Young Eastside, Passaic show promise by Greg Tartaglia of The Record
PASSAIC – Eastside and Passaic each have a new hitter making an impact on their boys volleyball teams, and by George, both were victorious in their season openers.
Sophomore George Gonzalez was one of three Ghosts to register seven kills in Eastside’s 25-20, 15-25, 25-17 Big North Liberty Division win at Passaic on Tuesday. He also served two aces during a match-ending, 8-1 run.
“George played mostly JV last year and came up to varsity toward the end of the year,” Ghosts coach Bobby Black said. “He’s a do-it-all player. He can serve, he can spike, and he can pass.”
Eastside (1-0) won its opener for the first time since 2013. Its first match had been scheduled for Saturday against Bergen Tech but was postponed.
Passaic (1-2) did open its season on Saturday and defeated Clifton for the first time since 2012. Junior George Sanchez keyed a 25-20, 23-25, 28-26 win with 13 kills and eight digs, and he’d totaled 28 kills through the Indians’ first three matches, including a setback to Bergen Tech on Monday.
“Beating Clifton, I didn’t know how we were going to handle that, because we have a lot of sophomores, and it’s a young group,” Passaic coach Omar Muñoz said. “So I said, it was a good thing, and it was a bad thing… we’re still learning how to handle success.”
Both Big North Liberty rivals welcomed large groups of young talent this season after finishing 6-17 a year ago. Height made the difference for Eastside on Tuesday, as juniors Jah’Miek Williams and Marcos Moya combined for seven blocks, in addition to having seven kills apiece.
“Marcos, it’s only his second year playing volleyball, and he got blocking right away,” Black said. “And Jah’Miek, he can jump through the roof.
“We knew No. 18 [Sanchez] is a phenomenal hitter for them, but I think we contained him,” the coach added. “We were able to make them try to hit over us, and that helped us out.”
Passaic got within 17-16 in the third set thanks in part to the hitting of Sanchez (11 kills, six digs) and sophomore Bryan Aquino (nine kills).
After a side out, Williams and Moya teamed up for an Eastside block. Gonzalez then spiked a ball into the corner before delivering his back-to-back aces.
“My coach told me when the game is like that, and the other team is good, you’ve got to put it in the corner, so you can make it a tougher point [to return],” Gonzalez said.
Sanchez added one more point for Passaic on a spike assisted by sophomore Steve Gomez. Moya and Williams then got consecutive kills off sets from Aldo Boch (18 assists), and Williams buried a free ball for match point.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Moya said. “Even though we have some young guys, there’s some older guys [for leadership], and we have the right mindset – come together and execute as one.”