With four dangerous hitters on the court capable of picking up a kill at any time, Harrison’s offense is not just effective, but unpredictable.
Those labels are a credit to the guy setting them all up, senior Jeremy Rivera.
The quartet of Alattim DeLeon, Jonathan Petrillo, Yamil Espinoza and Ryan Manini all have 85 or more kills as part of the Blue Tide’s 18-0 start. And while the four might get the bulk of the attention and acclaim, that suits Rivera just fine.
“I always loved being the captain of them, being the leader and I love bringing other people up,” said Rivera. “I guess it ties in with my personality where I like the shine to be on me, but it’s even better when everyone on the team’s getting all of that shine and I bring the glory to everyone else.”
Rivera’s preference might be for the attention to be on others, but after another big week on the court, the accolades now shift to him. Last Monday, Rivera set season highs in digs (nine) and service points (13) to go with 24 assists in a three-set win over rival Kearny. Rivera again had 20+ assist performances in victories over Lyndhurst and Passaic Charter before being instrumental in the Blue Tide’s victory in its own Harrison Tournament on Saturday.
Rivera’s play makes him The Observer Athlete of the Week.
For the season, Rivera’s 379 assists are good for ninth most in New Jersey. Thanks to his play, Harrison is now ranked No. 10 in the state by NJ.com.
“When setters are doing their jobs, you don’t even realize how well they’re doing their jobs because they’re not the ones that have the highlights,” Harrison head coach Anthony Sabia said. “They’re not the ones that people hoot and holler about after the kill. It’s just automatic and you don’t even realize the work that’s behind all the hitters getting their kills in the match.
“It’s a lot of hard work that doesn’t always go noticed by everybody else, but I notice it, the team notices it.”
According to Rivera, he’s always gravitated to the setter position since he first started playing volleyball in seventh grade, even though he’s the first to admit it wasn’t always easy.
“Once I started the sport, I was like, I think setter’s for me,” said Rivera. “It wasn’t easy at first and I really didn’t want to do it (sometimes), but I felt like it was best suited for me.”
Rivera quickly began to thrive at setter, whether it was at Harrison, where he was the backup behind Jose De La Cruz or during the club season where he played at Sideout based out of Fairfield for coaches Cooper Bender and Rob Griffiths.
After playing sparingly on varsity as a sophomore, Rivera entered the starting lineup last year as a junior and had 576 assists and 166 digs to help lead the Blue Tide to a Hudson County title and North Jersey, Group 1 final. His play earned him All-Group 1 honors by NJ.com.
“When Jeremy came in as a freshman, we saw the talent right away,” Sabia said. “Over the last four years, he’s not only gotten better as a setter, but also gotten more mature as a leader on the court with being able to maintain a level demeanor and being able to handle the pressure of some of the tight matches that we’ve been in.”
For his career, Rivera has 964 career assists, putting him on the verge of 1,000 for his career. It’s a milestone that will put Rivera in select company as he would join De La Cruz, Victor Narvaez, Jimmy Vega and Sandro Barrantes.
“We are very lucky to have another great setter,” said Sabia. “He is another in the long line, but all of them had their own unique talents and characteristics that set them apart. For Jeremy, it’s his ability, as time’s gone on, to handle pressure better.”
For Rivera, that pressure included following in that tradition of high-level setters Harrison has come to expect.
“Jose was a great setter, his brother (Leader De La Cruz) and the setters before him were really great setters and that’s what really influenced me to become another great setter,” Rivera said. “Jose really helped me grow as a player and watching him helped me develop my skills and made me know I’m the next setter up so I can’t let anyone down.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)