Technically, this week marks the beginning of a new era for Harrison boys volleyball as Anthony Sabia takes over as the Blue Tide’s head coach. But don’t expect too much to be different besides for the name in charge.
That’s because for the last 16 years, Sabia’s influence as Nick Landy’s top assistant was felt throughout the program. And considering the success they’ve enjoyed, particularly coming off consecutive Hudson County titles, the lack of significant changes is understandable.
“I don’t think that it’ll be much different from last season in terms of what the expectations are, what my expectations are of the players, what their expectations are of the coaching staff,” said Sabia. “I feel like we’re in a good position heading into this spring. I know the boys are really looking forward to getting started so I don’t expect much to be different from the jump.”
It’s why the decision to make Sabia the head coach in Landy’s place after the latter decided to step down was an easy one.
A 2004 graduate of Harrison High School, Sabia played volleyball for the Blue Tide under then head coach Larry Manning when the program was still in its infancy. After attending and playing club volleyball at TCNJ, Sabia returned to Harrison as a teacher and later became involved with the girls program, which Manning coached, then the boys team under Landy.
Sabia later was the head coach for Harrison’s girls team on two separate occasions. Currently, he serves as a high school girls volleyball official during the fall season
In each of those situations, Sabia was joining a team that was struggling. The opposite is true for the current version of the Blue Tide.
In the 16 years that followed the start of the Landy-Sabia partnership, Harrison won four Hudson County championships, two North Jersey, Section 2 titles and five division championships. In seven of the last nine seasons, the Blue Tide have won 20 or more games.
During that time, interest in volleyball exploded in Harrison as summer leagues and open gym programs grew significantly.
“When I played in high school, we weren’t very good and when I started coaching with Nick, we weren’t very good,” Sabia said. “So a lot of times looking at where we are now and all the stuff that we’ve gone through, it’s a really amazing feat what we were able to build together.”
Sabia inherits a team that is projected to return five starters, including All-Group 1 selections Jeremy Rivera, Alattim DeLeon and Yamil Espinoza from a Blue Tide squad that went 26-5, won a second straight Hudson County title, and reached the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 1 final.
One thing Sabia has already continued is having a coaching staff composed of alumni of the program in Cris Oliveira, Kevin Molina and Adrian Vivanco.
With all the pieces in place, it’s easy to see why Sabia doesn’t plan to change much going into the start of the season. One big thing he does look to change however is the end result as Harrison has fallen in the sectional final in each of the last two years.
“I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to really keep it going. We say it every year, but I really believe this year that we have a really great opportunity to do something special and hopefully win a sectional title.”
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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.)