By: Lance Manion
If first-year South Brunswick girls volleyball coach Shaun Ruyman knew anything about what to expect of his team this fall, he had a pretty good idea of who would be his go-to players.
Jordan Confessore, April Thomas and Nikki Weiss have been exactly that so far this season. The three senior captains led the way in the Vikings’ first two matches, both wins over Greater Middlesex Conference foes.
South Brunswick opened its campaign with a 2-0 sweep of Edison, winning the two games by the scores of 25-13 and 25-6.
"You really couldn’t have asked for a better start," Ruyman said.
Confessore had a big game with 6 aces, 5 kills, 9 assists and 10 service points, while Thomas had 7 aces, 3 kills, 5 assists and 11 service points.
The Vikings continued their winning ways last Monday with a 2-0 setback of Piscataway, ousting the Chiefs, 25-15 and 25-10.
Confessore had another big game with 9 service points, 3 aces and 3 assists, while Weiss had 3 kills, an assist, 3 aces, 11 service points and 4 digs.
"Jordan, April, Nikki, they’ve been our leaders in the early going," Ruyman said. "The nice thing is we haven’t lost a game, of course, but we fell behind early in the first Piscataway game and the girls showed me a lot by responding to that kind of adversity."
A common theme in the Vikings’ two wins has been the strength of the team’s defense, Ruyman said.
"Defensively, we’ve improved by leaps and bounds from last year," Ruyman said. "They’re at a point where they’re just reacting to the ball and they’re hitting fairly well. We spent the preseason installing a new system and the girls have taken to it very well."

