Old Bridge High School’s boys volleyball team completed its spring campaign with a 21-6 mark and reached the semifinals of both the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) and NJSIAA Central Jersey tournaments.
After scoring a pair of regular-season wins, the Knights fell to rival St. Joseph High School of Metuchen (31-11) in both tournaments, both times by a score of 2-1. In the Central Jersey semifinals, Old Bridge bounced back from a first-set loss, 25-18, to win the second set, 25-16. The Falcons controlled the third set, 25-16, to win the match. Ronit Hemrajani turned in a stellar effort in the loss, compiling nine kills, five aces and three digs, while teammate Dante Whipple added eight kills.
In the GMC semifinals May 14, St. Joe’s again won the first set, but the Knights recovered to take the second set, 25-22. The Falcons again prevailed 25-16 to take the third and deciding set and the match. Whipple led Old Bridge with eight kills, while Robbie Meyer contributed seven kills and setter Chaz Franqui posted 21 assists.
Nevertheless, is was a strong campaign for coach Andrew Hopman’s team, as the Knights scored victories over Eastern Regional High School (15-9), Livingston High School (23- 5), Pennsauken High School (14-10) and Hunterdon Central Regional High School (12- 12). Old Bridge lost twice each to GMC foe East Brunswick High School (20-6) and Southern Regional High School (35-6).
“We played a tough schedule, and we beat some pretty good teams,” said Hopman, whose team last won the GMC crown in 2012. “We were in all six of the matches we lost. I think our guys showed they can pretty much play with anyone.”
Hemrajani led the team with 186 kills, and his 59 aces and 114 digs were also tops on the team. Whipple was second in kills with 182 to go along with 22 service aces. Meyer was not far behind with 162 kills.
Franqui proved quite adept at distributing the ball, as evidenced by his 521 assists. Dhruv Patel led the team in blocks with 40, and he added 40 kills. David Bak was solid defensively with 83 digs. He also scored 32 kills. All six of those players are seniors.
As a result, Hopman, whose team has won 20 or more matches five of the past six seasons, looks to revamp his lineup next spring from a traditionally strong bench. Freshman Elan Dorkhman showed plenty of promise after posting 14 kills, 12 service aces and 19 digs. Juniors Mikhail Pokrashchenko and Mike Turovsky and sophomore Grant Totten will likely see much more time next year as well.