Union Catholic Volleyball Beats SP-F to Move on to County Finals

Union Catholic’s girls’ volleyball team is hoping for some déjà vu come Thursday night.

Last season, the Lady Vikings rolled into the Union County Tournament to take on Cranford, and made it a blue and white year by defeating the Lady Cougars. Standing in front of their way for a defense of their title this season was Scotch Plains, who beat New Providence in the quarterfinals.

But Tuesday night, the Lady Vikings took care of the Raiders with a two-game sweep, 25-16 and 25-11, victory in the tournament semi-finals.

Coming into the game, Union Catholic’s plan was to stop Scotch Plains player Alyssa Peterson, who was stymied all night.

The plan worked, with the Lady Vikings registering seven blocks on Tuesday night.

“We were trying to clear the lanes and get the blocks on Alyssa Peterson so that she would have to veer her shots,” said Union Catholic head coach Nancy Saggio. “As a team, I was pleased with our effort.”

Geri Annyssa led the way in taking out Peterson. She had five blocks that perplexed the Raiders’ offense.

It was a balanced attack for Union Catholic, with Juliette Monroy leading the way with five kills and Emily Wilman and Colleen Sweeney with three kills.

Wilman and Monroy dealt out 13 and 11 assists, respectively, to lead Union Catholic. The Lady Vikings raised their record to 17-4 while Scotch Plains dropped to 14-7.

“I was looking to come out and attack, out hit them and don’t get blocked,” Saggio said.

On the other side, Scotch Plains came out with a balanced attack of their own. Outside hitter Becky Brand had a pair of kills along with four digs, two service points, two aces and one assist. Both middle hitter Kim Wenson and opposite Erin Brown had a kill each. Wenson added three service points, while Rebecca Kreyer had two service points and seven assists.

Saggio, who had said that her team’s liability was the first game and not coming out strong, said it was a different feeling for the team from the first serve.

“I think we were relaxed and this is the second time that we had faced them,” Saggio said. Union Catholic previously defeated Scotch Plains on Oct. 9.

It was definitely a mental game. While Union Catholic was loose, you could say that the Raiders were a little more tight.

“You can’t let it get in your heads,” said Scotch Plains head coach Adrienne Stack.

Stack said that the parts did not come into one against Union Catholic on Tuesday night.

“We didn’t adjust to what they were doing,” she said.

A Scotch Plains resident herself, Saggio said she does take time out to watch the Raiders in action.

“I admit that I am a resident and watch them on TV,” Saggio said. “I was taking a few notes.”

Now, Union Catholic moves on to battle Cranford for the second time this season at the Thursday county finals game. During the team’s Oct. 20 match, the Vikings got going half way through the second game and went on to defeat the Lady Cougars, 2-1.

The Lady Cougars defeated Roselle Catholic High School, 25-13 and 25-16, Tuesday night, to move onto the finals.