By Fred Siegle
SOUTH BRUNSWICK - East Brunswick's seniors all had their moments last night as the Bears beat St. Peters 25-21, 25-22 to win the state title on Friday.
It wasn't just regular starters Eric Corpus, Travis Heilman, Kyle Barry, John McLaughlin, Dan Korten and Sameer Sood. Coach Greg Rutz was able to give his seniors off the bench - Julian Millan and Brian Gieser - a chance to play in the championship match.
"I'm glad all my friends who've been my teammates since freshman year got to play in the state final,'' said Corpus (3 kills, 10 digs). "When we were freshmen, we all talked about winning the title when we became seniors.''
"It was good to get everyone in,'' Barry said. "Everyone on our team is a good player, but we have so many good players that some people didn't always get a chance in our matches all season. For them to be able to play that much tonight, it was great.''
Heilman led the offense with 12 kills, while junior Christian Portera, who became a key player for the Bears as a front-row substitute for Sood during the playoff run, had 6 kills and 3 blocks. Portera also had the match-winning kill after the Bears (29-2) had missed two chances at match point. With East Brunswick leading 24-20, Heilman and middle Alex Rigley (4 kills) both had errors - Heilman hit wide and Rigley hit long - before outside hitter Portera put the game away off a set from Barry (29 assists).
"Obviously, I'm going to go to Travis first in that situation, he's our most dominating hitter,'' Barry said. "But I set him too far in and he had to hit on too much of an angle. Then I set Alex too high and he waffled it. Then I went to Christian, and thankfully he put it down. It was nerve-wracking at the end of that game, I was definitely nervous, I didn't want to go three games.''
"I just hit it like I always hit it,'' said Portera, who had played middle, sharing time with Rigley, prior to the state tournament. "Kyle had set Travis and Alex the two previous plays, so I was pretty sure he was going to set me on that one.''
Even with the errors, Corpus knew the end was inevitable.
"We had a nice passing rhythm,'' he said. "We had three perfect passes, it was bound to happen.''
Matt Whitford led St. Peters with 11 kills, while middles Miles McCann and Nick DeBenedictis each had four. Al Yasneski had 7 digs and libero Kevin McNerney had 11 digs.
It was the Marauders' defense that kept them in the games.
"We played our hearts out,'' Whitford said. "We watched film of their win over Southern on Wednesday, so we knew what was coming. We wanted to put up a good block but we didn't get a lot. But we also were able to position our defense in the right spots.''
East Brunswick won its sixth title, and first since 2004. St. Peters (31-8) had beaten Hudson County rival Bayonne in the NJSIAA north final on Wednesday to earn the school's first state final appearance.
"Our main goal was winning the north championship,'' Whitford said. "We went into this game just trying to do our best, have some fun, and if we won, great. We wanted to start out strong and see what we could do.''
It was in that 2004 championship that Rutz set the precedent that he would play all his seniors in state championship matches. That year, Saif Kawash made a contribution off the bench in the Bears' victory over Fair Lawn.
"I discussed it with (assistant) coach (Anthony) Alexander, that I wanted all the seniors to play,'' Rutz said. "In 2004, all the seniors played regularly except one (Kawash), and when we got to the final, we put him in and he got a big block, and also made a defensive play that we converted for a point. Those kids all worked hard all year, they deserve to play too. This is something I plan to keep trying to do - unless there's a time when we have like 12 seniors.''
Friday, June 8, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
East Brunswick tops Southern
By Fred Siegle
SOUTH BRUNSWICK - East Brunswick and Southern were going point-for-point, hit-for-hit, block-for-block, dig-for-dig and even error-for-error in the second game of the NJSIAA South/Central championship match. Finally, the Bears' Eric Corpus came up with the big play to top all the other big plays and finish off his team's 25-19, 31-29 victory.
When Southern middle Bryan Batiste tried to tip past a double block by East Brunswick middle Alex Rigley and Corpus, a play that probably works 90 percent of the time, Corpus didn't let it happen, pushing the ball back across the net and to the floor for the winning point.
"I think adrenalin just got me up a couple extra inches, and I just hung there as long as I could and got it down,'' Corpus said. "They had game point against us a couple times, but we were still really confident. I don't think the idea of losing ever crossed our minds.''
