Led by standouts Velez and Roman, state-ranked Tigers steamroll Marauders
Ever since boys’ volleyball became an NJSIAA-sanctioned varsity sport a few years ago, basically two teams – Memorial and St. Peter’s Prep – have represented Hudson County.
The two teams have been knocking heads ever since, with no clearcut winner or favorite.
For example, Memorial dominated two regular season matchups last year, but the Marauders came back to win the HCIAA championship match, stunning the Tigers.
Memorial standout Eliazar Velez was expecting the typically-close showdown Tuesday, especially after the Marauders defeated state power Eastern – the only team to knock off Memorial this season – over the weekend.
"I actually thought it would go to the max, three games, like we always do against them," Velez said. "A lot of people expected us to lose, especially since they beat Eastern."
"There’s a nice rivalry between St. Peter’s and us," Memorial head coach John Wengerter said. "The matches are always pretty competitive. I figured we were going three today."
Guess again.
Memorial, ranked No. 7 in the state, completely dominated play from the outset, totally manhandling its fiercest foe, the No. 10-ranked Marauders, 15-8, 15-3, at the Prep gym.
Memorial (14-1), which lost in heartbreaking fashion in the Hudson County finals to St. Peter’s a year ago, made sure that its victory over Prep (14-2) on April 6 wasn’t enough revenge for last year’s setback.
"I think we came in here to make a statement," Velez said. "We still had that championship game on our minds. They took it away from us last year and we still want revenge for that."
Velez practically saw to it himself. The 6-6 outside hitter was clearly the most dominant player on the floor, collecting 10 kills, seven blocks, and six service points, two of which went for aces. Every hit Velez made was pounded with authority, almost like he indeed wanted to send a message himself.
"They couldn’t stop Eliazar," Wengerter said. "He’s just too big and too powerful."
Memorial took control midway through the first game, scoring eight straight points to take a 13-5 lead, after St. Peter’s had tied the game at 5-5 on three service points from Christian Lotoja.
Velez was all over the place, making play after play, and teammate Jerry Roman, who at 6-4 is no slouch in size, controlled the action near the net and had four straight service points to close out the first game. Roman also had seven kills and five blocks on the day.
"I think we all feed off Eliazar a lot," Roman said. "We depend on him to make plays and then we all feed off each other. They really thought they could beat us, but we were the more aggressive team today. We really came to play."
In the second game, Memorial kept the heat on and in devastating fashion, rolling to a 14-0 lead before St. Peter’s could muster a single point. Again, it was more Velez, who had three service points, one ace and four hits in the impressive run.
"That second game totally shocked me," Velez said. "We held them to zero for so long and you could see that they weren’t really there."
"I was a little bit stunned," Roman said. "I never thought it would turn out this way. I don’t know what the difference was between the first time we played them and today, but this kind of shocked me."
"We were just really up for it," Wengerter explained. "I didn’t think we’d come in and blow them away, because they’re always so competitive. But our hitting was on and we were hitting the ball hard. We only had three service errors all day. And everyone was contributing. St. Peter’s just seemed a little off today and we took advantage of that."
Veteran St. Peter’s head coach Don Guide was left shaking his head in amazement.
"There’s no way I expected this," Guide said. "They just kind of blitzed us. I don’t think we showed a lot out there today. Roman and Velez put a lot of pressure on us and we didn’t respond to it. We just didn’t step up to the challenge. Hopefully, we’ll get another chance to get them again, but we’ll have to work on technique before then.”
For St. Peter’s, Andrew Blauvelt had seven kills and five blocks, Jordan Abanilla had five kills and Anthony LoSpada had five blocks.
Even if the Marauders get another crack at the Tigers, there’s no question that the talented Tigers, especially Velez and Roman, will be waiting this time around.