Reverse coed schedule

Tuesday night

BUMPER NIGHT No. 1!

7 p.m. Stu (fred’s team) vs. Alex’s team; Ultra vs. Luidgi. 8 p.m.: Stu vs. Luidgi; Alex’s team vs. Ultra.

9 p.m.: Brooks vs. Smackey; Kiley’s team vs. Ugly Ball; Shelley’s team vs. Sophia’s team

10 p.m.: Brooks vs. Shelley’s team; Kiley’s team vs. Smackey; Ugly Ball vs. Sophia’s team.

Southern wins state title

By Fred Siegle

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - When Southern reached it’s lowest low in April, the Rams used it as the impetus to propel themselves toward their first state title.

The Rams lost to CBA at a quad at St. Josephs on April 15, ending their 78-match winning streak against Shore Conference competitors. Coach Eric Maxwell decided to use that loss to challenge his team.

“We came back, we went into the team room, and I told them they had two choices,” Maxwell said. “We could be remembered as the team that lost the streak, or we could be remembered as Southern’s first state champions. Everybody rallied around that.”

“I did not want to be known as the team that lost to CBA,” said setter Shaw Keller.

“We were all mad at each other after losing to CBA,” said middle blocker Rob Kraft, who provided the match-winning point with his fourth kill. “Coach Maxwell told us flat out we could erase that loss, by winning states. That was our goal ever since.”

On Thursday, the Rams completed the push they began that day, beating St. Peters Prep 25-18, 25-17 to win the NJSIAA championship.

St. Peters, which won the NJSIAA North championship on Tuesday with a victory over arch-rival Bayonne, went into Thursday’s match hoping to put pressure on Southern’s offense with tough serves. Instead, a flurry of errors in each game hurt the Marauders’ chances.

In Game 2, Southern held an 11-10 lead and went on an 8-4 run that was helped by St. Peters missing four of its five serves in the stretch. That gave Southern a commanding 19-14 lead.

In Game 1, St. Peters led 6-2 but Southern went on a 7-3 run that included three straight service errors by the Marauders.

“We thought we needed a strong service game to keep them from running their offense,” said St. Peters coach Don Guide. “Sometimes when you try to do that, the kids aren’t mature enough to control it. We won lots of games this year because of our serves, it just wasn’t on tonight.”

Nick Nichols ended the first game for Southern with a kill on an overpass, and also finished with 4 kills in Southern’s balanced attack. Austin Geary and Drew Maxwell each also had 4 kills, while Keller had 15 assists, 3 kills and 2 blocks.

“We have such a balanced team, anybody can have a big day for us,” Nichols said.

The Rams battled their way through a tough road to reach the championship, eliminating the two teams - East Brunswick and St. Josephs - that had won the last three titles and nine of the last 10, along the way. The South semifinal victory over East Brunswick was particularly important, Nichols said.

“That was the biggest game, they knocked us out each of the last two years,” he said. “Once we got past East Brunswick, we knew we were for real.”

The Rams were supported by a huge crowd from their school (St. Peters also had a huge fan group at the match), and Kraft said that provided some inspiration.

“We came out a little nervous, but the crowd helped turn it around in our favor,” he said.

St. Peters was led by their juniors, as outsides Parker Kolodka and Kenny Walters each had 7 kills and middle John Armstrong added 6. Junior libero Alex Cogott had 11 digs, while another junior, Mike Blicharz, did the setting.

Online summer camp registration

Online registration for this year’s Summer Camps is now available in our online store !

In the online store you will find in-depth descriptions for all the girls, boys, and youth camps.

We do require a physical signed copy of the registration form for each camp that players are enrolled in. This can be downloaded here and handed in at camp check-in.

East Brunswick advances to semis

By Fred Siegle

EAST BRUNSWICK- East Brunswick had some “Uh oh” moments - moments that put their hopes for a state title in jeopardy - on Wednesday.

Cinnaminson had game point against the Bears twice in Game One. Then, in Game Two, senior setter Andy Balint briefly left the court with an ankle injury. But Balint returned a few points later and the Bears advanced to the NJSIAA South/Central semifinals with a 28-26, 25-21 victory.

