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Union Catholic Volleyball to Tangle with IHA Again in State Championship Match

The game will take place Saturday at noon at William Paterson University in Wayne.

There’s no doubt that the Union Catholic girls’ volleyball team is on a roll and has stepped up its performance of late.

Whether that’s going to be good enough to beat the best team in the state remains unknown.

For the second year in a row, the second-seeded Vikings from Scotch Plains will take on top-seeded Bergen County power Immaculate Heart Academy of Washington Township in the Non-Public state championship match.

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IHA is once again ranked No. 1 in the state, while Union Catholic was ranked No. 16 in The Star-Ledger’s latest Top 20 poll.

The final will be contested Saturday at noon at William Paterson University in Wayne, just like it was last year. Union Catholic is seeking its second state championship and first since winning the Non-Public crown in 2005 and becoming the first school from Union County to become a state champion.

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The Non-Public match will be the second of five state championships that will be contested at the Division 3 college Saturday, with the first match scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. start.

IHA prevailed 25-8, 25-16 over Union Catholic in last year’s Non-Public final and also went on to win the Tournament of Champions crown and finish No. 1 in the state.

The Blue Eagles are sparked by the top player in the state in 6-5 standout senior middle blocker Ariel Scott, who will continue playing in college on scholarship at two-time defending national champion Penn State. 

“We’re going to have to talk about settling down our nerves and not just looking at Ariel as this humongous block,” said 16th-year Union Catholic head coach Nancy Saggio. “We’re going to have to play, have fun, get our kills, we’re going to have to talk, get our serves in and relax. If we relax, and play and play our game, we’re going to be competitive and we’re going to be able to hang in there.”

Union Catholic won its 14th straight match Thursday night to improve to 21-4. The Viking record was incorrectly reported at Union Catholic Tuesday night as 21-4 after the win against DePaul. The match Union Catholic did not play at home against West Morris Oct. 7 did not count as a forfeit win.

Union Catholic has won its last seven matches, all in two games.

Of the 21 Viking victories, 17 of them have come in two games. The last team to win a game against Union Catholic was Cranford on Oct. 20 in Cranford when the host Cougars captured the first game 25-19, but lost to Union Catholic 2-1.

Since the end of that game, Union Catholic has now won 18 straight games.

“It’s great that I can set everyone and I have every option available to me,” said Union Catholic senior setter Colleen Sweeney. “It wasn’t like that in the beginning of the season, but right now everyone is clicking and we’re playing real well.”

Union Catholic’s other three 2-1 wins came over Rahway, Scotch Plains and Paramus. Saggio mentioned that Paramus gave IHA a pretty good match.

IHA is now 27-1, with its lone loss coming to a New York team in its own tournament. Scott said the New York team was ranked something like 40th in the country and although the Blue Eagles lost in two games, both were very close.

Union Catholic’s last loss was to Old Tappan in two games Oct. 5 at home, with the Bergen County power winning 25-9, 27-25.

IHA defeated Old Tappan 25-13, 25-12 on Nov. 1 in the Bergen County final to capture its first county championship since 1998.

Union Catholic’s first three setbacks came to Hunterdon Central in two games, Science Park of Newark in three games and Livingston in two games.

The Vikings finished undefeated against Union County competition and claimed a conference title as a result.

Saturday will also be a battle of county champions, with Union Catholic repeating as the UCT winner and IHA the BCT champ.

Union Catholic will need to be ready and playing its best in the first game in order to have any shot of knocking off the defending champions. A repeat of last year’s 25-8 loss in the first game will not be good enough again.

  “I think we all play better when we’re having fun and we’re not tight,” Sweeney said. “We need to come out and do what we do best, which is hit the ball and block. We need to block Ariel. Like I said, I don’t just have one option, I have six. We’re definitely more mature, so going into Saturday morning that’s going to be big.”

Scott, who has a younger sister in the starting lineup named Raquel who is also a pretty good player, respects the challenge that Union Catholic will once again provide.