The victory over Southern, which was 40-0 and had beaten the Bears twice this year, erased all memories of those losses, and also enabled East Brunswick to get past the point their season had ended each of the previous two years - one match before the state final.
''I just kept saying to myself, 'I'm not losing three years in a row in the state semifinals,'' said senior Travis Heilman.
"The past two years, all I've wanted was to get the chance to play in the state final,'' Corpus said. "The last three days, that's all I had in my mind.''
East Brunswick had to battle back from a 22-19 deficit in the second game. Two straight Southern errors and then a kill by Corpus tied the score, and after a Southern timeout, Corpus put the Bears (29-2) ahead with a kill on an overpass. Southern had two game-point chances at the end of the game, while East Brunswick had four chances before Corpus made the game-ending play.
"I was starting to think it might never end,'' Corpus said. "It didn't seem like either team could make a play to win.''
"It was a great game, Southern played great, they really battled us,'' Heilman said. "It was real tense at the end.''
"Momentum kept swinging back and forth in the second game,'' said East Brunswick setter Kyle Barry. "But we stayed focused throughout the match, and then Eric came up with that big block.''
"We were one play away from being in a third game,'' Southern coach Eric Maxwell said. "That game was made up of a lot of little plays, if just one of them had come out a little different, we'd still be playing out there (in a third game).''
East Brunswick had come out strong in the first game, with junior Christian Portera providing a big spark. He hadn't played left side in the Bears' two losses to Southern, but played that spot in the front row and had some important blocks and big kills.
"Christian really stepped up and made a big difference,'' Heilman said. "Especially blocking.''
Player-for-player, the Bears are smaller than Southern, but they out-blocked their opponents in the match.
Instead of basic 1-balls in the middle, Rigley and John McLaughlin ran more back slides and 1-aways.
"We tried to move the ball around more, especially with our middles so they couldn't block us as easily,'' Barry said.
"Blocking was a big part of it,'' said Southern's Jeff Elsasser. "They definitely out-blocked us, which is a surprise when you look at the lineups. They came out today and made the right plays and played the right people at the right times. They deserved it.''
While East Brunswick moves into the the state final against North winner St. Peters Prep on Friday, Southern finished with a state record 40 victories while playing a tough schedule that included multiple matches against most of the other top teams in the state.
"Winning 40 in a row against the competition we faced, it's probably the greatest run in the history of the state,'' Maxwell said.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK - East Brunswick and Southern were going point-for-point, hit-for-hit, block-for-block, dig-for-dig and even error-for-error in the second game of the NJSIAA South/Central championship match. Finally, the Bears' Eric Corpus came up with the big play to top all the other big plays and finish off his team's 25-19, 31-29 victory.
When Southern middle Bryan Batiste tried to tip past a double block by East Brunswick middle Alex Rigley and Corpus, a play that probably works 90 percent of the time, Corpus didn't let it happen, pushing the ball back across the net and to the floor for the winning point.
"I think adrenalin just got me up a couple extra inches, and I just hung there as long as I could and got it down,'' Corpus said. "They had game point against us a couple times, but we were still really confident. I don't think the idea of losing ever crossed our minds.''
The victory over Southern, which was 40-0 and had beaten the Bears twice this year, erased all memories of those losses, and also enabled East Brunswick to get past the point their season had ended each of the previous two years - one match before the state final.
''I just kept saying to myself, 'I'm not losing three years in a row in the state semifinals,'' said senior Travis Heilman.
"The past two years, all I've wanted was to get the chance to play in the state final,'' Corpus said. "The last three days, that's all I had in my mind.''
East Brunswick had to battle back from a 22-19 deficit in the second game. Two straight Southern errors and then a kill by Corpus tied the score, and after a Southern timeout, Corpus put the Bears (29-2) ahead with a kill on an overpass. Southern had two game-point chances at the end of the game, while East Brunswick had four chances before Corpus made the game-ending play.
"I was starting to think it might never end,'' Corpus said. "It didn't seem like either team could make a play to win.''
"It was a great game, Southern played great, they really battled us,'' Heilman said. "It was real tense at the end.''
