Between the Bergen and Passaic county boys volleyball tournaments, there are quarterfinal-round matches nearly every day this week, and three of them got things started on Tuesday. Click here for the link to both tournament schedules, and yes it has been updated to reflect that the Don Bosco/Garfield match got moved.
In fact, that’s where we’ll start our analysis…
BERGEN COUNTY QUARTERFINALS (from Tuesday)
No. 2 Don Bosco def. No. 7 Garfield, 25-23, 28-26 (at Ramsey): When Taglines first contacted Ironman coach Beth Powell last week, this one was scheduled to be played on Thursday. Probably should have called to double-check before reposting the tournament schedules… I was hoping to be at this one live on Thursday, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men (you *definitely* would if you’d had my H.S. English Lit teacher).
At any rate, Don Bosco (10-2) advanced to the Bergen semifinals for the fourth straight year. They await the winner of No. 3 Hackensack vs. No. 6 Teaneck — scheduled to be played Thursday — and Hackensack would be a most intriguing opponent since the Ironmen and Comets are still battling it out for first place in the Big North Freedom Division. Bosco has won the last two Freedom titles and, incidentally, has played in the past two county finals.
Garfield (6-6) continued it’s penchant for playing “overtimeâ€. The Boilermakers stretched a game past the 25-point cap for the fifth time this season, and according to the Aces’ records, they have played the two highest-scoring games in North Jersey this season: 31-29 in their April 29 win over Passaic Valley (more on PV shortly), and 28-26 versus Bosco. Good news for Garfield… their remaining opponents before the state cutoff are Lyndhurst and West Caldwell Tech, so a win in either match will clinch a postseason berth.
No. 4 Bergen Catholic def. No. 5 Bergen Tech, 25-17, 25-22 (at Oradell): Most of the details are spelled out in the story that appeared in The Record and on northjersey.com. It was tough to pick out a top storyline since A.) the Crusaders have no seniors and B.) their semifinal match-up is a classic “coach vs. old team†confrontation. Artem Makarenko will lead BC against his mentor/former coach Peter Zisa of Fair Lawn next Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Hackensack (the Cutters had a bye to the semis). In boys volleyball, that doesn’t happen too often, partly because the sport has only been around in North Jersey since the late ’80s.
Bergen Catholic (9-7) last reached the Bergen final in 2009, when it lost to Fair Lawn. Last spring, the Crusaders fell to Don Bosco in the semifinals… Bergen Tech (7-9) last reached the county semifinals in 2001, which also was the last time the tournament featured a third-place match (BT lost to Hackensack in it to finish fourth that year). The Knights have come a long way from last season, when they went 2-8 in the Big North Liberty Division. This season, they finished 7-3 against the division and occupy second place, though Clifton (6-3) can tie them with a win at Passaic today.
Speaking of the Liberty leaders…
PASSAIC COUNTY QUARTERFINAL MATCHES (from Tuesday)
No. 4 Passaic Valley def. No. 5 Passaic Tech, 25-21, 25-23 (at Little Falls): If the previous match was “Bergen cubed†(as someone so tweeted), this obviously had to be Passaic to the power of three. Except, if you didn’t look past the numbers, this result might not add up. Passaic Tech came in 12-4 overall and 10-0 in the Liberty, having swept the division to capture the first league/division/conference/etc. title in program history. Passaic Valley came in 5-10 and 1-6 in the Independence Division. And yet… was there really an “underdog�
PV had played a total of six games against teams in The Record Top 5 — two each versus division rivals Fair Lawn (No. 1), Wayne Valley (No. 2) and Lakeland (No. 5) — and that accounts for their six Independence setbacks. The Hornets went to three sets in both Lakeland matches and once against Fair Lawn. Could you call them an underdog when they’re that battle-tested?
On the other hand, Passaic Tech had faced just two Top 5 teams going in (losses to Don Bosco and Wayne Valley) but beat the team that most likely would be ranked No. 6 (Hackensack) if the poll had one more spot. Is that the Bulldogs’ fault? Of course not, they played the opponents that their schedule dictated and won the maximum amount of division games. Even with Tuesday’s loss, they are one win away from tying the program record for victories in a season. Could you really call a 12-5 team an underdog?
Perhaps this match-up simply played out according to history. In 2010, fourth-seeded Passaic Valley beat fifth-seeded Passaic Tech in the county quarterfinals, 2-0, sending PV into the semifinals against top-seeded Wayne Valley (which had beaten No. 8 Kennedy in the quarterfinals). And now, here we go again… if No. 1 Wayne Valley beats No. 8 Kennedy in Thursday’s quarterfinals, we get déjà vu all over.
WEDNESDAY’S COUNTY-QUARTERFINAL MATCHES:
[PASSAIC] No. 7 Passaic (6-9) at No. 2 Lakeland (12-6), 4 p.m.
See you ’round the courts…
—GT