Bronx Science’s Mike Sideris (r.) tries to block a hit from Cardozo’s Arnold Situmeang. (Kendall Rodriguez)
It’s not like winning it all the last two years was easy, because it wasn’t. But at the beginning of those seasons, Cardozo was the hands-down favorite. The same could not be said about early this spring.
“In the beginning, we had so many new guys,” said senior outside hitter Kevin Ha, the only player to start for both title teams. “Nobody saw us as a big threat. Nobody expected us to get back here.”
Yet when the final ball of the PSAL boys volleyball season touched the floor Thursday evening, it was the Judges again doing the celebrating.
No. 3 Cardozo defeated No. 4 Bronx Science, 25-21, 25-21, in the championship match at Hunter College. It’s the Judges’ record third straight title and unprecedented fourth crown, breaking a tie with John F. Kennedy, McKee/Staten Island Tech, Midwood and DeWitt Clinton.
This time, they were the underdogs and that made it that much more satisfying when they held up the Ron King Trophy and championship banner.
“This is definitely sweeter,” senior setter Stanley Martinez said.
Both sets were razor close until the final points, when it seemed like Cardozo (17-0) dug in and Bronx Science (14-1) tightened up. Even though only Martinez and Ha were starters on last year’s team, this year’s newcomers got a taste in 2008 and 2009.
“They saw it could be done,” said Cardozo coach Danny Scarola, who was The Post’s All-City girls volleyball coach of the year in the fall. “They know what it looks like.”
Cardozo won the game in the middle. Bronx Science coach Jeremy Bass moved star senior Daniel Dworakowski to the right side for the playoffs to neutralize teams’ outside hitters. But the thing about the Judges this year was that there was no superstar, no go-to guy.
“I had a lot more weapons [than last year],” said Martinez, who had 21 assists. “I wasn’t restricted to setting outside, outside, outside.”
Senior middle Xavier Green was the hero Thursday in a postseason full of them for Cardozo. He had nine kills and four blocks, dominating at times. A booming Green kill broke a 20-all tie in the second set and the Judges scored four of the next five points to win the match.
“When you move [Dworakowski] to the right side, you open up something for X,” Scarola said. “You always try to run that 1 ball (middle hit) and that’s your strategy from the beginning. If you run the 1 ball, you can run all your plays, because you always have that blocker who has to stay honest with you. … And [Green is] not just a decoy either. The kid can really hit.”
Senior outside hitter Arnold Situmeang, who carried Cardozo with 18 kills in the quarters against Kennedy, had nine kills and two superb defensive plays in the second set. He’s another player who had little on-court experience before this season.
“He just plays so hard,” Scarola said. “He’s a warrior.”
But while that inexperience might have made for a rocky early season, the new faces and veterans meshed in the end – even better than last year’s team, Martinez said.
“It was just a matter of all of us holding each other up,” Green said. “We’re all like pillars of support. … Since [Martinez and Ha] have been here before, we look up to them.”
Now those two have another title to their names. And the newcomers have one to call their own.
