Verona High School volleyball defeated Becton Regional High School 25-12, 25-14 in round one of the NJSIAA Group 1 playoffs on Tuesday. The game had to be played in what VHS alumni call the “old gym” because voting was being held in the larger gym that the sport usually uses. That caused some challenges: The old gym’s roof rafters and its retractable basketball hoops can get in the way of high-flying shots, but the balls that ricochet off them are still considered to be in play.
The upside of the old gym is that its smaller size amplifies the noise from fans and players and both teams reacted to that, playing fast-paced games filled with exciting volleys, spikes and blocks.
Verona is the #6 seed in this year’s playoffs, which is not as high as the team has been ranked in recent years. (Bogota, Verona’s perennial volleyball rival, is back as the #1 seed.) Becton, a regional high school in Bergen County, was seeded 27th out of 31 teams, but the Wildcats lived up to their name in the opening minutes of both games before Verona finally pulled away with the win.
The next round of the G1 playoffs will be an unusual Thursday morning game at Verona. The Lady Hillbillies will be taking on #22 seed Hasbrouck Heights, which upset #11 Dayton in its opening round. The game will be played at 11 a.m.
