UC Girls Volleyball Team Aiming For Top Titles This Year

 There are plenty of banners in the Union Catholic High School gymnasium that display all of the championships the girls’ volleyball team has captured over the years.

This year’s experienced squad, which returns standouts such as Annyssa Herlihy, Julie Monroy, Catie Finnegan, Emily Wilman, Geri Pinto and Colleen Sweeney, has its sights set on putting up a new banner—one that reads “2009 Conference, County and State Champions.”

Union Catholic has captured championships on all three levels in the past, with this year’s captains—Sweeney, Pinto and Finnegan—very confident the Vikings can go out and win titles on all three levels again.

“We’re definitely going to go all the way to the states, to the last round; we’re going to win counties and the conference too,”  said Sweeney, who had 13 assists, three digs and three aces in Union Catholic’s season-opening 25-14, 25-12 win Friday over visiting Summit. “We’re a lot more confident now. We’re a year older, and we know what we’re going into.”

Union Catholic finished 22-6 last year and ranked 15th in the final Star-Ledger Top 20 poll. The Vikings were defeated by Bergen County power Immaculate Heart 25-8, 25-16 in the Non-Public state championship match at William Paterson in Wayne.

Immaculate Heart, featuring the tall Scott sisters—Ariel and Raquel—finished No. 1 in New Jersey.

“The big 6-4 girl (Ariel) was very intimidating,” Sweeney said.

Ariel Scott, now listed at 6-5, was the Player of the Year in New Jersey last season and is the No. 1-ranked senior player in the state at the moment.

“I think this year we have a better service team, so we’re definitely looking to dig her non-stop,” Sweeney said. “Now, because we’re older, we would go up against her with a lot more confidence.”

Union Catholic finished No. 1 in Union County last year for the sixth time under Saggio, defeating defending Union County Tournament winner Cranford 26-24, 17-25, 25-22 at home in the championship match. The teams split regular season matches before their UCT final, each winning at home.

Cranford went on to finish 23-5 and captured its first state championship, winning Group 2 honors. Union Catholic captured the 2005 Non-Public state championship.

Union Catholic and Cranford, which are scheduled to face each other for the only time in the regular season on Oct. 20 at Cranford at 4 p.m., could meet again this year in the UCT final.

“We’re going to be so good,” Sweeney said. “The problem we had in the state game (against Immaculate Heart) was our nerves. We were kind of immature and had not been there before. This year we have the experience, we’re more mature, we have the passing and blocking, I think, and we have a big 6-1 girl (Brenda Eke). That’s a secret weapon I just unleashed.”

Eke, from Plainfield, is a senior opposite who was in the starting lineup Friday.

Pinto had six kills and one dig vs. Summit, positioned as her team’s middle blocker. Like Sweeney, she is a three-year starter.

“We started getting ready in the summer and talked about it in practice and are really excited this year,” Pinto said. “We want to take it all home this year–county, conference and states–we want to complete that.”

Finnegan, a two-year starter, is her team’s libero and a player not afraid to dive all over the court to keep the point going.

“The triple crown (conference, county and states) is what we’re striving for,” Finnegan said. “We’re a year older, more mature and we know what to expect now. Last year in the state final we didn’t even know what we were doing because we had never been there before. We work very hard and we practice every little technique that you can think of to perfect, so we can go out and dominate.”

Union Catholic was very convincing in its first win over Summit, which was a team it might only have played in the past in the UCT. Summit was previously a member of the Iron Hills Conference and Union Catholic the Mountain Valley.

Now both are in this year’s new Union County Conference.

“I think we did well and I think our passing was good and everyone was on their toes,” Finnegan said.

Emily Wilman, another standout senior, had seven kills, one dig and two aces. Sophomore standout Julie Monroy contributed eight kills, six digs and three aces.

To Summit’s credit, the Hilltoppers never gave up, played very hard and were competitive. Summit, coached by Tony Martins, went 8-13 last year.

Saggio, in her 16th season at the helm, was pleased with her team’s first effort of the season.

“I thought it went pretty well and I thought we served aggressively,” Saggio said. “We need to work on a few of our attacks and transitions, but other than that I’m happy with it.”

Wilman had many kills and Monroy critical service points in their team’s UCT championship win over Cranford last year. Gone from that Union Catholic team is Kristine Esguera, who graduated. Wilman and Esguera were both First Team All-County performers last year, while Monroy was Second Team and Pinto Third Team.

“I have most of my starters returning,” Saggio said. “Our goals are the same as last year. We’ll try to win the new conference, repeat as county champs and then reach the state final and if it’s IHA, we hope to give a better performance this time. If we’re going to compete with them (IHA), we’ve got to keep up the serving game and be better on attack.”

Saggio said that all of her players competed year-round and 12 of them played club volleyball.

It appears, with that kind of experience, that this talented Viking team could be ready to add another championship banner to its collection.

UNION CATHOLIC

2009 ROSTER:

12-Colleen Sweeney, senior setter from Scotch Plains

2-Julie Monroy, sophomore outside hitter from Rahway

15-Geri Pinto, senior middle from South Plainfield

28-Brenda Eke, senior opposite from Plainfield

7-Emily Wilman, senior outside hitter from Perth Amboy

16-Annyssa Herlihy, sophomore middle from Union

29-Catie Finnegan, senior libero from Edison

21-Lisa Birritteri, junior opposite from Linden

1-Brianne Sinclair, senior setter from Linden

4-Kelly Schulhafer, sophomore defensive specialist from Linden

11-Samantha Gonzalez, junior setter from Union

3-Kimberly Esguera, sophomore middle from Union

17-Ashley Sporer, junior outside hitter from Linden

27-Theresa Pollock, junior libero from Union

Captains: Colleen Sweeney, Geri Pinto, Catie Finnegan.

Returners: Herlihy, Monroy, Finnegan, Wilman, Pinto, Sweeney.

UNION CATHOLIC

2009 SCHEDULE/results:

Sept. 11 defeated Summit 25-14, 25-12 at home

Sept. 17 at Hunterdon Central, 4 p.m.

Sept. 22 New Providence, 4 p.m.

Sept. 24 at Rahway, 4 p.m.

Sept. 25 Roselle Catholic, 4 p.m.

Sept. 28 Science, 4 p.m.

Sept. 29 at Livingston, 4 p.m.

Sept. 30 Plainfield, 4 p.m.

Oct. 1 at Roselle, 4 p.m.

Oct. 2 at Westfield, 4 p.m.

Oct. 5 Northern Valley - Old Tappan, 6 p.m.

Oct. 7 West Morris, 4 p.m.

Oct. 9 Scotch Plains, 4 p.m.

Oct. 15 Johnson, 4 p.m.

Oct. 16 at Benedictine Academy, 4 p.m.

Oct. 19 at Linden, 4 p.m.

Oct. 20 at Cranford, 4 p.m.

Oct. 22 Oak Knoll, 4 p.m.

Oct. 23 at Science, 4 p.m.