“We have to keep our focus because we know they are a good team and they’ve been in the states and have experience in the states,” said Scott, who said she committed to Penn State last December. “We’re going to have to play strong until the end because we know they are capable of coming back. They have some good hitters, they’re pretty strong at hitting and they have a good back line too, so they’re pretty good all around.”

IHA is attempting to win county and state titles in the same year for the first time. The last two years the Blue Eagles lost the rank of No. 1 in the state during the regular season when they were defeated in the BCT. Last year’s squad rebounded to finish No. 1 in the state after winning state and TOC crowns.

 IHA head coach Maria Nolan realizes that Saturday’s attempt at another state championship will take a valiant effort on her team’s part.

“We had not seen them (Union Catholic) this year until tonight,” Nolan said. “We usually see them once or twice. I didn’t know what to expect. They’re very well-skilled and their passing and technique is very good. They know what they’re doing and they’re a strong, solid team. They’re a team that belongs in the final.”

 Both teams hardly broke a sweat in winning their semifinal matches Thursday night at Millburn, with Union Catholic downing third-seeded Bishop Ahr 25-18, 25-11 before IHA ousted fourth-seeded Roselle Catholic 25-9, 25-12.

Bishop Ahr reached the Greater Middlesex Tournament final and then advanced to the Non-Public semifinals for the first time. Perhaps its best season ever produced a final record of 22-5.

Roselle Catholic had another impressive campaign and concluded at 17-7. The Lions also reached the UCT semifinals and defeated everyone in Union County this year except for Union Catholic.

After trailing Bishop Ahr 6-4 in the first game, a kill by Sweeney broke the sixth and final tie of 13-13 and gave the Vikings the lead for good at 14-13.

After the 13-13 tie, Union Catholic went on an 11-2 run to take a 24-15 lead before winning 25-18.

A kill by senior outside hitter Emily Wilman tied the match at 11-11 and seemed to turn the tide. Sophomore outside hitter Julie Monroy followed by serving an ace to give Union Catholic its second lead at 12-11.

“There was a little panic on our part early on,” Saggio said. “When the first game was over I asked them, ‘what was that?’ There was none of that anymore and they relaxed and that was it.”

Union Catholic led the second game 6-0 before Bishop Ahr scored a point and continued to coast the rest of the way.

Monroy finished with seven kills, five digs and five aces, while sophomore defensive specialist Kelly Schulhafer produced six digs, eight service points and two aces.

Sweeney had two kills, three digs and 20 assists, while Wilman finished with 12 kills, five digs and one ace.

“A kill by Emily usually gets the team going,” Saggio said. “I was waiting for that, for Emily to start it, to fire it up. When she gets it going, it’s like here we go. Now we feel good and we’re going to get in a groove.”

Senior middle blocker Geri Pinto also contributed several kills.

Senior Megan Ryan had five kills and four digs and senior Megan Lange 22 assists for Bishop Ahr.

Ariel Scott had 11 kills, three blocks, two digs and three service points against Roselle Catholic.

“She’s incredible and so much fun to watch,” Nolan said of Scott. “She’s so powerful and she’s so intelligent and I think even her opponents enjoy watching her. She’s just so above, usually, what we see here.”

Raquel Scott had five kills, one block, four digs and four service points; junior outside hitter Danielle Michaels contributed four kills, four digs, 10 service points and two aces; senior opposite Athena Garbarino came up with three digs, 13 service points and two aces and senior middle blocker Petra Parros had five kills.

Producing consecutive kills for Roselle Catholic in the second game were senior opposite Jenn Ryan and senior outside hitter Caitlin Abate.

