West Morris Volleyball Advances to State Sectional Finals

The story has been pretty much the same for the West Morris Central Volleyball team all year. Fortunately it has been a story of success and hard work that has followed the Lady Highlanders throughout their season.  

With their season on the line, the Lady Highlanders were able to pull out a thrilling three-set victory against a relentless Newark Eastide High School team in the state sectional semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 9.  

Coach Jim Balella had nothing but respect for the challenging team. "They're a good defensive team," he said before the game. "They're very scrappy and pick up a lot of balls. Our game plan today is to be aggressive, attack and try to find the open spots for us to score."

The first set was played in true Lady Highlander fashion as they went on to win convincingly, 25-16. Everything seemed to be clicking for West Morris as the Red Raiders of Newark Eastside looked stunned.

The second set was one that West Morris wasn't expecting. Newark Eastside caught West Morris completely off-guard from the beginning and they didn't let up on the intensity throughout the rest of the set. West Morris was dealt one of their biggest set losses all season as Eastside took it handily, 25-13, forcing a third set.

For both teams, the season would come down to one set, with the winner moving on to the state sectional finals and the loser preparing for next year.

The third set didn't start in West Morris's favor and the team's body language showed the second set took a toll. The Lady Highlanders went down by as much as five points, 13-8, in the final set. Balella stepped in and called timeout so the team could regroup.

West Morris crept closer and closer and eventually tied the game at 18. Working with momentum, the Lady Highlanders took the lead and finally closed the deal with a 25-23 third set victory. 

"We tightened up and started working against each other in the second set and it killed us," Balella said. "It's a tribute to them that they were able to bounce back to win this game today."

Morgan Blair [14 kills] came up big several times during the game as she was able to score the last two points in the first set and the game winner in the third.  Even when things were rocky, she continued to play with intensity. 

"In that second game we started to freak out," the senior captain said. "Our coach told us to calm down and it didn't work right away. We figured out that the only way to beat that team was to match their energy and excitement. We did exactly that. It wasn't easy. That team had a lot of heart and played with a lot of intensity. It was less about who had the most points and more about who had more heart. We had heart today and we showed it.

"We wanted to prove ourselves today," Blair said. "We wanted to prove that we were still a great team. We've always been a great team and its been a long road for us but we always expected to be here, heading to the finals."

"We worked so hard this season and it feels good to have won a game like this especially one that puts us back in the finals," said senior captain Chrissy Baffuto. "I love my team and I'm glad that we are as close as we are."

West Morris advances to the State Sectional Finals where they will play Old Tappan on Thursday, Nov. 11 at West Orange High School. With a win in the finals, West Morris can go on to compete for a Group Championship.