St. Joes rules South

By Fred Siegle

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Falling behind by 6 points once, and 7 points later, in the first game couldn't stop St. Josephs from winning its 42nd straight match and the NJSIAA South championship on Tuesday.

The Falcons trailed 8-2 and and 16-9 in the first game against East Brunswick, but came back to win 26-24. The second game was anti-climatic as the Bears made numerous errors and St. Joes won 25-18. They'll face NJSIAA North section winner St. Peter's Prep for the overall state championship on Thursday.

"That first game, that was exactly what this season has been about for our team,'' said libero Eddie Rossiter. "We were down 7 points, but not once did I think we were going to lose. We have so much faith in each other. Our passing wasn't there in the beginning, and they were fired up. But once we started passing, everything clicked.''

After setter Andy Balint's ace gave East Brunswick a 16-9 lead, the Falcons took control, with tough serves by Danny Vaccariello disrupting the Bears' offense. A service error made it 16-10, then Bobby O'Grady had a block. Three straight East Brunswick errors made it 16-14, then Marcin Midura had a kill to make it 16-15. East Brunswick finally sided out with a kill by Mike Kvidahl, but the Falcons had the momentum.

They took their first lead, 22-21, on a kill on a 10-ball by Midura. East Brunswick earned a game-point attempt after a kill by Kvidahl made it 24-23, but Midura's kill tied the score. An East Brunswick error made it 25-24 in favor of the Falcons, and Rossiter had a dig that Midura converted into a kill for the game-winner.

"We served tough, and their passing broke down,'' Rossiter said. "And Marcin was a monster in this match.''

East Brunswick had beaten St. Joes in the first match of the year, on April 1, for the Falcons' only loss.

"The way we started tonight, the same thing happened in the first match this year, they beat us because we had a rough stretch and we lost focus,'' said setter Steve Brandenburg. "We kind of turned on each other. This time, we knew we had what it takes to come back, and we just put it into action.''

The poor performance was a tough way to end the season for the Bears, who were the defending state champions.

"We were playing great, then we just lost the momentum,'' said senior Christian Portera. "I don't mind losing to them - they're a great team - but I still think we can play better than we did. We just lost this one ourselves.''