BY MARC RAIMONDI
The last time Bryant won a PSAL volleyball city championship was in 2005, when the middle was patrolled by 7-foot-2 star Jacek Ratajczak, one of the best players in the history of the league. The Poland native went on to be a two-time All-American at volleyball powerhouse Cal State Northridge.
Coach Steve Hagenlocher doesn’t have that otherworldly size this year, but he says this team can block almost as well as that one — which is saying something.
“We really dominate the net as far as blocking,” the longtime coach said.
Middle hitters Mirsad Bektesevic (6-foot-3) and Asmir Cirikovic (6-4) are a handful for any team. Outside hitter Troy Gaugler is fully recovered from a shoulder injury that slowed him last year and is one of the best players in the entire city. Throw in spry libero Godwin Sequeira, steady setter Patryk Dabrowski and outside hitter Sujan Panday and the Owls are flying high.
They have already won the Aviation and Seward Park tournaments and the usually reserved Hagenlocher said he would be disappointed if his squad didn’t make the semifinals.
“I think we have a shot this year,” he said of winning another city title.
Hagenlocher didn’t always think that way, especially not toward the end of last year, which ended with a quarterfinals loss to eventual champion Cardozo. Sure, he knew Gaugler, Bektesevic and Sequeira were coming back. But the athletic Cirikovic, a first-year senior, never played a set of volleyball at Bryant outside of gym class.
“He decided to play this year and I’m thrilled,” Hagenlocher said.
Then there was Panday. The coach said he almost cut him last year when he was a freshman, but decided to keep him on. His improvement has been drastic and Hagenlocher expects him to make a huge impact this season. With him and Cirikovic, it was almost like Bryant got two brand new players inside the doors of the Astoria school.
“That’s 40 percent of my team that just got good that I didn’t know about,” Hagenlocher said with a laugh.
The key for the Owls, though, isn’t the big blocking or devastating hitting. Hagenlocher, a well-respected volleyball mind and former college coach, knows it all starts with defense and passing. That’s where Sequeira comes in. The year Bryant won the title, its strength was actually in the back row, not with Ratajczak at the net.
“We had Jacek, of course, but we had really good passing,” Hagenlocher said. “We couldn’t get the ball to Jacek if we weren’t passing.”
Even early in the preseason, the coach wasn’t sure what to make of this group. But then he watched as the Owls went out and win two tournaments, both full of the PSAL’s best teams.
“I was really impressed,” Hagenlocher said. “I thought we were good. When we won, I said, I don’t really think that there’s many more teams that we haven’t seen.”
