Coffing attacks North Bergen's upset bid

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer


Bayonne's Josh Coffing finished with 18 digs, 17 assists, 15 kills, and six aces as the Bees improved to 8-0 on the season.

NORTH BERGEN - Bayonne came into yesterday's HCIAA-Coviello tilt against North Bergen with an unblemished record and looking to make a statement. The Bees breezed through the first two-and-a-half games just as they had through their first seven matches of the regular season, but a third-game collapse kept North Bergen alive.

When the Bruins took the lead late in Game 4, the Bees had to face an opponent that they had not seen all year, adversity. That suited senior standout Josh Coffing just fine.

Passing, setting, jump-serve aces, pinpoint spikes, whatever the Bees needed Coffing did it, especially down the stretch. Behind the play of Coffing and middle blocker Kenson DeLacruz, Bayonne scored six of the final eight points in the fourth game; avoiding the upset and remaining undefeated with a four-game triumph, 25-14, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22.

North Bergen Kevin Esolero going up for one of his match-high 18 kills.

"I think this is the test that we needed," said Coffing, who will play next year at Stevens Institute of Technology. "We knew they had two big kids in the middle and they were going to set the middle as often as possible. That helped with our passing, which is really the key to our offense. We passed well in the first game and that got us going."

Coffing and DeLaCruz pounded down kill after kill to spark the Bees biggest run of the match. Elian Ostorga, who served seven consecutive points during the spurt, capped it with an ace for a 12-2 lead to start the match.

North Bergen battled back on three straight blocks from Adrian Escobar. Felipe Rojas' second ace of the game pulled the Bruins to within four, 12-8. From there, the Bees pulled away, receiving a spark off the bench from Mike Leitner, who put down three kills in four attempts to help Bayonne cruise to a Game 1 victory.

The Bruins put up a better fight in the second game, battling back from a five-point deficit to knot the score at 15 on a kill from Kevin Escolero. While the Bruins scratched and clawed for every point, they simply did not have an answer for Coffing.

Mike Leitner came off the bench to give Bayonne a lift at the net.

One of Hudson County's top players, Coffing drilled two straight laser-like jump serves for aces to put Bayonne ahead to stay and give the Bees a commanding two-game lead.

The third game was a mirror image of the second as Bayonne cruised out to a solid lead and a Leitner kill left Bayonne four points away from a three-game sweep. With nothing to lose, the Bruins suddenly came alive and Bayonne fell into complacency.

Back-to-back kills by Escolero and a hitting error knotted the score at 23. Escolero then gave the Bruins the lead with a kill and another Bayonne hitting error handed the Bruins the third game, capping it with a 10-2 run.

"The way our passing was today is definitely a concern at this point in the season," said Bayonne head coach Pat Longo. "When we passed well, we played well. When we didn't, we gave them too many opportunities to get back in the match."

"Josh (Coffing) was able to bail us out on a few points and he makes everyone else on the team better," added Longo. "Not only is he talented, but he's very smart and is well-rounded. He also does a great job of reading defenses and that becomes huge in tight matches."

Bayonne setter Jeff Magadia got into a zone and spread the ball around in the fourth game. Five different players had multiple kills as the Bees jumped out to a 19-14 lead. But it appeared as if déjà vu was going set in for Bayonne.

Kenson DeLaCruz chipped in with 14 kills as Bayonne stayed perfect on the season.

Escolero hit three straight kills to get the Bruins within striking distance. Escobar recorded consecutive blocks, and Rojas capped the 6-0 spurt with an ace, giving the Bruins a 20-19 lead.

Coffing made several key digs late in the fourth game to keep points alive long enough to set DeLaCruz for a pair of punishing kills. Down 24-22, North Bergen fought hard to keep the match alive, but Ostorga ended a long point with a kill to lift Bayonne to victory.

"I thought we had them, I really thought we had them on the ropes," said Escolero, North Bergen's junior middle blocker. "This is a young team with only two seniors and sometimes we look inexperienced. We made some mistakes late in the fourth game and they took advantage of them. I think if we took them to a fifth game, we would have had all the momentum and we would have won. But that didn't happen and we'll have to just concentrate more in future matches and do our best to recover from this."

Led by Coffing, Bayonne improved to 8-0. The do-everything outside hitter finished with 18 digs, 17 assists, 15 kills, and six aces. Ostorga had 11 kills and 10 service points. DeLaCruz chipped in with 14 kills and four blocks and Leitner added 10 kills. Magadia dished out a match-high 25 assists.

Escolero and Escobar played well in the middle, but it was not enough for North Bergen (7-4). Escolero put down a match-high 18 kills and added seven digs. Escobar tallied 11 kills and seven blocks, as the duo combined for all but three of the Bruins' kill total. Rojas had 18 assists and 11 service points. Fellow setter Merlin Fuentes added eight assists, seven digs, and seven service points.

While Bayonne is more than pleased with its perfect start to the season, tougher challenges within the league lie ahead.

"If we are going to beat teams like Memorial and St. Peter's Prep, we have to eliminate some of the silly mistakes we made in this match," said Coffing. "We have a tough road ahead of us and it's going to be a tough task to try and beat those two teams. They are the two best teams in the county and they are very, very good teams. But we really want to win it all and if we are on our game, we feel we can beat anyone."

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Rich Barton