Sunday, October 25, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Alicia Clark did a solid job setting and also had some big points herself as Paramus knocked off Bogota in two games in the Bergen County Tournament's Round of 16.

OLD TAPPAN – There is always that gray area when seeding the Bergen County Girls Volleyball Tournament. Where do you place the historically successful power programs that might have a few losses on their records due to superior competition versus where you place some of the smaller schools that have the lofty won/loss records, but build them against league competition that does not offer top notch quality day-in, day-out?

Paramus falls into the former category and received the No. 9 seed this year, while Bogota falls is part of the latter grouping and was seeded No. 8. But the best aspect of tournament play is that the number in parenthesis before a team’s name in the bracket means nothing when the match starts.

Once the opening whistle blows, it comes down to which team executes better and on Saturday in the Round of 16, it was Paramus that made the key plays late in both games en route to a two-game sweep by identical 25-20 scores and the county quarterfinals where they will get a shot at IHA, the No. 1 seed and last year’s outright state champion. IHA knocked out No. 17 Northern Highlands in a two-game sweep on Saturday.

Bogota libero Jaclyn Del Cid digging up a serve.

“We know that with the equity of the teams involved in this tournament that you can really control your own fate by just going back to basics. You have to keep it simple and get the job done on your side and you can’t afford unforced errors,” said Paramus head coach Maria Elena Bellinger. “I told my girls that if they stayed away from the unforced errors the other team was not going to be able to make a run and we’ll be in every game.”

Both teams were in it as Game 1 moved along. It was tied at 15 before Paramus made its move. And ace served by Stephanie Peros gave the Spartans the lead for good at 16-15 and Paramus moved to a 22-16 advantage on a service winner by Chelsea Schillizzi.

But Bogota made a bid to get back in it with a four-point spurt that started when Taylor Woegens banged one off a dig attempt. A kill by Marta Topor got Bogota to within 22-18 and then two straight Paramus errors drew the Bucs to within two points at 22-20. But Paramus setter Alaina Clark ended the run when she turned a mishit dig into a tip for a point and the Spartans closed out the game on a Bogota net violation and a smash by Nicole DeLuise that hit the back line for the final point.

Nicole DeLuise (right) hit the back line to give Paramus the final point of the match.

“I just think they passed better than us and that they wanted it a little more than us,” said Bogota head coach Brad DiRupo. “They played the big points better than us and that was it.”

It didn’t look like there were going to be many big points to be played in the second game as Paramus won seven of the first nine points, but Bogota reeled the Spartans back in with a 6-0 run behind the serve of Jaclyn Del Cid. Julia Topor’s kill got the Bucs all even at 9 before Alexa Scrivanich’s kill from the middle put Paramus back in front for good.

“I think that our whole entire team did a great job. If we made a mistake we all had each others back and we were encouraging each other to just keep going,” said Clark, a senior. “It was a little easier for us playing a team like Bogota because we don’t know too much about them and we just came out and played our game. When we know the opponent real well sometimes we react too much to what they do well and it might get us out of our game, but that didn’t happen today.”

Taylor Woegens and Bogota will be a favorite heading in the Group 1 state tournament.

Paramus pushed its lead to 19-13 when DeLuise connected from the outside on a set by Clark, but the Spartans still had some sweating to do as a net violation six points later kept Bogota hanging around at 20-18 with serve. It was not until Peros shot through a block hit the floor on game point that Paramus could look ahead to IHA, which it fell to in a two-game sweep earlier this week.

“Every year there is that one upset in the tournament and this year why can’t that be us?” asked Bellinger to a reporter who had no good answer. “We just saw IHA this week and once we settled in we were OK even though we didn’t win. They are high school girls just like us. We are going to make our mistakes, but they are going to make their mistakes too and we just have to stay with it. Their seventh man is that sometimes teams are in awe of them and I am not saying that they don’t deserve that respect because they do, but we have to eliminate that seventh man, trust in our training and go and play.”

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