"Momentum kept swinging back and forth in the second game,'' said East Brunswick setter Kyle Barry. "But we stayed focused throughout the match, and then Eric came up with that big block.''
"We were one play away from being in a third game,'' Southern coach Eric Maxwell said. "That game was made up of a lot of little plays, if just one of them had come out a little different, we'd still be playing out there (in a third game).''
East Brunswick had come out strong in the first game, with junior Christian Portera providing a big spark. He hadn't played left side in the Bears' two losses to Southern, but played that spot in the front row and had some important blocks and big kills.
"Christian really stepped up and made a big difference,'' Heilman said. "Especially blocking.''
Player-for-player, the Bears are smaller than Southern, but they out-blocked their opponents in the match.
Instead of basic 1-balls in the middle, Rigley and John McLaughlin ran more back slides and 1-aways.
"We tried to move the ball around more, especially with our middles so they couldn't block us as easily,'' Barry said.
"Blocking was a big part of it,'' said Southern's Jeff Elsasser. "They definitely out-blocked us, which is a surprise when you look at the lineups. They came out today and made the right plays and played the right people at the right times. They deserved it.''
While East Brunswick moves into the the state final against North winner St. Peters Prep on Friday, Southern finished with a state record 40 victories while playing a tough schedule that included multiple matches against most of the other top teams in the state.
"Winning 40 in a row against the competition we faced, it's probably the greatest run in the history of the state,'' Maxwell said.
St. Peters wins North
By Fred Siegle
SOUTH BRUNSWICK - St. Peters' seniors crammed most of their final-year highlights into one day.
The Marauders won the NJSIAA North section championship, beating Hudson County rival Bayonne 25-17, 25-20 in a match that started at 5 p.m. Wednesday at South Brunswick High School. Then the seniors rushed back to their school in Jersey City for their high school graduation at 8 p.m.
"That's a pretty nice cap to our senior year, doing all this in one day is great,'' said senior Matt Whitford, who finished with 7 kills, 3 blocks and an ace.
It was aggressive serving that helped St. Peters get an edge over the Bees to even their record at 2-2 in matches against Bayonne. The Marauders advance to the state championship match against East Brunswick on Friday at South Brunswick.
While Whitford had just the one ace, his jump serve kept Bayonne's offense at bay. He had a streak of four service points in the first game, and also served two points in the second. And it was a nice counterpoint to the rest of the Marauders' float serves.
"We knew we had to step up our serving to beat them,'' Whitford said. "We've been working on it for the past couple weeks.''
"We had our floats working well,'' said setter Gil Estupinan, who had 2 kills, 15 assists and an ace. "And Matt was on with his jump serve.''
The Marauders also changed up their offense and blocking schemes from their previous meeting with Bayonne, a loss in the county final. Outside hitter Jerry Santer led the team with 8 kills, while middles Nick DeBenedictis and Miles McCann each had 4 kills each. But those were mostly on 1 balls, rather than the back slides they had run effectively in the past.
"We watched tape of the previous games, and saw that 75 percent of the time, their middles stayed with our middles,'' Estupinan said. "So we tried to set away from that so they'd only have one blocker.''
Bayonne meanwhile, had probably its worst offensive day. Middle Danny Kochanski had 6 kills and a block, while Justin Beaumont had 4 kills and 7 digs. Coco Ostorga had 2 kills and four digs, Pat Rujznica had 2 kills, 3 digs and 2 blocks, and Krzyzstof Bogdan had 4 kills, 2 digs and 1 block.
The Bees, who finish with a 30-5 record, had a particularly rough first game, with 10 hitting errors.
"Everything we did, Prep had an answer for it,'' Bees' coach Pat Longo said. "We're disappointed, but we also had a fabulous year, I'm very proud of these kids. Nobody thought we'd be here. We had a great run.''
After the flurry of errors in the first game, Bayonne settled down a bit in the second and trailed 21-20 before the Marauders finished with a flurry. DeBenedictis had a kill, Peter Jimenez had an ace, Whitford had a kill after a dig by Jimenez, and DeBenedictis closed out the win with a block in the middle.
Prep now gets set to face East Brunswick, which handed Southern Regional its first loss of the season in the South/Central final that followed their victory, which the St. Peters' seniors weren't able to watch because they were on their way to graduation.
