No. 2 Southern defeats No. 8 CBA

By Fred Siegle

MANAHAWKEN - Southern Regional's big victory over East Brunswick on Saturday has given the Rams a foundation to build off for the rest of the season.

On Monday, the Rams, No. 2 in the Powerzonevb.com state rankings, beat No. 8 CBA, their top rival in the Shore Conference, 25-22, 25-16.

"We proved on Saturday, and also when we lost to (No. 1) St. Joes (last week) but went 3 games with them, that we can play with anybody,'' said senior middle blocker Ken Connolly. "We proved we're in the same category with those teams, we're contenders for a state title.

"It's a big rivalry with CBA, but we came in with a lot of confidence,'' Connolly said.

An ace by CBA's Neal Slattery tied the score at 7-7 in the second game, but after that Southern dominated. The Rams scored 8 straight points, mostly on CBA errors, to go up 15-7, and CBA never got closer than 6 points down after that. A kill by Nick Nichols (8 for the match) provided the winning point.

The first game went back and forth and was tied 19-19 after a block by Ryan Gelenitis, before Southern scored 4 straight points, first with a kill by Nichols, then a CBA error, then 2 kills by Eric Sharkey (7 for the match). Sharkey had another kill for Southern's 24th point, before a CBA error ended the game.

"Our kids are playing with confidence, they're all playing very well and they have a lot of confidence in each other,'' coach Eric Maxwell said. "Saturday's win let us know that we're in the group of top teams with East Brunswick and St. Joes.''

Southern setter Steve Vaughan had 20 assists. He came into the match with 998 for his career, so he topped the 1,000 mark early in the first game.