you an anonymous mention on Varsity Aces. See you ’round the courts…