"We just have to get ready for Southern or East Brunswick now,'' Estupinan said before leaving.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK - St. Peters' seniors crammed most of their final-year highlights into one day.
The Marauders won the NJSIAA North section championship, beating Hudson County rival Bayonne 25-17, 25-20 in a match that started at 5 p.m. Wednesday at South Brunswick High School. Then the seniors rushed back to their school in Jersey City for their high school graduation at 8 p.m.
"That's a pretty nice cap to our senior year, doing all this in one day is great,'' said senior Matt Whitford, who finished with 7 kills, 3 blocks and an ace.
It was aggressive serving that helped St. Peters get an edge over the Bees to even their record at 2-2 in matches against Bayonne. The Marauders advance to the state championship match against East Brunswick on Friday at South Brunswick.
While Whitford had just the one ace, his jump serve kept Bayonne's offense at bay. He had a streak of four service points in the first game, and also served two points in the second. And it was a nice counterpoint to the rest of the Marauders' float serves.
"We knew we had to step up our serving to beat them,'' Whitford said. "We've been working on it for the past couple weeks.''
"We had our floats working well,'' said setter Gil Estupinan, who had 2 kills, 15 assists and an ace. "And Matt was on with his jump serve.''
The Marauders also changed up their offense and blocking schemes from their previous meeting with Bayonne, a loss in the county final. Outside hitter Jerry Santer led the team with 8 kills, while middles Nick DeBenedictis and Miles McCann each had 4 kills each. But those were mostly on 1 balls, rather than the back slides they had run effectively in the past.
"We watched tape of the previous games, and saw that 75 percent of the time, their middles stayed with our middles,'' Estupinan said. "So we tried to set away from that so they'd only have one blocker.''
Bayonne meanwhile, had probably its worst offensive day. Middle Danny Kochanski had 6 kills and a block, while Justin Beaumont had 4 kills and 7 digs. Coco Ostorga had 2 kills and four digs, Pat Rujznica had 2 kills, 3 digs and 2 blocks, and Krzyzstof Bogdan had 4 kills, 2 digs and 1 block.
The Bees, who finish with a 30-5 record, had a particularly rough first game, with 10 hitting errors.
"Everything we did, Prep had an answer for it,'' Bees' coach Pat Longo said. "We're disappointed, but we also had a fabulous year, I'm very proud of these kids. Nobody thought we'd be here. We had a great run.''
After the flurry of errors in the first game, Bayonne settled down a bit in the second and trailed 21-20 before the Marauders finished with a flurry. DeBenedictis had a kill, Peter Jimenez had an ace, Whitford had a kill after a dig by Jimenez, and DeBenedictis closed out the win with a block in the middle.
Prep now gets set to face East Brunswick, which handed Southern Regional its first loss of the season in the South/Central final that followed their victory, which the St. Peters' seniors weren't able to watch because they were on their way to graduation.
"We just have to get ready for Southern or East Brunswick now,'' Estupinan said before leaving.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Bayonne reaches north final, to face St. Peters; Southern, EB advance
By Fred Siegle
BAYONNE - Loser goes home, the season's over. Winner plays for a state section title.
The pressure and intensity, with the crowd chanting throughout three close games, was incredible for the entire match on Friday as No. 2 seed Bayonne beat No. 3 Fair Lawn 22-25, 26-24, 25-23 to advance to the NJSIAA North section championship match.
"Seriously, I was in some kind of zone,'' said Bayonne senior Justin Beaumont. "It felt like we were trapped in a bubble. Everything was moving 100 miles an hour. Whenever I was able to catch my breath, they served the ball again.''
The victory means the cowbell(s) will be heard in South Brunswick High School, the site of the two section title games on Wednesday. The Bayonne fans will be bringing their unique cheering tool, the cowbells used by fans Rob Barowski and Mike Cerretta to lead rhythmic clapping, with them. The Bees will play No. 1 seed St. Peters, which beat No. 5 Livingston in the other semifinal, in the section championship match.
"I'm speechless,'' said junior right side Coco Ostorga. "We've never been this far into the tournament before.''