2-UNION CATHOLIC VIKINGS (21-4) 

12-Colleen Sweeney, senior setter

2-Julie Monroy, sophomore outside hitter

15-Geri Pinto, senior middle blocker

28-Brenda Eke, senior opposite

7-Emily Wilman, senior outside hitter

16-Annyssa Herlihy, sophomore middle blocker

29-Catie Finnegan, senior libero

21-Lisa Birritteri, junior opposite

1-Brianne Sinclair, senior setter

4-Kelly Schulfafer, sophomore defensive specialist

11-Samantha Gonzalez, junior setter

3-Kimberly Esguerra, sophomore middle blocker

17-Ashley Sporer, junior outside hitter

27-Theresa Pollock, junior libero

Starters: Sweeney, Monroy, Pinto, Eke, Wilman, Herlihy

Libero: Finnegan

Head coach: Nancy Saggio

Assistant coach: Pamela Sawicki

Union Catholic in the Non-Public playoffs:

First round – received a bye

Second round – defeated 15-Mary Help of Christians 25-7, 25-11

Quarterfinals – defeated 7-DePaul 25-10, 25-10

Semifinals – defeated 3-Bishop Ahr 25-18, 25-11 

1-IMMACULATE HEART ACADEMY BLUE EAGLES (27-1)

4-Danielle Michael, junior outside hitter

8- Petra Parros, senior middle blocker

10-Kristin Flatkeval, senior setter

11-Ariel Scott, senior middle blocker

12-Athena Garbarino, senior opposite

13-Raquel Scott, sophomore outside hitter

5-Michelle Cruz, freshman libero

1-Hanna Brundgardt, sophomore

3-Jess Cervini, sophomore

7-Ashley Angello, freshman

14-Amanda Garbarino, sophomore

15-Jenn Pagano, freshman

17-Riley Boswell, senior

Starters: Michaels, Parros, Flatkeval, A. Scott, Athena Garbarino, R. Scott

Libero: Cruz

Head coach: Maria Nolan

Assistant coach: Mike DeCastro

Immaculate Heart Academy in the Non-Public playoffs:

First round – received a bye

Second round – defeated 17-Hudson Catholic 25-5, 25-5

Quarterfinals – defeated 8-Mount St. Dominic 25-12, 25-17

Semifinals – defeated 4-Roselle Catholic 25-9, 25-12 

NON-PUBLIC STATE TOURNAMENT

SEEDS: 1-Immaculate Heart. 2-Union Catholic. 3-Bishop Ahr. 4-Roselle Catholic. 5-Mother Seton. 6-Holy Family. 7-DePaul. 8-Mount St. Dominic.

9-Marylawn. 10-Our Lady of Mercy. 11-Hawthorne Christian. 12-Oak Knoll. 13-Newark Academy. 14-St. Vincent. 15-Mary Help of Christians.

16-Montclair Immaculate. 17-Hudson Catholic.

FIRST ROUND:

Nov. 3 – at Montclair Immaculate   

Hudson Catholic def. Montclair Immaculate 25-10, 25-14

SECOND ROUND:

Nov. 6 – at the higher seeds

Immaculate Heart Academy def. Hudson Catholic 25-5, 25-5

Mount St. Dominic def. Marylawn 25-16, 25-17

Mother Seton def. Oak Knoll 25-9, 25-10

Roselle Catholic def. Newark Academy 25-10, 25-19

Bishop Ahr won by default over St. Vincent

Holy Family def. Hawthorne Christian 25-22, 27-25, 25-16

DePaul def. Our Lady of Mercy 25-19, 25-20

Union Catholic def. Mary Help of Christians 25-7, 25-11

QUARTERFINALS:

Nov. 10 – at the higher seeds

Roselle Catholic def. Mother Seton 25-16, 25-16

Immaculate Heart Academy def. Mount St. Dominic 25-12, 25-17

Bishop Ahr def. Holy Family 25-9, 25-12

Union Catholic def. DePaul 25-10, 25-10

SEMIFINALS:

Nov. 12 at Millburn

Union Catholic def. Bishop Ahr 25-18, 25-11

Immaculate Heart Academy def. Roselle Catholic 25-9, 25-12

FINAL:

Nov. 14 at William Paterson University in Wayne

2-Union Catholic (21-4) vs. Immaculate Heart Academy (27-1), noon

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