By Warren Rappleyea
Old Bridge High School’s boys volleyball team put together a late-season run to qualify for the NJSIAA Central Jersey tournament but fell just short in its opening-round match against John P. Stevens High School.
The young Knights won five matches in a row to qualify with a 13-12 mark and despite their season-long inconsistency, they still earned the sixth seed. That run also helped the team reach the semifinals of the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Tournament, where it lost to Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen.
After taking the first set, 25-20, May 24, Old Bridge appeared poised to knock off 11th-seeded J.P. Stevens. With Kyle Mackiewicz controlling the serve, the Hawks reeled off four straight points to open the second set. The Knights managed to remain within striking distance before falling, 25-19.
“We tried to rally because I thought we could come back to win the set,” Old Bridge coach Andrew Hopman said. “We just couldn’t quite catch up, though.”
Still, the Knights played in the third set, jumping out to an early lead. With victory seemingly within its grasp, J.P. Stevens rallied and Old Bridge stalled, falling, 25-21.
“We controlled the third set up until the last eight points or so,” the Knights’ coach said. “You have to give Stevens credit, though. They raised their intensity and played like their season was on the line. We seemed to play it more like a regular-season match.”
The two teams had split a pair of regular-season matches and each time, the Knights managed to keep Mackiewicz at bay. This time, Mackiewicz delivered 17 kills and 10 service aces, while outside hitter Eric Li added 13 kills. Elan Dorkhman led the Knights with 13 kills, Mike Schon added another seven winners and Grant Totten made 17 digs.
“One of the things I always tell my guys is the better team doesn’t always win,” Hopman said. “It’s the team that refuses to lose that wins. Stevens just refused to lose.”
The good news for Old Bridge is that the Knights put a relatively young team on the floor and will lose only setter Brian McGeehan (541 assists) and blocker Mike Turovsky (129 digs) to graduation.
Returnees will include Dorkhman, who led the team with 310 kills and also picked up 153 digs; Totten, a defensive standout who piled up 248 digs; and Vlad Kucheriavyy, who added 106 kills. In addition, sophomore Randall Anderson, who had 87 kills, and freshman Andrew Zaleck, who had 85 kills, both played prominent roles for the Knights.
In addition, Old Bridge’s freshman team is coming off a 22-0 campaign that saw it win the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Tournament, as well as the Bloomfield Invitational tournament. The Knights’ freshmen lost just three sets all season.
“I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get past the first round of the state tournament, and we certainly had some ups and downs this year. But next season, we’ll be starting with a clean slate,” Hopman said. “We have a good pipeline of kids coming up to varsity, and they’re going to be pushing our guys.”
