Wednesday, April 23, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

GARFIELD – With a young team that had virtually no varsity experience, Garfield came into this season with thoughts of rebuilding for the future. Having to replace five starters from the best team in school history, the expectations were not nearly as high as they were a year ago. But the Boilermakers were aware that a big week would put them back in position to qualify for the state tournament.

The first hurdle appeared to be the easiest to clear on paper. The Boilermakers had a home match on Tuesday against Kearny, a first-year varsity program. Any thoughts of looking past the Kardinals, however, went out the window, as they stayed with Garfield during both the first and second games.

But the only player with any varsity experience, on either team, stepped up and asserted himself, dominating at the net and taking over a match. Ed Ogletree had four kills and a block in a 11-0 run to close out the match as Garfield survived with a 25-18, 25-16 victory that was much closer than the score indicated.

“When we’re at our best is when we can pass and get the ball to Eddie (Ogletree) up top,” said Garfield head coach Tom Giuffre. “We have three sophomores, one junior, and one senior with no varsity experience coming into the season, so there is a big learning curve. The biggest key is our passing. When we pass well and get the ball to Eddie, like we did late in the second game, good things tend to happen.”

Leo Chemin had a pair of kills in a 5-2 Kearny run to start the match. The Boilermakers answered behind Ogletree. The 6’4” senior had two kills and two blocks during a 9-1 run to take back the lead, which they retained for the rest of the game. Kearny pulled to within a point, 19-18, before Garfield went on the first of two big closing runs. Once again, it was Ogletree who provided the spark. He had a block and a kill in a three-point span to give Garfield game No. 1.

The Kardinals did not let the way the first game ended affect their play going into the second game. In fact, Kearny was aggressive for most of the match. Setter Eli Castro was all over the court bailing out his teammates on some bad passes and helping run the offense smoothly. He set up Chemin for a kill that gave the Kardinals a two-point lead. They maintained that two-point lead, 16-14, before a huge Ogletree kill got the Boilermakers back on track.

He recorded another kill on the next point to tie the game at 16-16. On the ensuing point, John Salcedo gave Garfield the lead for good with an ace. Ogletree followed that up with a kill and a block, as the Boilermakers were off and running en route to the victory.

“This was a match we couldn’t afford to lose,” said Ogletree. “I take the approach of being a leader and leading by example into every game. When I get to the front row, I feel confident that we can go on a run. If I get a good pass and a good set, I know I’m going to put it down.

“Every win we get is a good win and now we’ll try to build on this and keep winning.”

“We lost our aggressiveness and they became much more aggressive at the net late in the second game,” said Kearny head coach Jen Mitchell. “With us, one mistake turns into three or four more and it’s tough to turn it back around because we’re so young. We’re starting to show improvement and we’re becoming more consistent, so I’m happy with our effort today.”

Castro’s eight assists led all players for Kearny (1-9), who notched its first victory in the program’s history over Dover earlier this month. Chemin led the Kardinals with 7 kills.

Ogletree had match-highs with 10 kills and five blocks for Garfield (5-6). The Boilermakers will look to get back to .500 this morning when they travel to face North Bergen, a match Giuffre considers to be the most important of the season.

“We have to win all of our winnable matches if we’re going to make it back to the state tournament,” added Giuffre. “Every year it’s a main goal to qualify for the state tournament. We face some quality teams coming up, so it puts more emphasis on winning the matches we feel we should win.

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