By: Ken Weingartner
The South Brunswick High boys volleyball team this week qualified for the state tournament for the second time in the four-year history of the program. But before worrying about that event, a potentially tougher one looms on the horizon.
What could be tougher than the state tourney? Arguably, the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, which gets under way Friday. In fact, the GMCT might as well be called the state tourney preview.
Old Bridge, East Brunswick and St. Joe’s the top teams in the GMC are ranked Nos. 1, 3 and 4 in the state, respectively. J.P. Stevens is 16th and the Vikings themselves were ranked in the Top 10 earlier in the season.
"It’s a good conference to play in if you want to get better," South Brunswick senior Andrew Salim said. "If you’re stuck on your record, then it’s not so good. Teams like East Brunswick and St. Joe’s aren’t unbeatable for us, but it’s a lot tougher for us than playing other teams. Over time, though, it’s good. It’s good to play better opponents."
The Vikings reached this week’s cutoff date to qualify for the state tourney with a 9-9 record thanks to a three-game win last Friday over Hillsborough. Teams need to have a minimum .500 record by Tuesday.
Steve Smoke had six kills and a single-match school record 16 digs for South Brunswick while Dan Latinsky had 18 kills and 13 blocks and Greg Kilbride had 11 kills. Kevin Mariano had 21 assists.
"Dan was so huge," Vikings coach Steve Dentler said. "They put up a block, but he’s an enormous kid; he was just hitting over the top of everyone. It’s nice that we finally figured out how to run our middles. Finding that piece of the offense makes us function best."
South Brunswick was schedule to play West Windsor-Plainsboro North yesterday before beginning its run through the tournaments. For Salim and Kilbride, it will mark the end of a four-year journey as the only players to stay in the volleyball program since its inception.
"I love playing," said Salim, who plans to attend Lehigh in the fall and would like to become a surgeon. "Before I came to high school, I knew nothing about volleyball other than what you learn in gym class in the fifth grade. The coaches here have made me much better. To see how much I’ve improved makes me happy.
"I look to make a statement and leave these kids with something to build on."
The Vikings opened the year 4-1 before running into a tough stretch of games that included St. Joe’s, Old Bridge, East Brunswick, Stevens, and state-ranked West Windsor-Plainsboro South. After going 4-16 last season, it was quite a turnaround.
"We started out really strong," Salim said. "We took a game off East Brunswick and we were really optimistic. When things got tough I think we just got down on ourselves, but we’ve been picking it up again. We have a great team; we have every position covered. I see no reason why we shouldn’t do well.
"All the hard work we put in during the offseason playing beach and rec is paying off. I like the fact our team is more unified. I think that’s a big factor why we’re doing much better. There’s no pointing fingers; it’s a team effort."
The GMCT seeding meeting was scheduled for Wednesday night. Dentler expected the Vikings to face Stevens in the first round.
"We’re going to be the underdog in every match the rest of season," Dentler said. "The pressure is off the rest of the way. There is no desperation. Now let’s just go through and knock people off one after another. We’re going to latch onto the underdog and Cinderella story and take a run at all of it and see where we go."
