November 12, 2010
Out of answers
Hunterdon Central's Brian White (left) competes with Chris Huacon for the ball.
Click Here for more photos from Madison vs Secaucus
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
PARAMUS – All season long, whenever adversity struck the Secaucus defense would find a way to adjust and usually emerge victorious.
Last night in the NJSIAA South, Group I title match, the Patriots found one mismatch they could not overcome as Madison ended Secaucus’ run with a 25-18, 25-20 victory at Paramus Catholic High School.
“It’s definitely an emotional time,” Patriots head coach Tiffany Meyer said about her senior-heavy roster. “It’s something that they worked for all four years. They don’t want their season to be over now. It’s definitely one of those numb ‘I can’t believe it’s over,’ feeling.”
Second-seeded Secaucus (25-4) never had an answer on defense for Dodgers (24-3) middle hitter JoEllen Kentner.
With the Patriots clinging to a 17-16 lead in the opening set, the Madison senior took over. She recorded six consecutive kills and followed it up with a block as the top-seeded Dodgers closed the set with a 10-1 surge.
Kentner would finish with a match-high 17 kills, including one on the championship-clinching point. She also had 11 blocks and four digs in a dominant performance.
“She was very dominating at the net and she put the ball down tonight,” Meyer said. “We had a hard time picking it up.”
Secaucus would rally back in the second set, coming back from an early 6-2 deficit to score eight of the next 11 points to take a 10-9 lead. Momentum seemed firmly on the Patriots’ side after a 5-0 run gave them a 16-15 lead. But it was as close as Secaucus would get against a Madison squad ranked 11th in the state.
“Volleyball is a game of momentum,” Meyer said. “It comes and goes and this time it went a little longer than it came.”
Senior Shannon Waters led the way for Secaucus with seven kills and fellow senior Alexis Waters added five kills in defeat. Sophomore Danielle Roesing added 13 service points and four aces as most of the Patriots’ big runs came with her on serve.
“That’s our best rotation (with Roesing serving),” Meyer said. “If we can get as many points as we can in that rotation we’re usually good to go. I wish we could have stayed in that rotation a little longer today.”
Lindsey Alexander had nine digs and seven kills for Madison and Kate Taylor added four blocks and three kills in the victory.
Andrea Lunapiena was one of five senior starters for Secaucus this season.
1st |
2nd
|
3rd |
|
| Secaucus Patriots (23-3) | 24 |
25 |
25 |
| Bayonne Bees (19-1) | 26 |
11 |
19 |