After winning Group 3 crown Old Tappan eyeing repeat in Tournament of Champions by Greg Mattura of The Record
WAYNE – The shadow of last year’s unbeaten season still looms large even as NV/Old Tappan seeks to climb out from underneath it.
These Golden Knights forged their own path to a Group 3 girls volleyball title Saturday with a 25-21, 25-14 victory over Mount Olive at the William Paterson Rec Center.
“I wanted to win it more, honestly, than last year,” Golden Knights junior Julia Passante said, “because I’m coming in with the mind-set, ‘We don’t have this insane All-Star team,’ and it’s a team where every game is going to be a challenge and we’re going to have to work even harder than last year.”
Like last year, Bergen County flexed its sizable muscle by winning four of the five state titles. NV/Old Tappan was joined by fellow repeat champions Immaculate Heart (Non-Public) and Bogota (Group 1), while Ramapo topped two-time defending champ River Dell in Group 2.
The 15th annual Tournament of Champions is next weekend at the Rec Center, with NV/Old Tappan the No. 1 seed, Immaculate Heart No. 2, Ramapo No. 3, Group 4 titlist Hunterdon Central No. 4 and Bogota No. 5.
Passante and NV/Old Tappan (22-1) worked hard enough Saturday to lead almost from start to finish against a Mount Olive team that compensated for its lack of size with strong passing and serving.
Passante had 11 kills and senior Maya Illovsky nine kills and seven digs. Senior setter Becky Chu had 20 assists and three aces. Sophomore Kelly Chen had nine digs.
“We’re always going to have last year in the back of our minds,” said Illovsky, a starter on last season’s team that won Bergen County, Group 3 and Tournament of Champions titles, “and knowing that we have to push ourselves even more now. It motivates us more, that we don’t have the seniors we had last year.”
“We really just try to stay in the moment and make it about this season and not compare it to last season,” said Golden Knights coach Melissa Landeck. “That being said, these kids set their sights on this goal, they wanted to get back here, and they worked very hard to do so.”
While last year’s team ran the table in New Jersey, this team has only lost once, in the Bergen tournament semifinals to eventual champion River Dell.
“Every year is so different, and this one, by far, has been one of the craziest years for us,” Landeck said. “We’ve had a lot of lineup changes, different things come our way, bumps in the road where we had players out and had to change things, and they’ve responded. And that’s the best thing I can say about this team — they’re extremely resilient.”
IMMACULATE HEART 27, 25, HUDSON CATHOLIC 25, 18: The young Blue Eagles overcame a poor start in the Non-Public final to extend their record for consecutive state titles to 10.
A team without a senior on the court rallied in the first set from deficits of 11-4, 18-11, and 22-16, and survived set point at 25-24.
Blue Eagles junior hitter Catherine Fazio had eight of her 14 kills in the first set, including the 25th and 26th points. Junior Erica Timpanaro had 16 digs. Junior defensive specialist Adrianna Oliver came off the bench to provide better passing and had seven digs.
“We have a group of athletes who work hard and they were determined,” said IHA coach Maria Nolan, whose team was last year’s TOC runner-up. “And by not having seniors it forced everyone to work harder. And they really enjoyed working together, and they worked not only to win for themselves, but for IHA volleyball and the school.”