Saturday, October 29, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Larysa Iwaskiw and IHA swept Mahwah in the semifinals and will play Bogota in the Bergen County final on Sunday.

OLD TAPPAN – Facing a Mahwah team that had everything to gain and nothing to lose, top-seeded IHA knew it had to sustain long runs to maintain control of the match. The Blue Eagles knew that the best way to neutralize a hard-hitting team was to serve effectively, build a lead, and never let the opponent get into an offense.

IHA followed that blueprint to perfection, serving 12 aces and never trailing in a convincing 25-12, 25-14 triumph over Mahwah, the No. 4 seed, on Friday night in the nightcap of the Bergen County Tournament semifinals at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School.

“We had a bad day passing, but it was because of how well IHA served throughout the match,” said Mahwah head coach Dean Rayside. “They have some great servers over there and we didn’t seem to have an answer for any of them. I hoped that we would have played better than we did tonight, but IHA took it to us and never let up. We haven’t seen a team serve that well all year and we were constantly trying to dig ourselves out of a hole.”

Mahwah hung tough in the first game before IHA started to separate itself from the Thunderbirds midway through. Larysa Iwaskiw and Nicolette Ceccon each had aces in a closing 12-4 run to give the Blue Eagles a one-game lead.

Amanda Berkman finished with 7 assists for Mahwah, which made its furthest ever run in the counties.

IHA kept it going in game No. 2 behind the serving of libero Michelle Cruz. Her hard, knuckling serve was on as she won six straight points, including three aces, to put IHA ahead, 6-0.

“It’s an honor that our coaches choose me to serve first because that shows they believe in me to set the stage for the rest of the game,” said Cruz. “It’s important to first just keep your serves in play and it’s just as important hit your spots with them. It keeps a team from getting into their offense, which is a huge advantage.”

Mahwah fought back to get within two on a kill from Samantha Wood and a block from Macy Schwartz. IHA went on another 6-0 run, but Mahwah whittled it down to three before a tip kill from Jennifer Pagano. The lead was five when Iwaskiw served back-to-back aces to give the Blue Eagles some breathing room en route to a berth in the Bergen County final.

Cruz led all players with 7 digs and four aces for IHA (25-1). Senior setter Mandy Garbarino finished with 18 assists and three different players had four kills. Wood had six kills to lead the way for Mahwah (20-4). Amanda Berkman had seven assists and Courtney Colucci had five digs.

Jessica Cervini and IHA improved to 25-1 on the season.

The tournament seeds held true as top-seeded IHA now moves into the Bergen County final on Sunday to face second-seeded Bogota at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School in a 2:00 P.M. Start. It will be a rematch of a regular-season match just two weeks ago when IHA fought off four game points in the first game to roar back for a 27-25, 25-19 victory to hand the Bucs their only loss of the season.

The fiery Bucs will be looking for revenge, while IHA looks to get back on top of the Bergen County heap. The Eagles last won a county title in 2008 and also won in 1998.

“I thought our serving was excellent and that was the difference. We try to give our players proper strategies and the confidence to succeed. Our girls work hard on their serving every day and it the results showed today with 12 aces against a very good team,“ said IHA co-head coach Mike DeCastro. “The Bogota match will be a great one, no question about it. If we’re going to come out on top, we have to bring the same energy and stay within our game the way we did the first time against them. Serving as well as we did tonight wouldn’t hurt either.”

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