Pazmino’s return leads South to state win
By: Justin Feil
Andres Pazmino does not jump incredibly high. He is not even 6-feet tall.
Yet, the all-out way he plays volleyball makes him indispensable to the West Windsor-Plainsboro South boys’ team.
"When he’s healthy and doing well he’s a good player," said Pirates head coach Michael Adams. "He’s been injury prone. He’s had all kinds of injuries. None of them have made him miss the whole season, thank goodness. He just ends up beating his body up."
As a sophomore, he cost himself a chance at making the varsity volleyball team when he broke his leg playing soccer. He was in a cast for six weeks and couldn’t run for three months after the injury. This year, he suffered a hip flexor injury when he ran and dived trying to retrieve a loose ball in practice.
"I play aggressive every game," Pazmino said. "I want to come out and win and do my best in everything I do, even when I’m just playing around."
The hip flexor injury cost him four games, and the Pirates lost two of them. The losses likely cost them a likely Top 10 seeding and potential bye for the South division of the state volleyball tournament. WW-P South looked at the bright side after Pazmino made his return to the court as the No. 12 seed opened state tournament play with a 25-9, 25-11 warm-up against No. 21 Long Branch on Tuesday.
"Even though we would have gotten a better seed, it’s better to play all together," said Pazmino, who had five kills, four blocks and two service aces in the win and credited the Pirates’ trainer with preparing him for his return. "I haven’t been able to play with everyone. I’m trying to get back into rhythm. I actually prefer this. I’m more confident about Thursday."
The Pirates were scheduled to play at No. 5 Eastern on Thursday, with the winner scheduled to face the No. 4 Southern Regional-No. 13 Cherry Hill East winner on Wednesday. WW-P South goes into any match as the underdog or favorite a more confident team while fielding a full squad.
"We’ve got pretty much everybody back now," said Adams, whose team was 14-6 after Tuesday’s win. "At the end of the season, we were missing a couple people with injuries and a couple family emergencies. We lost two matches shouldn’t have lost. That hurt our seeding, but you still have to play everybody to get to the end."
Playing Pazmino certainly helps the Pirate chances.
"Andres, he missed a few matches and that definitely hurt us," Adams noted. "I tried to play him in the J.P. Stevens match. We weren’t going to play him at all, but we were struggling so much, I tried to put him in. He’s got a pretty dangerous jump serve. It was bothering him to do that and every time he would bend down low. So we’ve been resting him since then.
"He looked pretty good (Tuesday). He still looked a little tight from missing so many days but he did a great job for us. He had five kills, three blocks and he had a couple aces. He had a good match for us."
It was nothing out of the ordinary for Pazmino, who can contribute for the Pirates in a variety of ways. He can put away points, he can resurrect them and he can end them with one swift serve. He does all of them with unmatched effort, including the dives that put on the injured list.
"You need that with a small team like ours," Adams said. "If we don’t play good defense, we’d have a hard time beating good teams."
Said Pazmino: "The better weapon is my serve when it’s really, really, really accurate. No one expects me to serve incredibly powerful, so I can always get a couple points there. The way I hit, no one expects it. Those are my two best weapons.
"It’s not like I jump really, really high. My vertical is average. And I’m 5-11, so I’m not really tall. The way I go up to hit, I try to hit it as hard as I can through the hole they give me. I try to play as smart as I can. I don’t have the other qualities of a volleyball player, like the height and jump. You have to use what you have."
What Pazmino has is a desire to win and to play his best that has made him a valuable part of the Pirates. Just as valuable, it seems, is volleyball and the Pirates to Pazmino. He and his teammates are thrilled about their cohesive group.
"I’m not trying to brag, but we’re really good when we play together," Pazmino said. "I’m really excited to play. This team is good. It has a lot more potential than other (previous South teams). We’re a lot more united in our own way. All of us, we’re really happy and goofy. We all just clicked. It’s been a great year. In past years, the teams they’ve been good, but I don’t know if they clicked and connected. It’s all like one."
Being a part of the team made Pazmino want to return as quickly as possible. He tried to come back for Senior Night in a win over WW-P North last Thursday. He realized again how much it meant to him when he couldn’t yet contribute due to his hip flexor injury.
"It feels like half my life wasn’t there for the week," Pazmino said. "I couldn’t practice. I couldn’t do anything. It just felt weird."
Back on the court with his Pirate teammates, everything felt right for Andres Pazmino as he extended his senior season in an easy opening win in the state tournament and set his sights on the next round.

