Wednesday, November 12, 2014

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Samantha Gioiosa and Bogota played maybe their best match of the season in a two-game sweep of Elmwood Park in the Group 1 state tournament quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

BOGOTA – For most teams, advancing to a state tournament quarterfinal round with a 23-3 record would be enough to qualify as a great season. But when the jersey has Bogota written across the front of it, the expectations are much higher. Head coach Brad DiRupo has instilled a standard of excellence in his program over the last decade and, while he saw the talent and potential in this year’s team, through 26 matches he felt he had not seen them put it all together.

With the matches becoming increasingly important, the Lady Bucs are picking a good time to peak as a unit.

With Samantha Gioiosa hitting, the pinpoint setting of Amanda Manzo and hard serves from KelliAnn Brown, the second-seeded Bucs were virtually unstoppable on Tuesday night. They never trailed in either game and finished off the match on an impressive 19-1 run in cruising to a 25-12, 25-5 romp over No. 10 seed Elmwood Park in the Group 1 quarterfinals at Bogota High School.

“We’re a team that whenever we warm up really well, we play really well and this was our best warm-up all season,” said Brown, one of the senior captains. “We’ve had some great practices recently and after how well we warmed up, we knew that this match was ours to win. We’re just looking at taking it one point at a time.”

Elmwood Park came in on a hot streak with sweeps over Wallington and a mild upset over Leonia in the Round of 16 to get to the Group 1 quarters. Although they trailed throughout, the Crusaders hung tough early and trailed by five, 15-10. Against a perennial power like Bogota, a team can only hang around so long if it gives them an opening.

Elmwood Park setter Julianna Romero finished her career with more than 1,000 assists.

At that juncture, a service error was followed by a bad pass. Bogota middle blocker Tiana Henry then had a block and just like that the deficit went from a manageable five points to a less than manageable eight. Gioiosa then heated up with five kills over a closing 10-2 run as the Bucs grabbed a one-game lead.

Bogota raced out to an early lead in Game 2 before a kill from Victoria Stec and an attack error trimmed the lead to 6-4. The Crusaders left the door open a crack with a service error and an attack error before the Bucs kicked it right off of the hinges. Brown set the tone with three consecutive aces to make it 12-4 and essentially turn the lights out. Bogota scored 12 consecutive points to end it, capped by Gioiosa’s match-high 12th kill of the night. Although it marked a disappointing end to Elmwood Park’s landmark season, they refuse to let one bad match define their breakout campaign.

“It’s really tough to go out not playing your best but we grew so much together,” said Elmwood Park setter Julianna Romero. “Bogota is a four-time state champ for a reason. We fought hard but we didn’t execute and they took advantage of all of our mistakes. We had three players in our rotation that never picked up a volleyball before in their lives before the season started. To get to the state quarterfinal shows how far we’ve come.”

Brown led all players with 16 service points and five aces for Bogota (24-3). Amanda Manzo smoothly ran the offense, notching 21 assists. Gioiosa and Cathleen Macaroy added six digs apiece.

Amanda Manzo and Bogota will face Glen Rock in the Group 1 semifinals on Thursday.

The loss ended the fantastic careers of Stec and Romero, who recently passed the 1,000-kill and 1,000-assist plateaus for the four-year starters. Elmwood Park’s season came to a close with a 20-9 record.

Things will get much tougher from here on out as Bogota faces third-seeded and red-hot Glen Rock in the Group 1 semifinals on Thursday night. Now that the Lady Bucs have kicked their game into high gear, DiRupo knows that his team is two matches away from reaching their ultimate goal.

“The girls know when they come into this program that we’re playing to win a state title every year,” said DiRupo. “That’s our No. 1 goal and that’s why we work so hard every day. This season our highs have been high and our lows have been low. Tonight was the first time we really got that consistency from all six players on the court playing together. When we play with focus, play with heart and play together, we are capable of great things.”

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