May 8, 2010
Harrison rebounds from struggles
Senior Ricky Touzet led Harrison with 15 kills and 11 digs in the victory.
Click Here for photos from Harrison at McNair.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
JERSEY CITY – On the surface, yesterday’s match against McNair was merely one last tune-up before the start of the Hudson County Tournament for the Harrison boys volleyball team. But for the Blue Tide, who has lost three of their previous four matches, calling it a must-win might be more appropriate.
Harrison will enter next week’s tournament on a winning note after recovering from some early tension and earning a 25-23, 25-16 victory over the Cougars.
“It’s big,” Harrison coach Nick Landy said. “I think this is a big momentum builder and it’s something that we were hoping. If we didn’t win, the tournament would have been ugly. This gives us a little bit more confidence in our ability. They all have the ability to get the job done.”
“These last couple of games we haven’t been playing like ourselves,” said senior Ricky Touzet.
After struggling with inconsistency for most of the day, the Blue Tide (13-6) closed the match with a 7-1 run, regaining the form which earned them the third seed and a first round bye in next week’s tournament.
Chris Osiecki registered consecutive kills to give Harrison a 20-15 cushion. The senior would add another kill in the deciding run for the Blue Tide.
“Chris just knows volleyball. He knows how to hit the ball, he knows where to put it (on the court).”
Harrison would score the last five points of the match. Two of them, including the clincher, came on aces from Rahim Douelfakar.
Touzet was a one-man wrecking crew for Harrison early on. Using an array of power hits and cross-court shots, Touzet racked up 10 kills in the opening set.
“Once I start feeling it, that’s it,” Touzet said. “Even if you have the block on me, I’m going to (adjust). I just kept changing it up how I was hitting the ball.”
“He finally had that really (big) game,” Landy said. “I think this was probably one of his better games. He was on most of the time.”
Touzet, who finished with 15 kills and 11 digs (both team highs), was quick to credit the passing of sophomore Victor Narvaez as playing a big role in his success. Narvaez had 24 assists in the win.
While Touzet was dominant early on, his performance was being matched by McNair’s Peter Sikorski. Sikorski, who finished with 10 kills, nine digs and four blocks, registered a pair of kills to even the opening set at 21-all.
It would be as close as the Cougars (15-6) would get in the set. Touzet broke the deadlock with a kill and Osiecki added two of his own to close out the set.
“The timing of our blockers (was off),” McNair coach Sharon Felton-James said. “It’s always the first line of defense is blocking and we did not block.”
Osiecki finished with 12 kills, nine assists and six digs for the Blue Tide. Matt Surmacz and David Passos added eight and six digs respectively. Surmacz also had four blocks. Douelfakar chipped in with four kills and four blocks.
Jose Diaza had 14 digs and five assists for McNair in defeat. Theodores Economu added 13 assists. Fernando Titus had four kills and two blocks. Jin Hwan Oh had four digs as the Cougars, seeded fourth in the tournament, seek to put the lessons from this defeat to good use next week.
“It should make us stronger,” Felton-James said. “It should make us realize what we have to do to be better.”
McNair senior Peter Sikorski had 10 kills, nine digs and four blocks.
1st |
2nd |
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| Harrison Blue Tide (13-6) | 25 |
25 |
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| McNair Cougars (15-6) | 23 |
16 |
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