Volleyball Defeats Union 2-0

Cranford High School's girls volleyball team warmed up for a Tuesday Union County Tournament semifinals showdown with a Monday afternoon win against Union High School.

  
The Cougars improved to 14-5 with a 25-13, 28-26 win over Union (11-8).

  
Cranford will play Roselle Catholic Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Union Catholic High School. The Lady Cougars last dropped a 10-25, 25-23, 23-25 to Roselle Catholic in a regular-season game.

Coach Lucy Diaz said that the games against Union provided a good exercise in preparing for Roselle Catholic.

  
"I thought we did a great job at the net today, blocking them,'' said Diaz, whose
team won the state Group II title last year.

  
Senior setter Meghan Bartsch had 15 assists, 10 kills, six service points and four
blocks.

  
"This was defiinitely a good warmup for Roselle Catholic because Union is really
scrappy and has great defense,'' Bartsch said. "It was good to work around a big
blocker."

  
The second game was tied at 13-13, 16-16, 17-17, 19-19, 20-20, 24-24 and 25-25.

  
"We needed to definitely keep our composure," said Bartsch. "It wasn't that we weren't focused, we were letting them pick apart our lead with little tips. They were playing smart and they were blocking us as well,'' Bartsch said.

  
Senior Kristen Rupp had a solid game with nine kills, four serve points, two digs and two aces.

   
"It's all about location, really. You have to look at where their defense is set up
and basically put [the ball] anywhere away from their defense,'' Rupp said. "It doesn't have to be powerful, it's all about location when you're playing.''

  
Junior outside hitter Alex Bizub, had seven serve points, six kills, three digs
and an ace. Senior Kaitlyn Irwin had eight serve points, five digs and two aces.