By Greg Tartaglia – Record Sports
HARRISON – Two thrilling sets. Two pairs of twins leading the way.
Two consecutive NJIC Tournament titles for the Elmwood Park girls volleyball team.
The No. 2 seed Crusaders outlasted No. 1 Wood-Ridge, 31-29, 25-22, in the conference’s championship final Wednesday night at Harrison High School.
Elmwood Park (22-5) withstood a 6-0 Blue Devils run that forced a 23-all tie in the first set and warded off two game points before senior Alyssa Barrios landed an ace to end it.
The Crusaders trailed in the second set, 14-7, before storming back. Senior Rosemary Coello served back-to-back aces to cap a 6-0 run that set up match point. Wood-Ridge responded with a side out, but its hit on the ensuing rally landed out of bounds.
“To come from behind like that was great,” Elmwood Park coach Elke Voigt said. “In recent games, when we were down, we kind of fell apart. And that’s what I told them in the first time out: ‘Don’t beat yourselves, minimize the mistakes.’ And against a really good team like that, you have to.”
Game Video youtu.be/vUetisF52ZY
