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

Sand courts opening!

The sand courts are returning this summer. Please sign-up early for the sand court activities by May 4^th . Opening day is May 16^th .  2009.

Summer Sand court activities will include  Season court rentals, League, Tournaments for adults and girls, adult weekend clinic, Girls weekend clinic and Girls summer day camp, Pick-up and special events.  We have 2 courts, fenced in, white Delaware beach sand and safe sand bag perimeters.

Rentals: Season Rate: Special pre-opening pricing $320. This price is only available up until May 4^th .  Regular seasonal rate: $480. (8 weeks, 2 hours each night) There will be 2 summer seasons. Summer I: 5/18-7/12 and Summer II: 7/13-9/6. Each season is 8 weeks on the same court and time slot. Time slots are 2 hours each either 4:30-6:30 or 6:30-8:30 on Monday through Thursday. There are only 2 courts so 4 slots per night. Sign-up early. Season contracts are non-refundable and the courts will be open rain or shine. Current gold or silver members may sign-up now. Open registration begins on May 1^st .   Hourly Rate: $60/Hr (peak 430-830 Mo-Th, $40/Hr non-peak).

Leagues: We have 2 League seasons planned for Saturday morning. Format will be Mens Quads, Co-Ed Quads or Womens Quads, depending on what you want. Summer I: 5/16-7/18, Summer II: 7/25-9/19.  League times: 8:30am-10:30am and 10:30am-12:30pm. Deadline to sign-up is May 11^th $480/team. (gold and silver discounts apply).

Tournaments: We have weekend tournaments scheduled, adults:6/6-6/7, 8/8-8/9, 8/29-8/30 and Junior girls:6/20-6/21, 7/18-7/19.  Tournaments will run 1-6p. Formats will be announced. $20/Adult player, $10/Junior player.

Camps & Clinics: Weekend clinics scheduled- adults:5/30, 8/1, 8/22  and Junior girls:6/13 & 7/11. Clinics will run 1p-5p (open play afterwards) Clinics are $65/person.  (rain or shine no refunds).  Girls Weekday Camps: Girls morning camp: Mon-Thur 9:00am-12:00 noon (3hrs) Dates: 6/15-6/18 or 7/6-7/9 $125 rain or shine.  $125 (PowerZone Camp discounts apply)

Pick-Up:
Friday Night Pick-Up: 400-630pm, 630-900pm (Gold/Silver)

Special Events:
Opening weekend: 5/16-5/17
Allegro Fundraiser Weekend 6/27-6/28
Dog days of Summer Weekend 7/25-7/26
End of Summer 9/12-9/13

Unfortunately If by the deadline we do not have enough interest we will not be re-opening the courts. Please contact us for more info.

New Leagues Now Forming

Thursday nights-Co-Ed Reverse Quads -must be 2 women and 2 men. Women’s net, men attack from back row only. Co-Ed touch rule applies.  $480 per team. Starts Thursday, May 14th!!! Contact Mark to enter.

(mthatcher@powerzonevb.com) 973-983-8208

Week 3 High School Top 10

(edited to fix Southern’s record against the top 4 teams)

By Fred Siegle

Things are settling in for the top 10 as we enter the fourth week of the season. Records are through matches played on Monday, April 20.

1. EAST BRUNSWICK (7-1). Preseason rank: 1. Week 1: 4. Week 2: 1. The Bears have settled down after their season-opening loss to St. Joes.
2. DON BOSCO PREP (9-2). Preseason rank: 2. Week 1: 1. Week 2: 2. The Ironmen are playing a very competitive schedule and came out of a tough quad last Wednesday with a 2-1 record. They are 3-2 against the top 5 teams.

3. CBA (10-2). Preseason rank 7. Week 1: 7. Week 2: 6. The Colts make a big move after sweeping a quad against St. Joes, Hillsborough and Cherry Hill West on Saturday. They also had an historic victory over Southern last Wednesday.

