BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
For the Colts Neck boys volleyball team, this is the year to make it happen.
The Cougars have gone through the growing pains associated with a new program. But now, as the team plays its fourth varsity season, Colts Neck is ready to turn the page and go from a program in development to one that has started winning.
They have the experience and depth to take advantage of the lessons they have learned.
“We knew that this year was our best shot to have a winning season,” coach Glenn Jansen said.
The Cougars are on the way toward achieving that goal with a 4-4 record through the first eight games.
Marlboro sophomore Eric Bzura tries to spike the ball past a teammate during a recent practice in Marlboro. “I’m happy and pleased with our start,” Jansen said. “This [the season] is the best we’ve ever played. We are hitting better than we’ve ever hit before collectively as a team, and our defense has improved tremendously.
“What we are looking for is playing as a team consistently,” he added.
In the past, Jansen pointed out, the Cougars would rely on two or three players to do the heavy work up front, making the big hits. This year, the quality of the team is so widespread that they don’t have to look to any one or two players to carry them.
PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff Marlboro junior Sal Harmani gets low for a dig during a recent practice in Marlboro. Colts Neck is being carried by four seniors — co-captains Dan Westendorf and Doug Thorn, Joe Eastman and Chuck Katonides, who were there from the start of the program.
“They are good, quality players,” Jansen said. “They want to have a winning record and get to the state playoffs for the first time ever.”
Like all other NJSIAA sports, to qualify for the state tournament the Cougars will have to have a .500 or better record at the cut-off date next month.
Westendorf, Thorn, Eastman and Katonides, however, are the only seniors on the club. The Cougars are still young, with nine other underclassmen. One of them, Chase Westendorf, the younger brother of Dan, has been one of the team’s most important newcomers. The sophomore setter has been doing a tremendous job running the offense and setting his teammates up along the front line for spikes.
Another underclassman who has been coming up with digs and helping out in the service area is Steven LeFante.
This year, there is a Shore Conference for the first time as the number of teams participating in volleyball has expanded to six: Southern (ranked No. 4 in the state), Christian Brothers Academy, Long Branch, Manchester and first-year program Marlboro.
Colts Neck has a motto — “Have fun and get it done.” Thus far, the fun has been getting it done.
Marlboro has hardly been your normal first-year program. After all, the Mustangs were 5-4 after their first nine games.
Coach Marge McNamara credits the start to the school’s love affair with the sport.
“Kids at Marlboro just love volleyball,” she said. “There’s a real base for volleyball. They’ve wanted to have a program for so long, and now they’ve been given the opportunity to play.”
Volleyball is so popular at Marlboro that McNamara had to go through two rounds of cuts to get the team down to 22 from the 57 that tried out. She wasn’t averse to keeping seniors, although they will be around for just one year.
“I couldn’t deny them the opportunity [to play],” McNamara said.
Harris Feibischofff and Drew Rothstein, known more for their basketball skills, are two of the seniors who are making significant contributions this spring. Both are leapers and among the team’s best spikers on the front line.
Dave Haller, a 6-4 junior, has been Marlboro’s most disruptive presence on the front line. He used his height and long arms to block shots and finish off points with spikes.
Mike Kanter and Craig Harris are Marlboro’s playmaking setters, and Brian Sokal, another player who makes digs and sets up his teammates, rounds out Marlboro’s starting six.
Zach Sherman, Matt Weinberg and Troy Licht are the first players off the bench for the Mustangs.
“They had a base of volleyball,” McNamara said. “They came in with raw skills.”
Marlboro’s first-ever match was against Colts Neck, and when the Mustangs were able to take the veteran Cougars to three sets, McNamara knew that Marlboro had the chance to be anything but you’re average first-year program.
“I’m lucky — we couldn’t have come as far if they weren’t smart players and coachable,” she said.