Harrison has rarely found itself in a position where it was trailing during this boys volleyball season.
During Saturday’s Hudson County Tournament final, the Blue Tide showed the poise and composure needed to recover such situations and emerge as champions.
Trailing late in the first set, Harrison not only rallied to take the opening set, but built upon that run to produce a dominant second set as it defeated Hudson Catholic, 25-23, 25-15 to win a third consecutive county title at County Prep High School in Jersey City.
“There’s been more than a couple of occasions where we’ve been down by a few points late in sets and almost every single time they find a way to come back and win it,” Harrison head coach Anthony Sabia said, citing comebacks from set point against Weehawken, Livingston and most recently in the Hudson County semifinals against North Bergen. “They find their best volleyball and they play their cleanest volleyball and they find a way to lock in in those tight moments. As great as it would be for everything to go smoothly, it’s nice to know that you have that in your back pocket when you need it.”
Harrison trailed 22-18 before scoring seven of the final eight points to take the first set, a stretch that started with a Jonathan Petrillo kill and followed by a trio of Hudson Catholic faults to tie it at 22. The Hawks, making their second-trip to the final, regained the lead on an Alan Santiago kill. Alattim DeLeon’s kill tied it once again for the Blue Tide at 23-all, then recorded a block to take the lead before Jeremy Rivera’s kill gave Harrison the first set.
Using the momentum from the end of the first, Harrison opened the second set with five-straight points and opened a quick 9-2 lead which featured three Petrillo kills, a kill from DeLeon and aces by Yamil Espinoza and Petrillo.
“We just played lockdown defense and made no mistakes off our hands,” said Sabia. “(On the Hudson Catholic side) you could see the nerves and the frustration on their faces and I’m like we’re fine. I’ve seen this story a bunch of times this year, winning the set.
“We were on a tear to start the second set and I knew we were fine.”
Petrillo, who finished with a team-high nine kills, would deliver the clinching point for Harrison’s fifth overall county title. DeLeon added seven kills with two blocks and Rivera had two kills to go with 19 assists. Espinoza had three kills with six digs while Brayan Andrade contributed a team-best eight digs.
In total, seven different players recorded at least one kill in the win, a testament to the depth of this year’s roster.
“I don’t know if we’ve ever had a team where we have as much faith and trust in the bench,” Sabia said. “Even going back to when we were as good as we were 10 years ago, we were great, but we had a really short bench, so everyone had to be on all the time. I think the depth of this team is maybe unmatched.”
Sabia had a front row view for those other county championship teams as the assistant coach under Nick Landy. This winter saw Landy step down with Sabia moving over to head coach and at the time of the move both coaches said little was likely to change. That proved true as another county title was coming to Harrison.
“They were aware of the moment (to potentially three-peat as champions). They were aware of what they had the ability to potentially accomplish and they were really excited,” said Sabia. “They’re very proud to carry on the legacy of the teams from the last two years and even the teams in the past. They’re happy to add to the program’s history, so I know it’s special to them.”
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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.)