4. ST. JOSEPHS (14-3). Preseason rank 4. Week 1: 3. Week 2: 4. The Falcons had six big matches last week in two separate quads. They’re 1-1 vs. CBA, but lost the most recent matchup. They play at a tournament in Chicago this weekend.

5. SOUTHERN (12-3). Preseason rank: 3. Week 1: 2. Week 2: 3. The Rams took a hit at the quad at St. Joes last week, going 1-2 (beating Don Bosco, but losing to CBA and St. Joes). They are 2-3 against the top four.

6. SOUTH BRUNSWICK (8-2). Preseason rank: unranked (teams to watch). Week 1: unranked. Week 2: 7. The Vikings proved they belong by beating Old Bridge on Monday. Old Bridge is key in sorting out the rankings, with wins over Cinnaminson and St. Peters Prep.

7. CINNAMINSON (7-2). Preseason rank: 8. Week 1: 8. Week 2: 8. The Pirates losses have been to St. Joes and Old Bridge, but they have beaten St. Peters. They have a BIG match against Eastern on Thursday.

8. HILLSBOROUGH (7-2). Preseason rank: 9. Week 1: 9. Week 2: 9. The Raiders had an important win over Fair Lawn last week.

9. St. PETERS PREP (9-3). Preseason rank: 6. Week 1: 6. Week 2: unranked. The Marauders return to the top 10 after beating Bayonne last Thursday. They also won a tournament in Rhode Island over the weekend. Parker Kolodka was named tournament MVP, and Alex Cogott and John Armstrong were named to the all-tournament team.

10. BAYONNE (9-1). Preseason rank: 5. Week 1: 5. Week 2: 5. Rebounded from their loss to St. Peters Prep with a victory over Memorial on Monday, but that loss sends them down the rankings.

Teams to watch: Vernon (won the Clifton Tournament), Old Bridge (still a threat against any team), Memorial (offers some competition for St. Peters and Bayonne in Hudson County), Eastern (win over Hunterdon Central last week will come in handy when it’s time to seed the state tournament).

No. 7 South Brunswick beats Old Bridge

By Carlo Edra

NJCU Head Coach

South Brunswick def. Old Bridge:  2-0 (25-19, 25-22)

In game that meant third place in the tough Greater Middlesex County, South Brunswick came out strong early in both games securing the straight sets victory.

South Brunswick, No. 7 in the Powerzonevb.com rankings, blitzed Old Bridge in the first game taking a 12-3 lead.  This was possible because of the strong jump serving of South Brunswick’s Senior Outside Hitter, Kyle Mariano.  He caused Old Bridge’s serve receive to be all over the place, even picking up 3 aces in the early run.  South Brunswick also benefited from the strong play of Middle Blockers, Kieran Fitzpatrick and Stephen Zhang. Whatever Old Bridge did offensively, South Brunswick was getting block touches on everything and also digging whatever got through the block.

It wasn’t all bad for Old Bridge in game one. Eventually they got a couple blocks and their offense began to pick up a little bit. They got as close as 19-15, but South Brunswick’s Mariano just was too much for Old Bridge to handle.

Game two was much of the same from both teams. South Brunswick again came out blazing with an 11-4 lead. This time the lead was attributed to Old Bridge not being able to put the ball in play. They made multiple hitting and service errors. Again, Old Bridge fixed their play late in the game to get as close as 19-16 and even 22-20 but their slow starts in both games gave South Brunswick the cushion needed to finish the match.

Old Bridge has so much potential to be a great team.  They have a good stable of hitters, a good setter, and defense when they play motivated.  They were able to beat teams like Cinnaminson, St. Peters Prep, Bayonne (in tournament play) but go on to lose to West Windsor Plainsboro North and Piscataway.  Hopefully their consistency can come around and if it does, they will be very dangerous.

