Cranford Girls' Volleyball Falls To UC

The last time the Cranford and Union Catholic girls’ volleyball teams
met was in last year’s Union County Tournament championship match at Kean University.

Union Catholic ended up defeating Cranford for the third straight season in the final. If the two county powers are destined to meet for a fourth straight year in the championship match, Union Catholic proved to have the first advantage going in.

On Monday at Union Catholic, the Vikings were dominant at times en route to a 2-0 victory, winning games by the scores of 25-17 and 25-21. The visiting Cougars had their moments, including battling back from a 20-12 deficit to make the second game much closer.

“We know how to fight and make it exciting,” said Cranford first-year head coach Jacqueline LeBlanc of the way her Cougars came back in the second game.

LeBlanc, a 2003 Westfield graduate who starred for the Blue Devils before excelling in college at New Jersey City University, took over for former Cranford head coach Lucy Diaz, who is now coaching at Union County College.

“We were a little slow on our feet,” said LeBlanc, whose team had a four-game winning streak snapped and is now 4-2. “We need faster feet in the back.

This was the only scheduled regular season match between the two. Before Union Catholic defeated Cranford in the last three UCT finals, Cranford won the 2007 UCT championship by defeating Westfield in the final.

After being down 5-1, Cranford came back to take a 9-8 lead in the first game after serving points by junior standout Paulina Przydzial.

Following the fourth and final tie at 9-9, Union Catholic began to pull away behind kills from veteran seniors Annyssa Herlihy and Julie Monroy.

Ending both games with kills, Monroy finished a combined total of 14, in addition to five digs and one ace.

“We practiced our serving and hitting and knew that we had to step up our game for Cranford,” said Monroy, a four-year starter who is considering playing at the next level, with schools such as Sacred Heart, New Haven, Rutgers and FDU in the mix. “In the first game we went out and had fun. In the second game we were a little tense and had to work hard on defense to fight them off.”

Senior Kathryn Ahern had several service points in the second game to help Cranford put a little more pressure on Union Catholic.

“This was a learning experience for us,” said LeBlanc, whose team – after losing to Union – came back to beat Rahway, Scotch Plains, New Providence and Linden. “I thought our blocking was awesome. One play can turn the match around and enable you to get on a roll.”

Union Catholic improved to 5-0 and entered the match with two big wins Saturday at Paramus. First was a 25-8, 13-25, 25-23 triumph over Williamstown and second was a 25-12, 25-16 victory against Eastern.

“We were in a good rhythm Saturday and that carried over,” Union Catholic head coach Nancy Saggio said. “I thought we played fairly well today against Cranford. We had some hitting and serving errors, but nothing major. I’ll take the victory.”

Monroy proved to be very difficult to handle when going up against on a kill. One time Cranford senior Stephanie Bagniewski blocked one for a Cranford point.

One of the best players in the state, Monroy has been as steady as any player in Union County since her freshman season in 2008.

“She’s really, really smart,” Saggio said. “She’s strong and is also one of our best servers.”

Herlihy finished with nine kills, four digs and one ace. She is a three-year starter.

“Annyssa is strong; very powerful and athletic,” Saggio said. “She’s also able to mix up her serves. We have a nice 1-2 punch with her and Julie.”

Senior Kim Esguerra had three kills, senior Kelly Schulhafer seven digs and senior Gabby Aquino 12 assists for Union Catholic.

The Vikings are next scheduled to play at Roselle Catholic Tuesday night at 7 p.m., at Elizabeth Wednesday at 4 p.m., at Livingston Thursday night at 7 p.m. and then return home for a match Friday at 4:30 p.m. vs. Bergen County foe Immaculate Heart Academy of Washington Township.

The Cougars are next scheduled to host Benedictine Academy of Elizabeth Wednesday at 4 p.m., Bergen County opponent Bogota Thursday at 6 p.m. and then Plainfield Friday at 4 p.m.

Cranford will be competing in a tournament at Livingston Saturday morning at 9 a.m.