By: Rich Fisher
Don’t look now, but this volleyball thing is really starting to take off at South Brunswick High.
Prior to Tuesday’s Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship game, a band of tailgaters whooped it up in the parking lot of J.P. Stevens High School, ready to support the Vikings in their first trip to the GMCT finals.
Once inside, they offset the loudness of the J.P. Stevens faithful, shaking banners and giving the Viking girls all the vocal support they needed.
"I think every single one of my friends came to this game and that made me the happiest person in the world, it really did," Courtney Dwyer said. "All the Viking Villains were here.
"I think just about everyone knew we had this championship game today. We publicized it as much as we could. I think everyone, the teachers, the fans, all gave us support."
Actually, both school’s fans are to be commended for their behavior. They cheered loud but kept it civil. In the end, the Viking fans had a little more to cheer about.
"The fans were awesome," Jordan Confessore said. "They just made everything so much better for us."
"I think volleyball is the new big sport," Janelle Payne said. "You couldn’t ask for better fans or better support. They were great."
According to Viking coach Nancy McDonald, the players had a lot to do with whipping up their own support.
"These girls really have a great rapport with some really great students at the school," McDonald said. "They made an announcement, they organized a fan bus with the activity director. They wanted as many people here as they could."
It was a far cry from the start of the program seven years ago, when a girls volleyball game was literally akin to a bus stop.
"We’d get kids who would get done practicing for their sport, and they’d come in the gym and sit down while they were waiting for the five o’clock bus," McDonald said. "That would be our fans, and a few random parents.
"But we’ve always had great parent support. We had parents of kids who graduated last year, who came to every home game and a few road games this year. They’ve been following us all season."
In the end, it was worth the ride.
