THE RECORDS: The last time the Cranford and Union Catholic girls’ volleyball teams met, it was in last year’s Union County Tournament championship match at Kean University. Union Catholic ended up defeating Cranford for the third straight season in the final.
Union Catholic entered its home-court match against Cranford on Monday afternoon with a 4-0 record. Cranford had just one loss, for a record of 4-1.
THE SCORE: 2-0, Union Catholic.
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If these two county powers are destined to meet for a fourth straight year in the championship match, Union Catholic proved it might have the advantage. The Vikings were dominant, winning the best-of-three series 25-17 and 25-21. The Cougars had their moments, most notably battling back from a 20-12 deficit to make the second game much closer.
THE HEROES: Union Catholic seniors Annyssa Herlihy and Julie Monroy delivered key points in both matches with numerous kills.
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THE QUOTES: “We practiced our serving and hitting and knew that we had to step up our game for Cranford,” said Monroy, a four-year starter who is considering playing at the college level, with schools such as Sacred Heart, New Haven, Rutgers and Farleigh Dickison in the mix. “In the first game we went out and had fun. In the second game we were a little tense and had to work hard on defense to fight them off.” She finished the game with 14 kills.
Union Catholic head coach Nancy Saggio said, “We were in a good rhythm Saturday and that carried over.... I thought we played fairly well today against Cranford. We had some hitting and serving errors, but nothing major. I’ll take the victory.”
NOTES: This was the only scheduled regular season match between the Union Catholic and Cranford. Before Union Catholic defeated Cranford in the last three Union County Tournament finals, Cranford won the 2007 tournament championship by defeating Westfield in the final.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Vikings are next scheduled to play at Roselle Catholic on Tuesday at 7 p.m., at Elizabeth on Wednesday at 4 p.m., at Livingston on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and then return home for a match Friday at 4:30 p.m. versus Immaculate Heart Academy of Washington Township, Bergen County.