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

Saturday coverage (CBA-St. Joes, Clifton Tourney) with DIII championship bonus

NJCU coach Carlo Edra was all over the state on Saturday
Here’s his report

My Day of Volleyball

I started out my day at the St. Joseph’s High School Quad in Metuchen.

I don’t have exact scores of all the matches aside from the two matches I really sat down and watched intently. Here were the results:

St. Josephs def. Cherry Hill West: 2-0 (25-13, 25-20)

Christian Brothers Academy def. Cherry Hill West: 2-0

St. Josephs def. Hillsborough: 2-0

Hillsborough def. Cherry Hill West: 2-0

Christian Brothers Academy def. Hillsborough: 2-0 (25-18, 25-21)

What I noticed the most watching CBA’s whole rotation go by was how aggressive their service game was.

The first game showcased CBA’s serving because it kept Hillsborough’s offense way too predictable, if they weren’t aced or gave CBA a freeball right back. CBA setter, Corey Fallon, also utilized middle, Jon Rohan, for most of the first game and Hillsborough had no answer for it. Hillsborough as a team was very hesitant on defense watching a lot of “close calls” drop inbounds.

Game two featured the great serving of Christian Brothers’ libero, Matt Coccaro, early on. Cocca, ro’s serve provided his team with a 4-0 run to begin the game. Hillsborough put up a bit more of a fight but still struggled greatly with the CBA service game. Hillsborough’s strength is in their setter, Jared Himelfarb, and their middle attack, junior Krys Pescinski and sophomore Ed Jedziniak. Whenever there was a chance, the middles put the ball away. Unfortunately for Hillsborough, the ball control was the same from the first game giving them limited middle attacking. CBA began displaying their variety in this game getting all the hitters involved.

Christian Brothers Academy def. St. Josephs: 2-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-17)

Game one was a case of St. Joes not being aggressive enough on their attack while CBA, on the other hand, was swinging away. Joes was able to slow down the effectiveness of CBA’s middles but their wing attack was all over them. Outsides Hitters, Neil Slattery and Greg Brzozowski, combined with Opposite Ryan Gelenitis were putting the ball away at will.

Game two was a different story. Joes made an adjustment to CBA’s outside attack and forced them to lose their efficiency. Joes also turned up the level of their defense. CBA gave their opponents quite a bit of overpasses and Joes took advantage.

Game three was almost identical to what happened in game one. In the end, CBA’s variety in their attack was much more effective than St. Joes relying on their big guns.

My next stop was a good amount north at the Clifton Tournament.

As soon as I arrived in the gym there was a buzz in the air. After I started asking some questions I finally discovered what it was about.

Apparently there was an accident during a pool play match between Bayonne and Wayne Valley. After Wayne Valley made a touch on an attack by Bayonne, one of their backrow players chased the ball all the way to the wall at the gym. Fortunately for him he didn’t have to stop his momentum to avoid the wall because he ran through the doorway. BUT as soon as he stepped outside of the gym, he was unable to stop himself and his momentum as he proceeded to crash through a glass window at the entrance to the school. An ambulance was called and the window was boarded up to prevent further injuries.

Now back to volleyball!

Clifton and Old Bridge were the top two teams overall during the course of pool play so they were given byes in the first round of playoffs. The location of the bleachers were to the back of the score pads so the spectators could not follow the score.

QUARTER FINALS:

Vernon def. Memorial of West New York

Memorial played Vernon tough but in the end it was Vernon’s more efficient attack plus their blocking that gave them the win.

Bayonne def. Wallington

Bayonne got through this playoff match relatively easily just going through the motions.

SEMI-FINALS:

Old Bridge def. Bayonne

It was a close match in the early going but eventually Bayonne struggled to sideout and lost defensive intensity. Once Old Bridge began to apply pressure, Bayonne almost looked like they gave up. Bayonne Outside Hitter, Michal Kucza, kept Bayonne in the match towards the end, but it was already too late. From what I saw from Bayonne was setter, Payumo Kester, liked to diversify his offense but Kucza could’ve and should’ve seen more sets throughout the games I saw them play.

