Girls volleyball: Wayne Hills vanquishes rival to win its first Passaic County title
CLIFTON — The next time Jenny Choi watches a sports film with slow-motion flashbacks accompanying the final play, she can say, “Been there, done that.”
Choi spiked the point that made Wayne Hills a Passaic County champion in girls volleyball for the first time. Her 10th kill of Saturday’s final at Clifton High School secured a 25-22, 23-25, 25-18 victory over Wayne Valley.
“I hit it with everything I’ve got,” the 5-foot-9 senior said. “I thought about our team and how hard we worked, and I just thought about that on the last shot, and I put my all into it. And we got the point.”
But did all of that really come to mind in the split second she leapt to spike the ball?
“It genuinely made me think about everything,” Choi assured. “It felt like a movie… it was literally a slow-motion, end-of-the-movie shot, and I’m just so happy I was able to do that for my team.”
No. 3 seed Wayne Hills (12-7) had reached the Passaic title just one other time before – and that, too, was a three-setter against Wayne Valley. The Indians won that marathon, 26-28, 27-25, 25-20, to start a run of four straight titles that was interrupted only by the COVID pandemic.
In fact, the Patriots had not defeated their crosstown rival since the Big North Conference was formed in 2010. With its regular-season sweep this fall, Wayne Valley improved to 26-0 head-to-head in Independence Division matches.
“We were able to beat them in the Clifton Tournament [a one-game matchup], which was huge,” Wayne Hills coach Pedro Crespo said. “After we lost to them two times in the regular season, I said, ‘This time around, I think we have it,’ and everything worked out.”
The Patriots also got standout performances from senior twins Arianna (7 kills, 2 assists) and Brielle (17 assists, 2 aces) Wood.
Middles Grace Mazzie (7 kills, 2 blocks) and Rilee Crank (5 kills, 3 blocks) led the Wayne Valley attack, while senior Nicole Antonio served a 9-0 run that brought the No. 1 seed back from a 21-14 deficit in Game 2.
“We’ve been envisioning this from the beginning of the season,” Crespo said. “I told them, I truly believe we will win it all if we work hard and believe in ourselves.”
“We knew we had to come home with the title,” Choi added, “and we did that together.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ girls volleyball: Wayne Hills tops rival for Passaic County title
