When Hudson Catholic High School announced last year that it was going to go co-educational to allow female students for the first time in the school’s 45-year history, it was not immediately known what it was going to mean for the athletic programs at the formerly all-boys Jersey City school located on McGinley Square.
Meaning, if you’re bringing girls into the building, then you better be able to field girls’ sports teams as well.
And as everyone knows, starting athletic teams from complete scratch could be painstaking propositions.
So the school’s administration held an informational forum last spring, asking prospective female students what sport they most wanted to participate in during the fall scholastic season.
Surprisingly, there was very little interest in girls’ soccer. The same could be said for cross country. Hudson County teams don’t play field hockey like they do in practically every other part of New Jersey.
But there was a huge signup session for volleyball. More than 50 prospective Hudson Catholic students showed an interest in playing volleyball. It meant one thing. Hudson Catholic sure better have a volleyball team ready for when the girls entered the hallowed halls of the school for the first time.
Enter Fernando Colon. A Hoboken native and Jersey City resident who once played boys’ high school volleyball at Dickinson, helping the Rams to the HCIAA title in 1996, Colon expressed some interest in taking over the fledgling program after spending the last few years coaching girls’ volleyball at St. Anthony.
“I knew that they were going to give good support to the program,” Colon said. “I thought it would be a good place to start a program.”
Colon took the job, knowing fully well that he could not have any expectations at all. After all, brand new programs never win. They all have to build from the bottom up. It takes time.
“I figured most of the girls would be freshmen and they were going to be young,” Colon said. “I figured we would finish with perhaps four or five wins.”
In the beginning, it was hard. The school didn’t have lines painted on the basketball floor for volleyball, so Colon had to take out a tape measure and masking tape and put tape on the floor for lines.
“None of the girls had played with lines before,” Colon said. “They all thought volleyball was standing in one place and hitting the ball back and forth over the net.”
Colon had to basically start from the beginning.
“They really didn’t know the rules,” Colon said. “They didn’t know the positions, like who was a setter, who was a hitter. I had to teach them how to stand in the box. It was all from scratch.”
However, that was except for a handful of players who were part of the program at St. Joseph of the Palisades in West New York, the school that closed last June. Those girls, who played junior varsity volleyball at St. Joseph, decided to transfer to Hudson Catholic in unison when they found out that their school was shutting its doors and Hudson Catholic was welcoming girls.
“I knew my friends were coming here, so I decided to come as well,” said senior Alyson Montalvo. “It was the closest co-ed school and I thought it would feel like the same at St. Joe’s.”
“I think that helped us bond together,” said fellow senior and St. Joseph transfer Cindy Rodriguez. “We were all together.”
“It definitely helped us making friends in our new school,” said Theresa MacIntosh, another senior transfer from St. Joseph. “It was unexpected that our old school was going to close, but this turned out to be perfect for us.”
When the season began, the new program didn’t even have uniforms.
“We just wore T-shirts,” Colon said. “But you could see the girls were into it and the school was very supportive.”
There was another problem.
“We didn’t have balls either,” Colon said, knowing fully well that it’s pretty tough to field a volleyball team without volleyballs. After all, it was the only girls’ sport the school was offering to start the school year. There had better be support.
“The girls all caught on pretty quickly,” Colon said. “I was very impressed.”
But the players had no idea what would materialize.
“It was a first-year program,” fellow senior Jennifer Martorony, another transfer from St. Joseph. “We just wanted to play.”
The new Hudson Catholic team definitely caught on quicker than expected, winning three of their first four matches.
“When we got to 9-5 at one point, I said to myself, ‘This is not a bad way to start,’” Colon said. “We beat McNair Academic and that’s when I thought we had a chance to do something pretty fast. I didn’t think it was going to happen, but it did.”
And when the cutoff came to qualify for the NJSIAA state tournament, lo and behold, the new program was over .500 and earned its place in the Non-Public A bracket.
“We called the state with our record and they had to call me back to verify that we even had girls,” Colon said. “Then they congratulated me, because they didn’t know if a team ever made the states in its very first year. I’ve had coaches call me to congratulate me.”
Sure enough, the Hawks took their 10-9 record to Montclair Immaculate on Monday for the school’s first-ever state playoff appearance by a girls’ team.
And guess what happened? They won in straight games.
It doesn’t matter that the Hawks will now have to travel to face Immaculate Heart Academy of Bergen County in the next round, the same IHA team that has won the last two NJSIAA Tournament of Champions titles and the same team coached by former Secaucus coach Maria Nolan, the state’s all-time leader in volleyball coaching victories.
All that matters now is that the Hawks made the state playoffs and actually won a match. It’s not known if there has ever been another program in the state history to do so, but it is certainly a first for Hudson County.
“Teams take time to establish themselves,” Colon said. “This is definitely a good stepping stone. It’s the first year and we’re taking the right steps to become a winner. That’s what we want to bring to the school.”
The St. Joseph transfers have all played key roles. Rodriguez is a middle hitter, MacIntosh is a setter, Montalvo is an outside hitter whom Colon says “is carrying the team,” and Martorony is a consistent performer.
Freshman Jade Gomez has been a pleasant surprise as a setter.
“She has a lot of potential and she’s already been a leader,” Colon said. “She can be a complete player.”
Freshman Cynthia Soto is another freshman setter who has come a long way already.
“Right now, we’re the most successful girls’ program in the school’s history,” Colon said. “Well, right now, we’re the first one and the only one. But we’re successful.”
State playoff teams usually are.
“I think it’s pretty amazing and pretty wild,” Martorony said.
Sure is.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.