Secaucus and Bogota have a history of meeting at the William Paterson Rec Center with elevated stakes.
Ask Patriots coach and alum Cory Roesing, who won Group 1 titles her junior and senior years at the arena where her team played in Saturday’s Mary Ann Collura Tournament.
She helped Secaucus beat Bogota in the 2005 state title match en route to the Tournament of Champions final. Roesing also led her team past Midland Park in the 2006 Group 1 final and recalled participating in the Collura tournament as a player.
In her first venture there as a head coach, Secaucus beat Hawthorne, Park Ridge, Ridgefield Park and DePaul in its pool games to set up a battle of unbeatens with Bogota for a spot in the final.
Freshman Natalie Kashian (ace) and sophomore Alex Ianuale (kill) sparked the Patriots on a 5-0 run that gave them an 18-15 lead before the Bucs ended on a 10-2 run.
“I’m so proud of them,” Roesing said. “We have seven underclassmen on that court, four of which are playing positions that they’d never played before.”
