Sports
Union Catholic and SP-F Volleyball Teams are Going Strong in County Tournament
The Vikings and Raiders both won their first matches in the first round.
The Union Catholic and Scotch Plains-Fanwood girls’ volleyball teams got off to good starts in Union County Tournament play Friday as both captured their first round home matches.
Top-seeded and defending champion Union Catholic ousted 17th-seeded Plainfield, and fourth-seeded Scotch Plains eliminated 13th-seeded Summit, both teams winning in two games.
Union Catholic will next host eighth-seeded Union, while Scotch Plains will take on fifth-seeded New Providence.
Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As a matter of fact, all Top 8 seeds won and advanced to this Friday’s (Oct. 23) quarterfinals at the higher seeds.
Here’s the lineup:
Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
UCT GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL QUARTERFINALS:
Friday, Oct. 23
Top side of the bracket
8-Union at 1-Union Catholic
Bottom side of the bracket:
6-Westfield at 3-Cranford
7-Rahway at 2-Roselle Catholic
Saturday, Oct. 24
5-New Providence at 4-Scotch Plains
Union Catholic improved to 11-4 after beating Plainfield and received two kills, two blocks and two digs from senior captain Geri Pinto, who did not play against Scotch Plains because of a leg injury.
Scotch Plains also improved to 11-4 after downing Summit and received four digs, seven service points and one ace from senior captain Becky Brand.
Second-seeded Roselle Catholic improved to 11-4, third-seeded Cranford and fifth-seeded New Providence to 10-4, Westfield to 9-9, Rahway to 7-8 and Union to 9-6.
Rahway fell to 7-9 on Saturday after falling to J.P. Stevens in three games, with the scores 23-25, 25-22, 27-25.
If Union Catholic downs Union and Scotch Plains defeats New Providence in the quarterfinals this Friday, then the Vikings will play the Raiders again in the 7:30 p.m. semifinal on Oct. 27 at Union Catholic.
When Union Catholic and Scotch Plains met in regular season play at Union Catholic on Oct. 9, the home team Vikings came back to win in three games.
Scotch Plains won the first game 25-22, holding off a late Union Catholic rally.
Union Catholic jumped out to a big lead in the second game and won convincingly 25-16.
In the third and deciding game, the Vikings erased a quick 2-0 deficit and then built up a 16-10 lead before the Raiders came back to pull to within 18-16.
Union Catholic went on to post a 25-17 triumph to win the match 2-1.
2009 GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT SEEDS:
1-Union Catholic. 2-Roselle Catholic. 3-Cranford. 4-Scotch Plains.
5-New Providence. 6-Westfield. 7-Rahway. 8-Union.
9-Dayton. 10-Oak Knoll. 11-Elizabeth. 12-Linden.
13-Summit. 14-Kent Place. 15-Johnson. 16-Roselle.
17-Plainfield
PRELIMINARY ROUND:
Thursday, Oct. 15
Plainfield defeated Roselle - at Roselle
FIRST ROUND:
Friday, Oct. 16
Top side of the bracket:
New Providence 2, Linden 0 - at New Providence
Scotch Plains 2, Summit 0 - at Scotch Plains
Union 2, Dayton 1 - at Union
Union Catholic 2, Plainfield 0 - at Union Catholic
Bottom side of the bracket:
Westfield 2, Elizabeth 1 - at Westfield
Cranford 2, Kent Place 0 - at Cranford
Rahway 2, Oak Knoll 0 - at Rahway
Roselle Catholic 2, Johnson 0 - at Roselle Catholic
QUARTERFINALS:
Friday, Oct. 23, 4 p.m.
Top side of the bracket:
5-New Providence at 4-Scotch Plains
8-Union at 1-Union Catholic
Bottom side of the bracket:
6-Westfield at 3-Cranford
7-Rahway at 2-Roselle Catholic
SEMIFINALS:
Tuesday, Oct. 27
At Union Catholic
Bottom side of bracket match, 6 p.m.
Top side of bracket match, 7:30 p.m.
FINALS:
Thursday, Oct. 29
At Union Catholic
Junior varsity match, 6 p.m.
Varsity match, 7:30 p.m.
