As No. 3 seed Westfield faced No. 2 seed Elizabeth in the Union County semifinals at Arthur Luther Johnson High School on May 14, the nail-biting event left the entire gymnasium on the edge of their seats. “It was sensational,” said junior Ethan Cha.
Westfield had previously lost to Elizabeth twice this season, both games going to three sets. Head coach William Leonard said, “Elizabeth is a great team. Both times we played them they were close games. We knew we were right there with them coming into this game and that it was a game that we could win.”
But, this was not the case. After Elizabeth won the first set and carried the momentum, the Blue Devils had to find their footing. Westfield was up for most of the second set and then the Minutemen creeped up to tie the set 25-25. Then the Blue Devils had three dominant serves to win the set 28-26. Senior captain Kuei Tanaka said, “We had one common goal, to win. And we never lost sight of it.”
One performance error both teams struggled with was consistent serving. Many points, including two set points, were given up due to serves going out of bounds or falling short. This seems to be a constant dilemma for the Blue Devils. Leonard said, “I have been saying it all season, but serving, serving, serving. Serve and serve receive. You know, it is something we start and end every practice with.” Adding to that, Tanaka said, “We definitely need to work on serving. We just need to get it in or we are going to lose points.”
Not only was the game intense, but the crowd brought the energy, adding to the atmosphere. Fans and parents from both teams erupted in cheers and chants, encouraging the players and creating a community. Leonard said, “It is really cool to have everybody here supportive. The team just responded to it so well, it definitely built their confidence and gameplay.” From a player’s perspective, Cha said, “Even when we were down, I could feel everyone’s energy, everyone was going crazy.”
The Blue Devils will be back in action for the Union County Tournament finals Friday, May 16, at Kean University at 7:00pm. The team will face Westfield rivals, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Westfield has lost to Scotch Plains-Fanwood twice so far this season. Cha said, “We are going to keep it going all the way through the finals, and then everything that did not go well today, we are just going to work on that as hard as we can so that we do not do that on Friday.”
