Champions Crowned! The Four Sectional Champions
The results are in! We have officially crowned four sectional champions in the boys high school volleyball season. After the boys had their entire season taken away last year, many thought we would not get through a regular season, we…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThe results are in! We have officially crowned four sectional champions in the boys high school volleyball season. After the boys had their entire season taken away last year, many thought we would not get through a regular season, we did that. Then, we took it a step further by crowning sectional champions! A massive shoutout to the players, coaches, parents, school staff, NJSIAA to get us through these unprecedented circumstances. Let’s take a look at the champions!
North 1
Fair Lawn Ousts West Milford in Three-Set Thriller
Fair Lawn thought 2020 would be its season to do something unprecedented after everyone from a dominant 2019 squad returning. Unfortunately, 2020 and a world pandemic had other ideas and took away their chance to play. How did they respond?
Gil Zyndorf was the only returning player from the 2019 squad but the team reloaded and continued their dominant run with another sectional title, the team’s ninth in ten years. It wasn’t easy as they were tested against West Milford in three-sets which was a rubber match between the two squads. Both were 1-1 going in but Fair Lawn got the last say.
Zyndorf did his thing as always with 30 assists making pinpoint passes. But the true difference was that they took one of the one-two punch for West Milford away. Ryan Thenell had 15 kills and 13 digs but Matthew Christ was held to just two kills which was the difference in my opinion. West Milford just didn’t get enough offense. Fair Lawn moves on to the State Semifinals!
North 2
St. Peter’s Prep got Hot at the Right Time
St. Peter’s Prep squad this season has had a lot of ups and downs this season and they are built differently than their other championship squads. This squad is gritty and has determination to never waver in matches even when they may seem out of it. Now they’re sectional champs with a tough two-set sweep of Kearny where both teams could have walked away victorious. St. Peter’s came out as the 26-24, 27-25 winners.
Kearny came out on fire and St. Peter’s had to storm back in the first set. In both sets, it was tight late but Kearny made a couple mistakes and St. Peter’s made the plays for them to be the difference. This was their first sectional title since 2014.
Aidan Apito and Joseph Parise led the balanced attack with both recording 8 kills and 7 digs. Santiago Lopez led the way for Kearny with 7 kills and 7 digs.
Central
A 70-point First Set?! Old Bridge gets their Revenge
As two volleyball players took center stage as the match of the day between two of the top four in the Prep Dig Power Rankings, many thought we would be watching greatness. I can definitely speak for everyone as we did not think it was going to be as extraordinary as this.
The two state volleyball powers traded punches and set points and the score climbed into the 30s, the match began to take on an epic quality. You could start to figure out that you were watching something special and for both squads whoever took this first set would have both hands on the title.
Old Bridge, ranked No. 4 in the Prep Dig Top 10, needed 36 points to finally claim the first set. The Knights used the momentum from that grueling triumph to claim their third straight NJSIAA Central Jersey crown with a 36-34, 25-18 victory over No. 1 Christian Brothers on Wednesday.
Old Bridge avenged their regular season defeat to CBA where it didn’t seem close but Old Bridge came out with a different mentality and made just enough plays to win the first set and then took control in the second.
Brian Snook led the balanced attack with 8 kills for Old Bridge while Jack Dooling led the way for CBA with 10 kills and 6 digs.
South
Southern dominates Jackson Memorial in their Fourth Meeting of Season
A year away from the court did not impact Southern.
The spring season was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — and that included boys volleyball. This season, the Rams returned to action and made sure to remind the state of what they could do. Southern won their 11th straight sectional title Wednesday as they completed a 4-0 sweep of Jackson Memorial.
Southern dominated its way to a win the first set. Its ability to pick apart the defense of the Jaguars took over. The Rams gained momentum using the middle of the offense. Jackson Memorial had their season end after its first trip to the sectional final in program history. They exceeded expectations and only lost four times all-season, those four losses were all to Southern.
Dylan Lockwood led the charge and controlled the tempo of the offense. This showed in the stat sheet. Lockwood finished with 20 assists, four digs, three blocks, and three kills. Konrad Bieniek was the catalyst for Jackson Memorial with seven kills, six digs, and two aces.
State Semifinal Matchups
Fair Lawn vs Southern
St. Peter’s Prep vs Old Bridge