Anthony Sabia has seen firsthand how much the interest and quality of volleyball has grown in this part of North Jersey.
Sabia and Nick Landy see proof of that every Tuesday and Thursday during the annual Harrison Recreation Summer Volleyball Leagues
With 10 boys and 10 girls teams in total, this marks the biggest the leagues have been since they started in 2017.
Play began on July 9 and goes through Aug. 15. Through the first week of games, it’s apparent that the boys league in particular is perhaps the most competitive it’s ever been.
“The boys league especially has been very competitive both this year and last year,” said Sabia, the longtime Harrison boys assistant coach, who runs the league alongside Landy. “We noticed the level of teams, even though we’re only a week through right now.”
Headlining the list of participants is reigning Group 1 champion West Caldwell Tech, who defeated Harrison in the North Jersey, Group 1 final in June.
Hudson County finalist Hudson Catholic, as well as semifinalists Kearny and North Bergen and perennial North Jersey contender Bayonne. Abundant Life, Payne Tech, Hoboken and Memorialalso compete in the league, which initially started out as a four-team league.
The demand has been so great that Sabia admitted he’s had to reject application requests from some of the better North Jersey programs looking to get in.
Sabia has noticed that an added benefit of the elevated competition has been greater participation from his team’s players.
“Nick and I have both noticed that this summer the attendance for our offseason open gyms and weight room and summer league has probably been the best we’ve ever had,” Sabia said. “I think this core group of seniors that we have coming up now is really hungry knowing that it’s going to be their last chance (at a state title).”
Harrison, which has won seven of eight sets thus far, has eight seniors back from this past spring’s 26-5 team.
While Harrison’s girls have not enjoyed the same type of success, this summer has seen the Blue Tide win five of its first six sets.
“I wasn’t sure what they were going to look like thi year. I knew they had a decent amount back so I was curious to see/,” said Sabia. “They definitely have potential.”
According to Sabia, Lyndhurst, which won its first six sets of the summer with ease, appears to be the class of the 10-team league. The league expanded from eight to 10 with Bayonne, a longtime contender in Hudson County and Hoboken, one of the area’s top small schools, joining this summer.
Local programs Kearny and Abundant Life, as well as Hudson Catholic, West Caldwell Tech, Payne Tech and Newark Tech round out the field on the girls side.
Each team plays 13 regular season matches (26 sets). The girls playoffs are on Tuesday, Aug. 13 with the boys playoffs on Thursday, Aug. 15.
While Sabia knows the league can’t physically grow any further due to gym space, there’s little doubt in his mind that the quality will continue to improve.
“I think over time it’s only going to get more and more competitive,” Sabia said. “We have a waitlist on both sides now so there’s obviously interest in the area. Teams are definitely looking for the opportunity to play. And we’re happy that they think that what we do up here is good enough that they want to spend the money and the time to get their kids up here to compete.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)