By Fred Siegle
BAYONNE - Loser goes home, the season's over. Winner plays for a state section title.
The pressure and intensity, with the crowd chanting throughout three close games, was incredible for the entire match on Friday as No. 2 seed Bayonne beat No. 3 Fair Lawn 22-25, 26-24, 25-23 to advance to the NJSIAA North section championship match.
"Seriously, I was in some kind of zone,'' said Bayonne senior Justin Beaumont. "It felt like we were trapped in a bubble. Everything was moving 100 miles an hour. Whenever I was able to catch my breath, they served the ball again.''
The victory means the cowbell(s) will be heard in South Brunswick High School, the site of the two section title games on Wednesday. The Bayonne fans will be bringing their unique cheering tool, the cowbells used by fans Rob Barowski and Mike Cerretta to lead rhythmic clapping, with them. The Bees will play No. 1 seed St. Peters, which beat No. 5 Livingston in the other semifinal, in the section championship match.
"I'm speechless,'' said junior right side Coco Ostorga. "We've never been this far into the tournament before.''
Bayonne beat Fair Lawn for the second time this year to earn the chance to play St. Peters for the fourth time. They have a 2-1 edge so far against the Marauders, their Hudson County rivals, but they were just points away from elimination in both the second and third games against Fair Lawn, with the Cutters holding leads late in both games.
"I think we weren't focused at all in the first game,'' said Ostorga, who finished with 9 kills, 3 digs and 4 blocks. "We might have been too pumped up.''
Fair Lawn led 18-14 in the third game when a disputed touch call - the Bayonne linesman was the only one who saw the touch - seemed to spark the Bees. Danny Kochanski (7 kills, 2 blocks) got credit for the kill, then Ostorga had a solo block and then teamed with Kochanski for a block to make it 18-17. An error by Fair Lawn tied the game, but Artem Makarenko (13 kills) put the Cutters back on top.
Bayonne won a long rally on the next point, but setter Mark Gacki had a back-row attack in the middle of the rally and the referees made the call at the end of the point, giving Fair Lawn a 20-18 lead. Krystof Bogdan (5 kills, 11 digs, 1 block) had a kill and Ostorga got another block to tie the game again before Makarenko answered with another kill.
Ostorga and Makarenko traded kills to make it 22-21 Fair Lawn, but two errors by Fair Lawn gave Bayonne a 23-22 lead, its first edge since 12-11. A service error tied the game again, but Justin Beaumont (11 kills, 13 digs, 3 blocks) converted a dig with a kill to put Bayonne up 24-23, and Gacki set Kochanski for a 1-ball in the middle off a free-ball pass to end the match.
"Coco's blocks were a key for our momentum,'' coach Pat Longo said. "We built off of them.''
"I was mad at myself, I had to do something,'' Ostorga said. "I didn't perform well in the first two games. I had to make up for it.''
Bayonne also came back in the second game after trailing 23-20. Ostorga had a kill, then two Fair Lawn errors made it 23-23. But Jamie Oliver had one of his 10 kills to give Fair Lawn a 24-23 lead, putting the Bees on the brink. But Beaumont had a kill on a 10-ball to tie it before 2 errors by Fair Lawn finished the game.
The Bees (28-4) have reached the state final with only 3 seniors - Beaumont, Gacki and libero James Capello - who play. Ostorga, Kochanski and Bogdan are juniors, and middle Pat Rujznica (2 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks) is a sophomore.
"We're a young team, our lack of experience caught up with us in the first game,'' Beaumont said. "I thought that might happen to us at some point during the season. Today, it wasn't fatal.''
"We were inconsistent in the first game,'' Gacki said. "Our passing was off a little. But we came back strong, we were able to make an offense out of it (the inconsistent passing).''
As the only senior who hits, Beaumont wanted the responsibility in the key moments.
"I wanted the ball (to get set) every time at the end of the games,'' Beaumont said. "In the third game, points 0 to 25, I wanted the ball every time.''
Fair Lawn (23-8) played without junior right side Matt Agnew, who injured his ankle in the team's win over Passaic Valley on Wednesday. Because of that, Makarenko and Oliver had to shoulder more of the load. "We became a 2-pronged offense, pretty much with just the two outsides,'' coach Pete Zisa said. "Those guys were constantly going against double blocks and getting the job done.''
Zisa said there shouldn't have been student linesmen in the state semifinals, and that NJSIAA rules say there should have been four officials - first and second referees and two linesmen.
"That call changed the momentum,'' he said. "In a game this important, that shouldn't happen.''
Southern Regional, now 40-0, will play East Brunswick (25-2) in the South/Central section championship match on Wednesday at South Brunswick. Southern beat Old Bridge in the semis on Friday, while the Bears beat St. Joseph. The two section winners will play for the overall state title on Friday at South Brunswick.
No comments:
Post a Comment