Balint visited the trainer when he landed on a Cinnaminson player’s foot on a block attempt and East Brunswick ahead 21-13. He returned with the Bears’ lead at 22-17 and helped finish out the victory.

“When Andy got hurt, that scared the crap out of me,” senior libero Ryan Norland (12 digs) said.

“When the best setter in the state goes down - that definitely affects you,” said senior right side hitter Mike Kvidahl (13 kills). “But Peter’s (Lysiak) a good setter too, so it didn’t hurt us too much. He’d been setting a 6-2 with Andy most of the year anyway, so we’re all used to Pete’s sets.”

The game points in the first game were more of a concern for the Bears. On the first, 24-23, the Cinnaminson serve missed. ON the second, 25-24, Kvidahl registered a kill. East Brunswick gained the advantage on a kill by Rohan Patel (6 blocks), then won the game after two sideouts on a Cinnaminson error as setter Ryan Haddon’s dump attempt didn’t clear the net.

“It was a smart play, unfortunately, he didn’t get it over. I would trust him to do that on game point in any game of the season,” Cinnaminson coach Rob Spier said. “We had them where we wanted them in the first game, we played great. Unfortunately we didn’t do that in the second game.”

“We kept serving tough, we kept swinging, we didn’t let the fact that they had game points against us change how we were playing,” Kvidahl said.

“After our last match against St. Joes, we were down 19-15 in one game there and coach (Greg) Rutz took a timeout and we took a deep breath and were able to come back and win. We knew what we had to do when the pressure was on, we had confidence because of that. We just kept hitting.”

East Brunswick went ahead 6-1 in the second game and kept a solid edge throughout, even when Balint went out.

“They changed their lineup for the second game, and that confused me,” Spier said. “Before we figured it out, they were up 5-1 or 6-1, whatever it was.”

Greg Aydelotte had 8 kills, Haddon had 24 assists, and libero Mick Kostiuk contributed 12 digs for Cinnaminson. Colin Lynch added 6 kills and Matt Caggiano and Mark Tumas each had 5 for Cinnaminson.

“We have so many weapons in our attack,” Spier said. “I told our team they didn’t have to worry about who was on the other side of the net, we know what we have on our side. We had them where we wanted them in the first game, we were playing great. Unfortunately it didn’t end the way we wanted.”

East Brunswick visits Southern, which beat Howell on Wednesday, in the section semifinals on Friday.

Hillsborough defeats South Brunswick

By Fred Siegle

HILLSBOROUGH - Watch out for the Raiders.

Hillsborough won its seventh straight match on Thursday, beating South Brunswick 26-24, 25-21, and is making its case for a quality seed in the NJSIAA Tournament. The Raiders are now 14-3, with their last loss coming on April 22 against Hunterdon Central.

But they avenged that loss on Wednesday, then followed it up with the victory over the Vikings, who are ranked No. 7 in the last powerzonevb.com rankings (fred’s note: I know, I have to do a new ranking!). The Raiders also have quality wins this year over Fair Lawn, West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Old Bridge, and Colts Neck.

“We knew we’d need to win today if we want a good seed in the states,” said senior setter Jared Himelfarb. “We’ve played a pretty good schedule - our losses are to St. Joes, CBA (both ranked teams) and Hunterdon Central, which we beat yesterday (Wednesday).”

Junior middle Krys Pescinski had 8 kills and 4 blocks for the Raiders, while senior outside Justin Tien had 7 kills and an ace.

The Raiders trailed the first game 23-20, but a kills by Pescinski. Tien and sophomore middle Ed Jedziniak tied it at 23-23. Tien and Ed Jedziniak then combined for a block to make it 24-23, and after the teams traded two sideouts, the game ended on a South Brunswick error.

Hillsborough took a 20-16 lead in the second game when Pescinski ran a back slide for a kill, and finished out the game on a kill by Tien.

Senior Kieran Fitzpatrick, a 6-7 middle, had 7 kills and senior outside Kyle Mariano had 6 to lead South Brunswick.

