Southern sweeps to 30-0

By Fred Siegle

METUCHEN - Another Saturday playing some of the top teams in the state, and Southern Regional remains unbeaten.

The Rams, No. 1 in the Powerzonevb.com rankings, won four matches at the St. Joseph Super Six Showcase on Saturday, including three-set victories over No. 2 East Brunswick and No. 3 St. Joseph to improve to 30-0. They also beat No. 5 Bayonne and No. 8 Fair Lawn and are sure to be the top seed in the NJSIAA South/Central playoffs.

Each of the third-game wins were mirror images for the Rams. They had to come back from 14-11 deficits in both, and won both 25-21. Southern has now beaten its top rivals five times (3 wins over St. Joes, and two over East Brunswick).

"It's huge, having had to come back,'' coach Eric Maxwell said. "As good as we've played all year, we felt we had to beat St. Joes and East Brunswick again today to solidify our spot. It was good in a way that we had to come back in both, because it forced us to battle a bit. We fought off some tough situations.''

The Rams almost had a miraculous comeback in Game 2 against East Brunswick, which would have eliminated the need for the third game. They trailed 24-17 after a kill by Fran Hodgson (15 kills, 5 blocks in the match) when Nolan King went back to serve. They then scored 8 straight points, with King earning two aces, to take a 25-24 lead. But Travis Heilman kept East Brunswick alive with a kill (he had 3 more, 2 on 10-balls) and the Bears won 30-28.
He finished with 14 kills in the match.

King had 6 kills, Jeff Elsasser had 8, Bryan Batiste contributed 7 kills, and Eric Sharkey contributed 5 kills in the win over East Brunswick. Hodgson, Southern's 6-7 middle, helped Southern control the third game with 5 kills and 3 blocks.

"The thing about Fran, he's so physically imposing,'' Maxwell said. "When he decides to take over, that's a great weapon to have on your side.''

Southern has played an impressive schedule in amassing its 30 wins, with much of its toughest competition coming in Saturday events like its tournament last week where it played and beat No. 5 St. Peters, No. 7 Old Bridge, and Fair Lawn, and a quad earlier in the season with East Brunswick, St. Joes and Moorestown.

This week, they play No. 7 Old Bridge in a doubleheader on Wednesday, face No. 4 CBA for the third time on Friday, and then participate in the St. Peters tournament on Saturday.

"We still have a tough schedule, that will keep us on top of our game,'' Maxwell said. "Winning these games today when we were down, that has to give us confidence. You have to figure, sometime in the state tournament, we're going to run into some tough situations.''

East Brunswick (19-2) and St. Joes (19-8, with five losses against Southern and East Brunswick) each went 3-1 at the Showcase, beating Bayonne, Fair Lawn and Moorestown. Bayonne (22-3) and Fair Lawn (20-7) each beat Moorestown (15-9).

"We're going to keep practicing hard, we're going to practice for them (Southern),'' East Brunswick coach Greg Rutz said. "They're our nemesis right now.''