Vernon def. Clifton

These two teams were basically banging the ball on each other with so much intensity. The team with the least amount of errors, which was Vernon, won the game.

FINALS:

Vernon def. Old Bridge: 25-21

Watching the two teams shake hands prior to the game was quite a site. The size difference was staggering. Old Bridge’s tallest player on the court would’ve been the third shortest player on Vernon’s team, even shorter than the libero.

Early on Old Bridge’s offense was out of sync and missed a couple serves giving Vernon an early lead. Old Bridge’s defense was making it so Vernon needed to take 3 to 4 swings per rally just to win the point and eventually, it changed the tide of the game. OB remained with the lead until about the 20s but then Vernon got a couple of blocks and momentum completely swung in their favor winning the tournament on a dominating final couple of points.

Finally, my day took me even further north into Mahwah where Ramapo College was hosting the consolation and championship match of the Division III championships.

Ramapo College put up quite a fight but eventually fell to University of California, Santa Cruz in five TOUGH sets.

In the championship match, Juniata College swept Stevens Institute of Technology to win the Division III title.

It was a great environment throughout the two matches. Each school had their respective fan bases cheering them on while New Jersey High School Volleyball also graced the gym with their presence. Teams represented I noticed in attendance include St. Josephs of Metuchen, East Brunswick, Southern Regional, Union Hill, Garfield, Montclair, Vernon, and many other teams I probably missed.

(Fred’s note: Passaic Tech, Roselle Catholic, Colts Neck, Bloomfield, Montclair and Lakeland were also represented, with probably others)

Now I’m sitting at home finishing this write up wondering when the next full day of volleyball awaits. I can’t help it; I’m addicted to this game!

Until next time!

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

Final note from Fred: St. Peters Prep won the tournament they were at in Rhode Island, with Parker Kolodka being selected as Tournament MVP. I believe Don Bosco Prep was also at that tournament.

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.”

Week 2 Top 10

Edited to fix mistake concerning Cinnaminson!

(Through Monday, April 13 matches!)

By Fred Siegle

When in doubt, go with the seniors. That’s an axiom that reporters generally follow when dealing with/predicting/ranking teams in high school, and to a lesser extent, even college sports. A corollary would involve overall experience – sometimes teams have juniors, and even sophomores, that might have more experience than other team’s seniors. This can be especially true with a sport like volleyball where some players compete in the off-season and others don’t.

Anyway, that axiom plays a big part in how I determine my preseason rankings, and how things progress from there. It’s a part of the reason for my initial rankings of traditional rivalry teams like East Brunswick over St. Josephs, Bayonne over St. Peters, Cinnaminson over Eastern. And after a Week One shuffle, the Top 5 teams return to where they were in the preseason.
Things could change again next week depending on how the quad match featuring Don Bosco, St. Joes, Southern and CBA goes on Wednesday at St. Joes (10 a.m.).
So here’s the WEEK TWO Top 10. Rankings are through matches played on Monday.

1. EAST BRUNSWICK (4-1). Preseason rank: 1. Week 1: 4. The Bears return to No. 1 after registering a victory over the previous No. 1, Don Bosco. Their loss was a three-gamer, with the losses each by two points, against St. Joes on opening day.
2. DON BOSCO PREP (5-1). Preseason rank: 2. Week 1: 1. The Ironmen, a senior-dominated team with a LOT of off-season experience as well, suffered the loss at East Brunswick. Their big victory so far is a win over Southern at the Bloomfield Tournament. On Wednesday, they’ll be tested at that St. Joes quad.
3. SOUTHERN (8-1). Preseason rank: 3. Week 1: 2. The Rams have beaten St. Joes and lost to Don Bosco. Their ambitious schedule continues on Wednesday at the St. Joes quad.
4. ST. JOSEPHS (9-1). Preseason rank 4. Week 1: 3. The Falcons lost a lot from their 2008 championship team and therefore have the least experience of the top 4.

