Union Catholic Trumps Cranford in Volleyball Game

Union Catholic girls volleyball got their stuff together on Tuesday afternoon and Cranford was the worst for it.

In what could be the first of two matches between the two Union County volleyball powerhouses, the Vikings got going half way through the second game and went on to defeat the Lady Cougars, 19-25, 25-17 and 25-17.

The victory pushed Union Catholic’s record to 13-4, while Cranford dropped to 11-5.

The two teams could meet next week in the Union County Tournament final. The Vikings are the number one seed, while the Cougars are the number three seed. Both play quarterfinal matches at home on Friday. Cranford hosts sixth-seeded Westfield and Union Catholic hosts eighth-seeded Union.

In Tuesday’s matchup, Cranford led 15-11 in the second game when Union Catholic head coach Nancy Saggio called for a time out.

“It was enough already,” said Saggio about what she told her team during the timeout. “I told the setter that she need to set it to where they needed. I told them that you got to get involved.”

Colleen Sweeney responded, along with outside hitters Emily Wilman and Juliette Monroy. Both Wilman’s and Monroy’s powerful shots gave Cranford fits.

Down four at that point, the Vikings went on and grabbed 14 of the next 16 points for the first 25-17 victory.

“We could just not stop their shots,” said Cranford head coach Lucy Diaz.

Dia said that a big part of the defeat was mental.

“We keep focusing too much on our mistakes,” she said. “When we let up, they took advantage of it.”

Both Wilman and Monroy registered 14 kills each, while Sweeney rebounded with a dozen digs and 18 assists for Union Catholic.

“She (Wilman) can take over a match and she’s intimidating,” said Saggio about her outside hitter. “When she gets in a rhythm, she is hard to stop.”

Caitlin Finnegan added eight digs for the Vikings. Cranford's Meghan Bartsch led the way with 10 kills, 14 service points and 14 assists. Kristen Rupp added 11 kills, 10 service points, a pair of aces and two digs. Sarah Barry contributed a dozen assists and seven service points, while Kaitlyn Irwin had six digs, seven service points and an ace.

In the deciding game, both teams took the lead in the first half of the game, but the Wilman and Monroy factor went into the effect again in the later part of the third game. Monroy scored a dig against Cranford for a 12-11 lead that would turn out to be the closest that the Cougars would be.

Union Catholic would go on a 9-1 run and the Vikings would take a 20-12 lead. But Cranford would get a mini-rally with the help of Julie DeBella, who scored a couple of points with digs.

DeBella’s dig would cut the Vikings lead down to four points, 20-16. Union Catholic would come back and score five of the last six points. Annysa Herlihy would end the match with a smash and put an exclamation point on the game and match.

In the first game, Cranford withstood a slow start as Union Catholic took a 7-4 lead. Led by Bartsch, the Cougars rolled at the end of the game by grabbing the last five of the seven points for the 25-19 Cranford victory.