“We’re definitely focusing more right now, and we’re playing more like a team,” Himelfarb said. “Our goal today was to try to stop Kyle as much as possible, and try to get around Kieran by moving the ball around with slides.”

Bayonne defeats St. Peters

By Fred Siegle

BAYONNE - Ever since they lost at St. Peter’s Prep on April 16, players on Bayonne’s volleyball team have had their focus on May 5 and a home meeting with the Marauders.

The Bees’ wait ended on Tuesday, and it ended with smiles on their faces as they beat St. Peters 25-20, 25-15.

“When we played them the first time, we had a bad day,” said middle blocker Patryk Rusznica, who had 7 kills and 5 blocks. “This time, it was their bad day. They played like six individuals, we played like a unit.”

Bayonne went ahead 9-8 in the first game on a St. Peter’s error, then Rusznica pounded down an overpass after a tough serve by Casey Blake to make it 10-8, and the Bees never relinquished the lead. Four serves by Blake later, Rusznica registered a solo block to make it 14-8.

With Bayonne leading 22-11, St. Peter’s mounted a minor comeback attempt with setter Mike Blicharz serving. John Armstrong had two kills and combined with Parker Kolodka for two blocks as the Marauders closed the gap to 22-17, but the teams traded points from there for the final score.

In the second game, the Bees went ahead 7-6 on a kill by Mike Kucza (5 kills, 1 block), then Rusznica and Rich Boyle combined for a block to make it 8-6 and they never trailed.

“The difference today was our confidence, plus we didn’t give up (which he thought his team did in the first meeting),” Kucza said. “The first time, I think the crowd got to us. But we learned from our mistakes. ”

“We were hungry,” coach Pat Longo said. “I think we were more focused today, too. It was also important that we kept the momentum when we got ahead.”

Blake had 4 kills for Bayonne, while setter Kester Payumo contributed 9 assists, Boyle had 4 kills and 3 blocks, and Marcin Chojnowski chipped in with a kill and 3 blocks.

Armstrong had 3 kills and 2 blocks for St. Peters, while Kolodka had 6 kills. Kenny Walters contributed 3 kills and 2 aces, and Dan Londono had an ace and 4 kills.

East Brunswick wins Southern Invitational

By Fred Siegle

MANAHAWKIN - There were a couple miss-steps along the way, but East Brunswick rebounded from last Wednesday’s loss to St. Josephs on Saturday by winning the Southern Invitational.

Senior left side hitter Mike Kvidahl led the way in the final with 18 kills as the Bears beat the hosts 25-22, 25-18. The Bears had one of their miss-steps in the semifinals, losing the first game,  25-23, to Colts Neck, but came back to win Games 2 (25-17) and Game 3 (25-22). They also won their pool in the pool-play portion of the tournament, going 5-1, with a split of two games against Cinnaminson.

“From the moment we lost to St. Joes, we’ve had a chip on our shoulder,” Kvidahl said. “We came in here with that attitude. We weren’t even thinking about the other teams here, really, we wanted to prove to ourselves that we’re one of the best teams in the state.”

Setter Andy Balint had 6 kills and a block in the final for East Brunswick, while middle Rohan Patel had 2 kills and participated in 3 blocks. Kvidahl was named to the All-Tournament team, and Patel, who led the way with his blocking in the match against Colts Neck, was named tournament MVP. Ryan Norland, who played outside hitter and libero for the Bears during the tournament, also was named to the All Tournament team.

“We were a little bit angry after the loss to St. Joes,” Patel said. “We know we can play better than that. ”

Patel said the turning point in the second game against the Rams came when Southern’s hitters reacted to East Brunswick’s blocking.

“They kind of stopped attacking and started hitting roll shots and pushing the ball,” Patel said. “That increased our confidence.”

The comeback against Colts Neck showed the Bears are working to overcome the types of letdowns that caused their two losses to St. Joes this year, Kvidahl said.

“It was like we were just going through the motions,” he said. “But after that game, we woke up and played strong throughout the playoffs.”

Southern was led by senior outside hitter Nick Nichols, who had 8 kills and 2 aces against East Brunswick, while Rob Kraft added 5 kills.