Bayonne beat Fair Lawn for the second time this year to earn the chance to play St. Peters for the fourth time. They have a 2-1 edge so far against the Marauders, their Hudson County rivals, but they were just points away from elimination in both the second and third games against Fair Lawn, with the Cutters holding leads late in both games.
"I think we weren't focused at all in the first game,'' said Ostorga, who finished with 9 kills, 3 digs and 4 blocks. "We might have been too pumped up.''
Fair Lawn led 18-14 in the third game when a disputed touch call - the Bayonne linesman was the only one who saw the touch - seemed to spark the Bees. Danny Kochanski (7 kills, 2 blocks) got credit for the kill, then Ostorga had a solo block and then teamed with Kochanski for a block to make it 18-17. An error by Fair Lawn tied the game, but Artem Makarenko (13 kills) put the Cutters back on top.
Bayonne won a long rally on the next point, but setter Mark Gacki had a back-row attack in the middle of the rally and the referees made the call at the end of the point, giving Fair Lawn a 20-18 lead. Krystof Bogdan (5 kills, 11 digs, 1 block) had a kill and Ostorga got another block to tie the game again before Makarenko answered with another kill.
Ostorga and Makarenko traded kills to make it 22-21 Fair Lawn, but two errors by Fair Lawn gave Bayonne a 23-22 lead, its first edge since 12-11. A service error tied the game again, but Justin Beaumont (11 kills, 13 digs, 3 blocks) converted a dig with a kill to put Bayonne up 24-23, and Gacki set Kochanski for a 1-ball in the middle off a free-ball pass to end the match.
"Coco's blocks were a key for our momentum,'' coach Pat Longo said. "We built off of them.''
"I was mad at myself, I had to do something,'' Ostorga said. "I didn't perform well in the first two games. I had to make up for it.''
Bayonne also came back in the second game after trailing 23-20. Ostorga had a kill, then two Fair Lawn errors made it 23-23. But Jamie Oliver had one of his 10 kills to give Fair Lawn a 24-23 lead, putting the Bees on the brink. But Beaumont had a kill on a 10-ball to tie it before 2 errors by Fair Lawn finished the game.
The Bees (28-4) have reached the state final with only 3 seniors - Beaumont, Gacki and libero James Capello - who play. Ostorga, Kochanski and Bogdan are juniors, and middle Pat Rujznica (2 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks) is a sophomore.
"We're a young team, our lack of experience caught up with us in the first game,'' Beaumont said. "I thought that might happen to us at some point during the season. Today, it wasn't fatal.''
"We were inconsistent in the first game,'' Gacki said. "Our passing was off a little. But we came back strong, we were able to make an offense out of it (the inconsistent passing).''
As the only senior who hits, Beaumont wanted the responsibility in the key moments.
"I wanted the ball (to get set) every time at the end of the games,'' Beaumont said. "In the third game, points 0 to 25, I wanted the ball every time.''
Fair Lawn (23-8) played without junior right side Matt Agnew, who injured his ankle in the team's win over Passaic Valley on Wednesday. Because of that, Makarenko and Oliver had to shoulder more of the load. "We became a 2-pronged offense, pretty much with just the two outsides,'' coach Pete Zisa said. "Those guys were constantly going against double blocks and getting the job done.''
Zisa said there shouldn't have been student linesmen in the state semifinals, and that NJSIAA rules say there should have been four officials - first and second referees and two linesmen.
"That call changed the momentum,'' he said. "In a game this important, that shouldn't happen.''
Southern Regional, now 40-0, will play East Brunswick (25-2) in the South/Central section championship match on Wednesday at South Brunswick. Southern beat Old Bridge in the semis on Friday, while the Bears beat St. Joseph. The two section winners will play for the overall state title on Friday at South Brunswick.
BAYONNE - Loser goes home, the season's over. Winner plays for a state section title.
The pressure and intensity, with the crowd chanting throughout three close games, was incredible for the entire match on Friday as No. 2 seed Bayonne beat No. 3 Fair Lawn 22-25, 26-24, 25-23 to advance to the NJSIAA North section championship match.
"Seriously, I was in some kind of zone,'' said Bayonne senior Justin Beaumont. "It felt like we were trapped in a bubble. Everything was moving 100 miles an hour. Whenever I was able to catch my breath, they served the ball again.''
