Hunterdon Central fights for 3 sets before falling in ToC

WAYNE - It took three sets to finally silence the Hunterdon Central girls volleyball team.

Third-seeded Immaculate Heart Academy edged second-seeded Hunterdon Central 25-11, 23-25, 25-21, in the semifinal round of the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions on Saturday afternoon at William Paterson University.

“We knew that Hunterdon Central would be one of the top contenders for this tournament,” Immaculate Heart coach Maria Nolan said. “They’re a senior-laden team, they had greater height than we did so this was a really great win for us.”

Immaculate Heart (35-6) dominated the first set. Everything Hunterdon Central tried to do offensively was quickly stopped by the impressive Blue Eagles’ defense.

“We got going kind of late, but hats off to our opponent because they played very well,” Hunterdon Central coach Stephen Fenton said. “They took us out of system pretty early, which kind of rattled us. We got going pretty late and we were never able to get into our own game plan.”

In the second set Hunterdon Central (28-2) stepped out more composed, but it wasn’t until the set was nearing an end that the Red Devils really started to light up. There was a clear shift in momentum as they came back from a 21-19 deficit to take the game 25-23, sending the match into a tie-breaker.

Hunterdon Central used the momentum from its second set win to fuel a strong start in the third. The game went back and forth, with both teams gaining, losing and then regaining the lead.

With a 7-6 score Immaculate Heart started to slowly widen the gap until Hunterdon Central found itself in a 15-9 deficit before Fenton called a timeout.

The Red Devils fought their way back to tie the score at 21-21, but couldn’t manage to finish out the game.

“Especially after Hunterdon Central took the second set we’re really proud of this win,” Nolan said. “There have been a couple times that we had it and couldn’t hold on so this was great for us.”

Mackenzie Bruzzio led Hunterdon Central with 13 kills. She also had an ace, and three blocks. Katie Weger contributed with eight aces, three kills and nine digs. Meagan Kern had 20 digs and an ace.

“The ball didn’t fall our way in the end,” Fenton said. “I will say that for as tight as we played and as poorly as we played in the beginning, what these kids did in getting themselves back up, as down as they were, shows a lot about the type of people they are.

“Win or lose that’s what I care the most about.”

Staff writer Alyssa Davis: adavis3@gannettnj.com