Fair Lawn advances in playoffs

By Fred Siegle

FAIR LAWN - It took Fair Lawn's volleyball team a little time to find its rhythm. But once they did, the Cutters
looked like a team that could definitely be playing for the NJSIAA North section championship.

Senior Artem Makarenko had 11 kills to lead the third-seeded Cutters (23-7) to a 25-21, 25-11 victory over No. 11 Passaic Valley in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Fair Lawn plays at No. 2 Bayonne in the section semifinals on Friday.

"That second game was probably one of the best games we've played this year,'' Makarenko said. "We only made a few errors.''

"We always start out a little slow,'' said setter Jon Bashan, who had 23 assists. "It takes us a little time to get in the swing. But once we get going, we're able to play with a lot of emotion and that helps carry us.''

Fair Lawn led for most of the first game, but it was pretty much back-and-forth. The Cutters had a 19-15 lead, but two straight kills by Mike Hrehovcik made it 19-17 before a service error gave Fair Lawn its 20th point. The Cutters went up 21-17 on a kill by Makarenko, but a kill by Hrehovcik, a Fair Lawn error, and an ace by Matt Billig cut the score to 21-20. But, after a time out, Makarenko had another kill and the Cutters finished out the game. Jamie Oliver had 2 of his 5 kills during that stretch.

Fair Lawn took a 6-2 lead in the second game, stretched it to 14-4 after three straight aces by Ryan Kolenovic, and cruised from there.
"In the second game, our passing dropped off,'' said co-coach Tom Deeney.
Hrehovcik and Colin McNeill each had 7 kills to lead Passaic Valley (14-12), which had upset No. 6 seed Garfield in the previous round. The Hornets played the end of the first game and the whole second game without senior left side Joe Altomonte, who had tried to play on an injured ankle.
"When Joe went out, I think it took something out of us,'' Deeney said. "The other guys got a little nervous.''

The Cutters will be trying to avenge a regular-season loss to Bayonne, which beat No. 7 Vernon on Wednesday. But they'll probably be playing without right side Matt Agnew, who suffered an injury, probably to a ligament, late in the second game when he landed on McNeill's foot on a play at the net.
"As much as it sucks that Agnew's hurt, we're not a one-man team,'' Makarenko said. "We have other players who can come in and hit and block.''

Makarenko and Bashan said their team will try to put on a better performance than the first meeting with Bayonne.
"I feel like they didn't see us at our best when they came here to play us,'' Bashan said. "Now we have to go there and beat them. We have to play clean volleyball, we lost the first time because of errors, I think we had 37, and out of 50 points, that's a lot.''
''Whoever comes out and plays the best defense is going to win that,'' Makarenko said. "I feel like our defense is going to win it.''

Note: The first official in the match was Tom San Giacomo, who coaches the Fair Lawn players on their club team. It's possible Passaic Valley officials will question the situation with the NJSIAA.