5. BAYONNE (6-0). Preseason rank: 5. Week 1: 5. As I said in last week’s rankings, the Bees have more senior leadership than Hudson County rival St. Peters (which has dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time since I can remember). We’ll see if it holds true when they play at St. Peters on Thursday.

6. CBA (4-0). Preseason rank 7. Week 1: 7. The Colts have a senior-dominated team with probably more experience than Shore Conference rival Southern. But another axiom – stick with a team until the other team DOES beat them, controls this rivalry. We’ll see what happens today at the St. Joes quad.

7. SOUTH BRUNSWICK (5-2). Preseason rank: unranked (teams to watch). Week 1: unranked. Based on the senior theory, I believe the Vikings are better than Old Bridge, which earned a consideration for this spot with a win over Cinnaminson. But the Knights also have some questionable losses, while the Vikings have only lost to St. Joes and East Brunswick.

8. CINNAMINSON (5-2). Preseason rank: 8. Week 1: 8. The Pirates losses have been to St. Joes and Old Bridge, but have beaten St. Peters.

9. HILLSBOROUGH (4-0). Preseason rank: 9. Week 1: 9. The Raiders have beaten West Windsor Plainsboro North, a team that is gaining some respect around the state.

10. LAKELAND (4-1). Preseason rank: unranked (teams to watch). Week 1: unranked. Lakeland has a three-way thing going with Fair Lawn (a win) and Vernon (a loss – but Vernon lost to Fair Lawn).

Dropped out: St. Peters (lost several matches), Hunterdon Central (lost to Howell).
Teams to watch: Obviously, Fair Lawn and Vernon are going to be heard from, as well as Clifton, which is still unbeaten, in the North. Montclair has also had some big wins, along with Roselle Catholic. Old Bridge has been up and down. Colts Neck and Howell are the next two best teams in the Shore Conference (Colts Neck beat the Rebels on Tuesday).

No. 4 East Brunswick beats No. 1 Don Bosco

BY BRIAN JOHNSON

EAST BRUNSWICK — Senior Mike Kvidahl said the East Brunswick High School boys’ volleyball team was still trying to find its identity after an opening-day loss to St. Joseph.
The Bears might be starting to take stride.
After Don Bosco Prep jumped to the top spot in the Powerzonevb.com rankings this week, the 4th ranked Bears defeated the Ironmen (25-13, 25-20) in convincing fashion on Wednesday with solid blocking with hitting performances from Kvidahl and senior middle-blocker Rohan Patel.
“Going into the St. Joe’s game we really didn’t know what type of team we were,” Kvidahl said. “We’re starting to put the pieces together, getting better everyday at practice. The ceiling is high for us. As long as we come out with high intensity like we did today we’ll play the volleyball we should be playing to win.”
Patel set the tone early for the Bears (3-1) opening up the match with a block just beyond the 10-foot line, then blocked two balls in a row and followed up with another kill to put his team up 5-1. Kvidahl then got going, putting away seven balls in the first game while adding two aces and a block.
Patel started the second game with a solo block followed by a stuff by senior setter Andy Balint. Kvidahl would once again prove to be too much for the Ironmen as he tallied seven kills in the second game with three coming from the backrow.
Patel said the Bears blocking put the team in a great position early.
“I asked (head coach Greg Rutz) before the game if we could do blocking footwork as a warm-up before the game and he said ‘yeah’, and I think that’s what we needed to get blocks today,” Patel said. “After my first block I just felt really comfortable and when I kept getting touches I kept gaining more confidence.”
Kvidahl led all players with 14 kills, four aces and two blocks. Patel finished with six kills and four blocks. Balint tallied 15 assists, five kills, and a block, while junior Pete Lysiak compiled 10 assists and four digs.
Bosco was led by middle-blocker James Mataras who finished with seven kills and three blocks. Senior setter Doug Battersby compiled 13 assists for the Ironmen.

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