Southpaws star for Fair Lawn in North 1 semifinals by Greg Tartaglia of The Record
WAYNE – Billy Joyce and Dan Sedaka warrant some left-handed compliments.
The southpaw hitters rank 1-2 on the Fair Lawn boys volleyball team in kills and made their usual contributions Wednesday, propelling the Cutters past top-seeded Wayne Valley, 25-23, 27-25, in the North 1 semifinals.
The senior Joyce had 10 kills, including the first-set winner, and served a pair of aces, including the match point that lifted No. 4 Fair Lawn (26-8) into its eighth straight sectional final.
Sedaka, a junior, finished with eight kills as the Cutters booked a trip to Wanaque for the North 1 title match Friday at No. 2 Lakeland (23-6).
“It’s the first time ever in the history of my program that both outsides are left-handed,” said Peter Zisa, the 11th-year Fair Lawn coach and fellow lefty.
“I don’t care if they’re left- or right-handed,” Zisa said. “I believe that the best two players should be on the outside. And they’ve demonstrated from an offensive, defensive and passing standpoint that they’re my best two players.”
Joyce upped his team-best kill total to 339, second-most in North Jersey. Sedaka has 192 and entered the semifinals with 215 digs, second on the team to libero Joe Breuer (246).
“I’d been playing opposite since my freshman year,” Sedaka said, noting that the position is traditionally more conducive to lefties. “At first, [outside hitter] was kind of difficult, but Zisa’s a great coach, and he worked with us on footwork and where we need to hit the ball.”
“It’s hard sometimes, because high sets come over my shoulder weird,” Joyce said. “It’s odd having two lefties out there, but we just work well together and always bring energy everywhere.”
That included to Wayne Valley (21-5), the last place Fair Lawn had played a North 1 road match prior to this spring. After winning the 2010 title there, the Cutters earned the top seed for the next six tournaments and annually were home for the playoffs.
“We lost last year to them at home [in the sectional final], so we wanted to beat them here,” said setter Dan Donenfeld, who had 27 assists.
The third meeting of the season between the Big North Independence rivals drew a near-capacity crowd, with both schools’ fans supplying high energy levels.
Wayne Valley led by as many as seven in the first set, but the Cutters remained aggressive and were able to get more points in the middle. Porus Pallupetta and Matteo DeGennaro combined for 10 kills and four blocks.
The Indians played their trademark strong defense, getting multiple digs from six different players and prolonging rallies. Senior Matt Widovic had 11 kills and three digs and chipped in 10 assists to close his career with 1,577.
“I’m very impressed with what the guys did,” said Wayne Valley coach Jason Carcich, whose squad returned two players from 2016 and will do the same next year. “They had one year to get stuff done, and we did some really nice things.”
LAKELAND 25-25, BLOOMFIELD 17-16 (at Wanaque): Junior Connor Field tallied 13 kills, two digs and an ace to spur the Lancers into their first final since sectional play began in 2006.
Ben Donatien dished out 22 aces, and he and James Holm added five digs apiece in the sweep of the Essex County runner-up and No. 3 seed Bengals (22-5).