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By :Tim McClain | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Olivia Jasiczek and Sofia Guzman really didn’t get much chance to enjoy the last sectional title won by the Secaucus girls volleyball team.

They are high school juniors, after all, and that title came 10 years ago.

“We didn’t get to be part of that, but our coaches have told us a lot about how they where, and how it felt to be there,” Guzman said. “And it really made us feel like we wanted to do the same thing.”

Now they know the feeling.

The two juniors led the way when top-seeded Secaucus, No. 15 in the NJ.com Top 20, won the program’s first sectional title in 10 years with a 25-15, 25-22 victory over second-seeded Verona in Secaucus.

Jasiczek, a 6-1 middle, had a team-high 11 kills and two blocks, while Guzman, a dangerous outside hitter, totaled seven kills and six digs for Secaucus (29-2), which rolled to a 16-4 lead against a jittery young Verona squad in the first game.

The Hillbillies (19-6), who lost the majority of last year’s Group 1 title team, regained their composure to make the first set closer, then built a 17-12 lead in the second.

But Secaucus ended how it began, with another big run.

Junior Avalyn Torres and sophomore Sarah Veloz (17 assists) served up four straight points apiece, with Jasiczek finding holes in the middle of the Verona defense.

It was still tied at 21, but sophomore Isabella Pablos (four service aces) served up the most dramatic point of the match, with numerous critical digs, before a wide hit broke the tie. Then Pablos served up two more points, aided by a Guzman block, for a 24-22 lead.

Then a long serve ended it, denying Verona a fifth consecutive sectional title.

“I told them we had to just settle in,” Verona coach Ryan Brown said. “We know that at the beginning of all these big games there are going to be nerves. But we expect them, we welcome those even.

“But sometimes those nerves can get the best of you. And if you don’t find yourself pushing them out of the way, you can have a pretty big hole to dig out of.”

Secaucus coach Dylan Caruso understands how a big game can get to a young team, but he’s also seen his team grow from that experience.

“Verona is a phenomenal program and has been since I‘ve known them,” said Caruso, in his fourth year as head coach at the Hudson County School after serving 10 years as an assistant. “I do think initially they showed freshman nerves. They have a young team.

“I was that coach a couple years ago. I have four juniors I‘ve been coaching since their freshman year. So I know what that’s like. But I told my team that they’re well coached and talented and could come back at any time. But the girls were laser focused and did what they needed to do.”

Caruso was an assistant coach on the 2014 Secaucus team, giving him two championships as a coach. That makes four titles for the Caruso family, because his sister, Kendall, played on Secaucus’s sectional champs in 2012 and ’14.

In between those coaching titles, he endured a lot of growing pains with the program, so he’s been on both sides of the deficits in big games.

That experience helped his team with the title on the line.

“We‘ve, unfortunately, been the victim of a comeback, where we‘re winning 17-12 or by a large margin,” Caruso said. “Then a team gets momentum and comes back to beat us. My whole thing is ”Why not us? Why can’t we do it?” We train every day for situations like this.”

Verona, which featured standout freshman Brynn Mack, rebounded from its issues in the first set, primarily on serve receive, to stay even with Secaucus after falling behind 16-4, on the way to the 25-12 loss.

The momentum carried into the second set and the Hillbillies took their first lead of the match at 5-4 when senior Riley Kenrick delivered three straight service points.

Secaucus answered with a 4-1 run and the teams battled back and forth to 10-10, but then junior Abby Romanyshyn served up six straight points, the last on a back-line spike by Mack, to go up 16-10.

Junior Olivia Baureis served consecutive points to give Verona its biggest lead at 17-12, but Secaucus regained control, going on an 8-3 run to tie it at 20-20 and would not surrender the momentum.