The victory means the cowbell(s) will be heard in South Brunswick High School, the site of the two section title games on Wednesday. The Bayonne fans will be bringing their unique cheering tool, the cowbells used by fans Rob Barowski and Mike Cerretta to lead rhythmic clapping, with them. The Bees will play No. 1 seed St. Peters, which beat No. 5 Livingston in the other semifinal, in the section championship match.
"I'm speechless,'' said junior right side Coco Ostorga. "We've never been this far into the tournament before.''
Bayonne beat Fair Lawn for the second time this year to earn the chance to play St. Peters for the fourth time. They have a 2-1 edge so far against the Marauders, their Hudson County rivals, but they were just points away from elimination in both the second and third games against Fair Lawn, with the Cutters holding leads late in both games.
"I think we weren't focused at all in the first game,'' said Ostorga, who finished with 9 kills, 3 digs and 4 blocks. "We might have been too pumped up.''
Fair Lawn led 18-14 in the third game when a disputed touch call - the Bayonne linesman was the only one who saw the touch - seemed to spark the Bees. Danny Kochanski (7 kills, 2 blocks) got credit for the kill, then Ostorga had a solo block and then teamed with Kochanski for a block to make it 18-17. An error by Fair Lawn tied the game, but Artem Makarenko (13 kills) put the Cutters back on top.
Bayonne won a long rally on the next point, but setter Mark Gacki had a back-row attack in the middle of the rally and the referees made the call at the end of the point, giving Fair Lawn a 20-18 lead. Krystof Bogdan (5 kills, 11 digs, 1 block) had a kill and Ostorga got another block to tie the game again before Makarenko answered with another kill.
Ostorga and Makarenko traded kills to make it 22-21 Fair Lawn, but two errors by Fair Lawn gave Bayonne a 23-22 lead, its first edge since 12-11. A service error tied the game again, but Justin Beaumont (11 kills, 13 digs, 3 blocks) converted a dig with a kill to put Bayonne up 24-23, and Gacki set Kochanski for a 1-ball in the middle off a free-ball pass to end the match.
"Coco's blocks were a key for our momentum,'' coach Pat Longo said. "We built off of them.''
"I was mad at myself, I had to do something,'' Ostorga said. "I didn't perform well in the first two games. I had to make up for it.''
Bayonne also came back in the second game after trailing 23-20. Ostorga had a kill, then two Fair Lawn errors made it 23-23. But Jamie Oliver had one of his 10 kills to give Fair Lawn a 24-23 lead, putting the Bees on the brink. But Beaumont had a kill on a 10-ball to tie it before 2 errors by Fair Lawn finished the game.
The Bees (28-4) have reached the state final with only 3 seniors - Beaumont, Gacki and libero James Capello - who play. Ostorga, Kochanski and Bogdan are juniors, and middle Pat Rujznica (2 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks) is a sophomore.
"We're a young team, our lack of experience caught up with us in the first game,'' Beaumont said. "I thought that might happen to us at some point during the season. Today, it wasn't fatal.''
"We were inconsistent in the first game,'' Gacki said. "Our passing was off a little. But we came back strong, we were able to make an offense out of it (the inconsistent passing).''
As the only senior who hits, Beaumont wanted the responsibility in the key moments.
"I wanted the ball (to get set) every time at the end of the games,'' Beaumont said. "In the third game, points 0 to 25, I wanted the ball every time.''
Fair Lawn (23-8) played without junior right side Matt Agnew, who injured his ankle in the team's win over Passaic Valley on Wednesday. Because of that, Makarenko and Oliver had to shoulder more of the load. "We became a 2-pronged offense, pretty much with just the two outsides,'' coach Pete Zisa said. "Those guys were constantly going against double blocks and getting the job done.''
Zisa said there shouldn't have been student linesmen in the state semifinals, and that NJSIAA rules say there should have been four officials - first and second referees and two linesmen.
"That call changed the momentum,'' he said. "In a game this important, that shouldn't happen.''
Southern Regional, now 40-0, will play East Brunswick (25-2) in the South/Central section championship match on Wednesday at South Brunswick. Southern beat Old Bridge in the semis on Friday, while the Bears beat St. Joseph. The two section winners will play for the overall state title on Friday at South Brunswick.