Southern beat Cinnaminson, 25-23, 25-19 in the semifinals, as Nichols had 8 kills, Kraft had 6 kills and 3 blocks, and middle Austin Geary had 7 kills and 7 blocks. Mark Tumas had 8 kills for Cinnaminson, while Greg Aydelotte had 4 kills and 2 blocks and Dan Christmas had 6 blocks.

“Beating Cinnaminson was nice, that was an important win,” said Southern coach Eric Maxwell. “It helps us maintain our spot as far as being one of the top teams. Against East Brunswick, we just didn’t put enough pressure on them - they were always playing from 3-4 points in front of us. We need to get a better start.”

Cinnaminson split with East Brunswick in pool play, winning 25-23 and losing 25-22. The Bears came out as the top seed from the pool based on points against the other teams (Colts Neck and Roselle Catholic). The Pirates beat St. Peters Prep 22-25, 25-23, 25-18 in the quarterfinals.

“We’re very happy to be able to play in this kind of tournament, to face this kind of competition,” coach Rob Spier said. “This past week, we played four teams with losing records. We know we have to play top teams, to see teams like this, before the state tournament. We don’t want it to be a surprise for us.”

The Pirates had a tough time putting up a block against St. Peter’s fast offense, especially one-balls in the middle, but their defense made up for it with numerous digs, often off hits with no block up.

“We had trouble against St. Peters, their middles are so fast,” Spier said. “At first, we were really trying to shut that down with blocking. But it wasn’t working, so we switched it up and decided to give that to them and work on digging it up and then running our offense off that.”

Cinnaminson’s defense also confounded East Brunswick in their pool play match. “Their defense was amazing,” Patel said. “They were getting everything.”

Colts Neck finished third in the pool that featured Cinnaminson and East Brunswick, beating Roselle Catholic. The Cougars then beat Cherry Hill West, the second-place team from the other pool, in the quarterfinals.Alister Matthews had 23 kills in the 3-game loss to East Brunswick.

“I really believe after today that we’ve shown we can compete with any team in the state,” Colts Neck coach Glen Jansen said. “We have nine seniors on this team, and they’ve done everything I could ask.”

St. Peters had been third in the pool won by Southern, with Cherry Hill West taking second. Howell, which beat St. Peters in pool play, just missed the playoffs in that tough pool.

Nichols, setter Shaw Keller and middle Austin Geary represented Southern on the all-tournament team, which also included Tumas from Cinnaminson and Alister Matthews of Colts Neck.

St. Joes beats EB again (also with wwn-jp stevens)

carlo’s report on West Windsor North vs. JP Stevens is at the end

By Fred Siegle

EAST BRUNSWICK - St. Josephs proved that their season-opening victory over East Brunswick wasn’t a fluke, beating the Bears again, 25-23, 25-13 on Thursday.

Floor defense, blocking and serve receive were the keys for the Falcons, No. 4 in the Powerzonevb.com rankings. Libero Nick Yip sparked the floor defense with 16 digs, while Bobby O’Grady had 9 and setter Ryan Jago contributed 6. Jose Monsanto had 4 blocks, Danny Vaccariello had 2, and Matt Lajiness and Jago each added 1.

And Yip, O’Grady (8 kills) and Vaccariello (8 kills) handled the serve receive that allowed the Falcons to run their offense at peak performance against the No. 1 Bears.

“Our offense isn’t as powerful as theirs, but we make up for it by playing smarter,” O’Grady said. “We’re able to make adjustments as the game goes on.”

It seems like playing their traditional Middlesex County rival is bringing out the best in the Falcons this year.

“We just seem to have a lot more fire when we play them,” Vaccariello said. “It’s a long tradition that we’re two of the best teams in the state, and it’s always going to be a battle when we play them.”

The first game was just that, with O’Grady leading the way by earning his sixth kill of the game on a 10-ball for the 25-23 victory.  East Brunswick had a 4-point lead at 10-6 on a kill by Mike Kvidahl, but the Falcons battled back and took the lead for good, 20-19, on a combination block by Lajiness and Jago.

