April 29, 2012
Harrison defeats Kearny to win Hackensack Tourn. |
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Carlos Gutierrez had the championship winning kill in the Hackensack Tournament. (Photo: Jason Bernstein) |
By Jason Bernstein Editorial Director |
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Even without playing at full strength, Harrison emerged victorious in yesterday's Hackensack Tournament which featured eight teams, including Kearny and Memorial.
Harrison would defeat cross-town rival Kearny 26-24 in the championship match.
Led by the outside hitting of Josh Lemos, the Kardinals took a 24-23 lead to force match point. But Harrison held off elimination as Matthew Muchowski's kill tied the match at 24-all. After a Kearny error gave Harrison back the lead the Blue Tide took match point when Carlos Gutierrez tipped the ball over Kearny's block after a long rally.
Harrison had opened up an early 7-2 lead behind Gutierrez and Varinder Singh, only for Kearny to rally back behind the serving of libero Lucio Costa
In pool play, Kearny went 5-1 to finish first in Pool A as it swept two-game matches to 15 points against Bergenfield and Jefferson and earned a split with Hackensack. Harrison, which was without senior liberot Lucas Nogueira, was first in Pool B as it swept Kennedy and Memorial and split with Garfield. Memorial went 3-3 in Pool B and did not advance to the semifinals.
Kearny held off Garfield 26-24 in one semifinals match with Harrison defeating Hackensack 25-17 in the other.