Volleyball Team Headed to ECT Final

LIVINGSTON - The Livingston boys volleyball team has been looking forward to playing in the final of the Essex County Tournament for about a year.

Thanks to play on Tuesday, when the boys beat Belleville in an ECT semifinal match, the Lancers will get their chance to take home the trophy.  On Saturday, top-seed Livingston will face second-seed Bloomfield in a rematch of last year's final, which the Lancers lost.

"It's definitely revenge," said senior Billy Williams. "We've been thinking about this for awhile."

While the Lancers are looking forward to the match, they are not going to look back to Tuesday's game.  Livingston struggled in both games to come away with a 25-23 and 25-22 victory over Belleville.

Head coach Al Partelow felt that the Bucs were much improved since the last time Livingston beat them in April, also in two games, 25-21 and 25-12.

Still, the Lancers know they could have played better.

"We were playing without a lot of energy," said Partelow, who added that the Lancers' errors on the court kept Belleville in the mix. "It was basically our doing. We made some poor decisions. On the bright side, we are in the finals."

On Saturday, the team will have to play better, especially because Bloomfield will have the home court advantage. 

"It's a big advantage for them. It's not a volleyball-friendly gym," said Partelow.

In the win over Belleville, senior Billy Williams led the way with 13 kills along with eight digs. J. P. Tirone and M. J. Vincent added three kills each. Setter Justin Delman led the team in assists with 17, while Ed Jung had the most digs with 13.

In the first game, both teams battled back and forth before Livingston took control.

"We were a little tense, a little tight and a little stressed," said Williams about the first game.

The Lancers held the lead for most of the first part of the first game; at one point, Livingston was ahead 12-7 after a M.J. Vincent smash.  But Livingston could not put the Bucs away and Belleville came storming back with five straight points to tie the game at 12.

Belleville kept the upper hand for the next several points.  The Bucs were even up by two, 21-19, before Livingston perked up.

With some Belleville errors and a Williams's smash, the Lancers regained the lead at 23-21. Williams finished off the Bucs in the first game with a dig at 25-23.

"We talked about better communication," said Williams about the discussion between the first and second games.

While the Lancers were tense in the first game, they were more relaxed in the second game. The Bucs were fired up, knowing that they had to win the game or the match would be over.  They took the charge and got to an 8-3 lead.

At that point, the Lancers woke up. Livingston scored seven of the next nine points to tie the game at 10 on a Jake Delman serve that could not be handled by Belleville.

The lead changed hands several times before the Lancers took advantage of a Buc's serve that went out to give the Lancers the 18-16 lead. From there, they closed the game and sealed a berth into Saturday's final.

In addition to winning the county title, Livingston is close to securing the Super Essex Conference title. The Lancers have three games left in the conference and need to win two out of the three to win the title outright.

Ironically, Livingston takes on Belleville today in a regular season contest.

Livingston Boys Volleyball
(Games at 4 p.m. unless noted)

May 12        Belleville, 5 p.m.
May 13        at Barringer
May 14        at Garfield
May 15        at Bloomfield, ECT Final, 1 p.m.
May 17        at West Essex
May 18        at East Orange
May 19        Millburn, 4:30 p.m.