In the second game, the Falcons took advantage of East Brunswick mistakes to jump out to a 8-0 lead and never looked back.

St. Josephs played in a high-level tournament in Chicago last weekend, and O’Grady said the competition there forced them to speed up their offense.

“All the teams there played so fast, and we were getting roofed like crazy,” O’Grady said.  “We had to speed up, just to get kills. And we carried that home with us.”

West Windsor North def. JP Stevens: 2-0 (25-16, 25-18)

By Carlo Edra,

NJCU Men’s Coach

I was given a tip to watch West-Windsor Plainsboro North play because they were one of the most underrated teams in New Jersey. How right they were. West Windsor utilized its strong outside game to cruise to a sweep of John P. Stevens of Edison.

West Windsor bolted out to a 9-2 lead in game one due to the strong serving of libero Josh Lin. He was serving a jump float that was so close to the tape that it would’ve given any team problems. West Windsor held leads as big as 12-3 and 21-10 but eventually finished out the set 25-16. JP Stevens struggled to pass the ball having been aced several times throughout the game. Stevens’ Senior Outside Hitter, Kevin Li, kept the game respectable for the Hawks by scoring most of the points they scored.

Game two was a bit more competitive. Stevens’ Middle Blocker, Victor Quan, and Outside Hitter, Kevin Huang, took some of the load off Kevin Li by picking up their games. Setter Riley Wang also was given an easier time because the ball control improved from the first game. Stevens controlled the tempo and momentum early but could not build a lead due to a streak of 5 service errors out of 7 serve attempts. With the score tied 12-12, West Windsor woke up. As they have been all game, West Windsor North’s outside attack, Brian Foster and Stefan Bebenov, took over and finished the match.

John P. Stevens is a team that has potential but is very inconsistent. Luckily for them, their varsity roster consists of numerous sophomores, three of which (Huang, Wang, and Quan) already play major roles in the team. Combine this with their solid JV squad, they can be a very solid team for years to come.

West Windsor North may have one of the best (and obviously underrated) outside hitters in the state in Stefan Bebenov. He has a great sense of where the block is, has steady ball control, and does everything so effortlessly. He is also just as effective out of the backrow as he is in the front. Fellow outside hitter, Brian Foster, has a strong swing as well. Consistent setter, Chris Jin, was able to get the ball to his outsides from wherever he was being passed.

Carlo Edra
New Jersey City University
Head Men’s Volleyball Coach

St. Peters defeats Bayonne

By Fred Siegle

JERSEY CITY- A close first-game win provided the momentum for a stellar second-game performance on Thursday as unranked St. Peters Prep defeated Bayonne, No. 5 in the Powerzonevb.com rankings in the first meeting of the season between the Hudson County rivals.

St. Peters eeked out a 25-23 win in Game One, winning on a kill by Kenny Walters (7 in the match) off a tandem. The second game was never close, with St. Peters taking leads of 11-2 and 20-9 on the way to a 25-13 victory.

“Our team was a bit nervous at the start of the first game,” said middle blocker Dan Londono. “But the nerves left as the game went on and we started figuring them out. Then we started playing the way we should be playing.”

Bayonne held a 14-11 lead, taking advantage of poor passing by St. Peters early in the first game. But once the Marauders got their passing problems under control, the momemtum changed. They closed out the first game on a kill by Walters on a tandem play.

“We weren’t passing well at the start,” said middle blocker John Armstrong. “But once everyone calmed down, I guess it was nerves, it really helped our game.”

With it’s serve-receive straightened out, the Marauders added stronger blocking in the second game. Armstrong had 3 blocks, Londono had 2, and right side player Lorenzo Samin added one in the game.

“A big part of Bayonne’s game is their hitting, and when we started getting blocks, that took them out of it,” Londono said. “The blocking got in their heads.”

“Everything was clicking for us in that second game,” Armstrong said. “We were just having fun, and when you’re having fun, you play well.”

Parker Kolodka had 8 kills and an ace for St. Peters, Londono had 4 kills and 3 blocks, and Armstrong had 4 kills and 3 blocks.

