Programs to Watch Spring 2021: Bogota

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bogota High School took the NJSIAA Tournament and made it to the semifinals of the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions last season. They finished with an impressive 30-5 overall record, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise; this program hasn’t finished under .800 in the last decade. Five seniors graduated, but eight competent returners are back to keep the momentum going. A few that are worth mentioning are setter </span><b>Amber Vasquez</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> ‘21, outside hitter </span><b>[player_tooltip player_id="99833" first="Kiara" last="Polanco"]</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> ‘21, setter </span><b>Mia Pimental</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> ‘23, and libero </span><b>[player_tooltip player_id="99876" first="Gianna" last="Estevez"] </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">‘23. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the surface, the loss of outside hitter </span><b>Nylene Mateo</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> looks like it will be a huge deficit for the future of this program. Her 526 kills, 28 blocks, 124 digs, and 44 aces were instrumental to Bogota’s success.  We could have said the same thing about MB </span><b>Leila Ksiyer</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> last year, Libero </span><b>Lisabeth Suarez</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the year before, or even OH </span><b>Samantha Gioiosa</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the year before that. The point is, Bogota’s coaching staff knows how to use and mold athletes to minimize gaps in the program from one season to the next. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When one group of seniors finally makes their way through the program, there are a handful of talented athletes waiting in the wings to finally have their standout season. One I am most looking forward to is </span><b>[player_tooltip player_id="99832" first="Amber" last="Vazquez"]</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. This setter will be starting her senior season with a career total of 1000 assists. She plays just as well as - if not better than - her older sister Alyssa, who finished her career with nearly 1,600 assists. With that metric to go off of, plus the excellent hitters returning to the squad, we can expect that Amber will surpass her 734 assists from last season (pandemic permitting, of course).</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Outside hitter </span><b>[player_tooltip player_id="99833" first="Kiara" last="Polanco"]</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is also an exciting prospect returning as a senior this season. She finished last season with 264 kills and 44 digs having split court time with freshman outside </span><b>Gyanna Hernandez</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Hernandez made a fair impression with 6 kills, 10 blocks, 10 digs, and 4 service points. Based on Bogota’s history, Hernandez is sure to take over the role as the second-option outside while Polanco rises to replace Mateo as the first-option power outside.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Middle blocker </span><b>Angelique Caceres</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> graduated in 2020 to leave a space open in the rotation, but Bogota’s powerhouse middle is the young returner </span><b>[player_tooltip player_id="99875" first="Ashanna" last="Caviness"]</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> from the class of 2023. In her first season with the program, Caviness showed up with 74 kills and an astounding 72 blocks! With such a solid defense behind her, any amount of hitting she can do will simply put her over the edge.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anything that gets over or around her block will be in the competent hands (or probably platform) of returning sophomore libero </span><b>[player_tooltip player_id="99876" first="Gianna" last="Estevez"]</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. In her first year, Esteves racked up 176 digs 22 assists, and 16 service points. This was all in the second half of the season after senior libero Julianne Corniel was moved to the right side. She fit right into this role and will continue to take charge here in the future.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The future of this program is also supported by the return of sophomore setter </span><b>Mia Pimental</b><span style="font-weight: 400;">. She had 206 assists and 26 service points last season playing under Vazquez, so it’s clear that Pimental will be a tremendous replacement for when Vazquez graduates this spring. Three athletes rostered as right sides will also be returning to the program this year: </span><b>Angelina Buhler</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> class of 2023, </span><b>Nicole Cotes</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> class of 2022, and </span><b>Carmen Cruz</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> class of 2021. Whether they remain in these positions remains to be seen, but we can be sure that the Bogota coaching staff will use these versatile athletes to fill in any gaps last year’s seniors left behind.</span></p>