Michal Kasza had a stomach virus this week. He was vomiting and lost the color in his face. The Academy of American Studies star outside hitter missed practice and wasn’t himself for the start of the PSAL playoffs.
“I was like, ‘wow, I really have to sweat through the first two rounds,'” Eagles coach Josh Yang said.
Top-seeded Academy of American Studies made out just fine and Kasza looked pretty healthy on Saturday. The 5-foot-10 junior had nine kills and seven aces to lead the Eagles to a dominant, 25-17, 25-7win over No. 8 Hunter College HS in the PSAL boys volleyball quarterfinals at York College.
“It was good I got [sick] this week instead of like before [the] finals,” Kasza said.
Academy (13-0) isn’t quite at that point yet. First it must get past No. 4 Cardozo in the semifinals 5 p.m. Tuesday at Hunter College.
The Eagles are trying to erase the memories of last year’s championship match loss to Bryant. This, Yang said, is a very different year – his team is more experienced, more confident and the outright favorite to win it all. Kasza, his younger brother and setter Piotr, middle hitter Conrad Zajkowski and outside hitter Ricky Myint all played together with the AllStarr club program.
“I got a lot better since last year, the whole team did,” Kasza said. “Volleyball was the first thing on my mind. Volleyball was my life.”
Cardozo will not be an easy opponent. The Judges won the previous three PSAL city championships before last season. But that confidence that Yang talked about it was apparent after the impressive victory over Hunter (14-1), a solid team that will be even better next year with its 11 sophomores and just three seniors graduating.
“We showed everybody how good we could be,” Piotr Kasza said. “We showed no mercy.”
Bronx Science 2, McKee/Staten Island Tech 0: Jeremy BasSie saw it in the first round, he saw it in the second round and it reared its ugly head again in the quarterfinals. Bronx Science played a great first set only to lay somewhat of an egg in the second.
“It’s been a theme throughout the playoffs,” the Wolverines coach said.
No. 2 Science was still able to hold on for a 25-14, 30-28 win over No. 7 McKee/Staten Island Tech. The Wolverines will meet No. 6 Brooklyn Tech in the semifinals 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hunter College, Science’s second trip to the semis in three seasons.
BasSie is not worried about the bad second sets hurting his team after Saturday.
“I think going forward, all the games will be very close,” he said. “I don’t expect to win any sets easily.”
Nate Chin had eight kills, Jerry Henriquez had 20 assists and six kills and Alex Barbulescu added seven kills for Science (13-0). Preet Singh added four kills.
Science’s size – Singh is 6-foot-4, Barbulescu is 6-foot-3 and even Henriquez, the setter, is 6-foot – provides an advantage against just about any other team in the PSAL, especially now that Barbulescu has returned from a sprained ankle.
“I think we have the strongest middles in the city and our setter is probably the tallest setter in the city,” BasSie said.
It was Henriquez that had a big kill to give Science a 29-28 lead in the second set, swinging momentum into his team’s favor.
“Those are the situations we have to shine and we did,” Barbulescu said. “I think we’re a championship-level team this year, I really do.”
This is a different group than the one that went to the finals in 2010, but many of the current players were on the bench that season, waiting their turn.
“I think we’ve gained experience,” Henriquez said. “Last year, we had the exact same team and we’ve come back better.”