Patryk Rusznica led Bayonne with 5 kills and 3 blocks as the Bees suffered their first loss of the season. They’ll try for revenge when they host St. Peters on May 5.

The Marauders, meanwhile, may have turned around their season, since they had already suffered two losses, which is not a normal occurrence for St. Peters at this stage of the season.

“This was huge, it puts us back in the spotlight,” Armstrong said. “It shows we can compete with the top teams.”

St. Josephs quad results

By Fred Siegle

METUCHEN - There was something for all four participating teams at the quad matchup at St. Josephs on Wednesday.

The quad featured the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 teams in the Powerzonevb.com rankings. No. 2 Don Bosco went 2-1, No. 3 Southern went 1-2, No. 4 St. Joes went 2-1, and No. 6 CBA was 1-2.

The most significant win of the day, however, went to CBA, which beat Southern, 18-25, 25-22, 25-22. It was the first-ever loss for Southern in a non-tournament match against a Shore Conference opponent (78 straight wins before that).

“They’ve had bragging rights for eight years,” CBA coach Monica Slattery said. “It felt phenomenal to win that match.”

Ryan Gelenitis led CBA in the match with 14 kills, 3 blocks and 2 aces. He had 8 kills and a block and an ace in the Game 2 win.

“Everyone did well in that match, our passing was very good, Corey (Fallon) set great, we were just working well as a team,” Gelenitis said. “We know they’re a great team, one of the best in the state, so this was a big win even without the Shore Conference thing.”

Middle Jon Rohan had 10 kills in the win, while Greg Brzozowski had 7 and Neal Slattery added 5.

CBA lost to Don Bosco 27-25, 25-23,  in the first match of the day, and lost to St. Joes in its final match.

“Beating Southern was big, but we’re leaving here unsatisfied,” Fallon said. “They all were tight games all the way through, we know we’re one of the best teams and this proves we can play against tough competition. Whenever you come to a quad like this you want to sweep.”

DON BOSCO RESULTS

The Ironmen won their first two matches, beating CBA and St. Joes, but then slipped up in a 3-game loss to Southern.  They won the first game rather easily, 25-18, as Southern coach Eric Maxwell played his bench after his team’s tough loss to CBA. And after the first game win, coach Mark Mako said Don Bosco suffered a let down and couldn’t finish the match out.

“That was disappointing at the end,” Mako said. “That first game actually killed us, even though we won it, we weren’t playing well, especially at the end. We talked about it between games, how we couldn’t let that happen, that we had to keep our intensity and play better. But it didn’t happen. That’s the tough thing about quads with such strong competition, you have to play well all the way through or you’re going to lose one.”

Still, Bosco had the wins over St. Joes and CBA to make it a mostly successful day.

“It was a decent day for the most part,” Mako said. “The best thing about days like this, playing this kind of competition, you learn a lot.”

ST. JOSEPHS RESULTS

The Falcons opened the day with a 20-25, 25-23, 26-24 victory over Southern, then lost 19-25, 24-26 to Bosco, and finished with a 25-23, 25-23 win over CBA.

Danny Vaccariello had 35 kills and 8 aces in the three matches, while Bobby O’Grady had 19 kills. Ryan Jago had 66 assists.

The Falcons were playing without middle Jose Monsanto, who was sick, so O’Grady switched to middle, where he played last year, and Mike Cash stepped in at left side. Cash had 3 kills and 3 aces against Southern.

SOUTHERN RESULTS

The Rams salvaged what could have been a very bad day with the victory over Don Bosco in their final match.

“We hit rock bottom today after that second match (the loss to CBA),” coach Eric Maxwell said. “That was probably the worst I’ve ever felt while I’ve been coaching this program. But I”m really pleased with the way we bounced back. I put the bench in (against Bosco) to give us some energy, and I felt like it did. In the grand scheme of things, that will be a big win.”

While he could have been disappointed that the Shore Conference streak was over, he chose to look at the bright side.

“We’ve been carrying that streak around for a long time,” he said. “This will help us, because the most important thing to us is the state championship, and now we can focus on that.”

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