By Warren Rappleyea
Just three weeks ago, Old Bridge High School’s boys volleyball team stood at 8-12 and needed to win four straight matches to qualify for the NJSIAA Central Jersey tournament.
Old Bridge earned the sixth seed and was set to meet 11th-seeded J.P. Stevens High School May. 24 in the first round.
“We have a very young team, and they’ve been playing better and better,” coach Andrew Hopman said. “I told them even though they hadn’t done it all year, they needed to win four straight. They didn’t seem at all concerned about doing that.”
The Knights went on to win five in a row, starting with a 2-0 (25-13, 25-12) victory over John F. Kennedy Memorial High School May 9 in a match that saw freshman Andrew Zaleck contribute five kills, two blocks and a dig.
Next up was J.P. Stevens, which had won an earlier meeting between the two squads. The Knights won the rematch, 2-0 (25-18, 25-19), as Elan Dorkhman had seven kills, two blocks, four digs and two service aces.
Dorkhman, Mike Schon, Vladimir Kucheriavyy and Randall Anderson had four kills each in a hard-fought 2-0 (25-23, 26-24) success against North Brunswick Township High School May 11. The following day, Old Bridge defeated Belleville High School handily to qualify for the state tournament.
Hopman’s team followed that up with a 2-0 (27-25, 25-13) win against South Brunswick High School in the opening round of the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Tournament. Dorkhman posted 10 kills, three blocks and six digs, and libero Grant Totten was superb by adding 10 kills.
On a roll, the third-seeded Knights squared off against Saint Joseph High School of Metuchen, which was the second seed. Old Bridge started strong and was in the lead before an unfavorable rotation helped the host team prevail, 25-22, in the opening set. St. Joe’s won the second set, 25-17, and the match.
“I think our inexperience showed a little against St. Joe’s,” Hopman said. “We started doing things we don’t practice, and we made a few mistakes. Then we were on the heels for the second set.”
Old Bridge actually began to turn things around in late April when Hopman moved Totten to libero. The junior helped immediately and now has a team-leading 231 kills to his credit.
Dorkhman, a sophomore, has been a force up front with 297 kills and 27 service aces — both tops on the team — in addition to 150 digs. Anderson and Schon, a pair of sophomore middle blockers, have become key players. Anderson has piled up 87 kills and 22 blocks, while Schon has 79 kills to go with 22 blocks of his own.
The hard-hitting Kucheriavyy has become a concern for opponents with106 kills. Zaleck, who is seeing more playing time, has 82 kills and 58 digs.
Setter Brian McGeehan and opposite Mike Turovskiy, the team’s only seniors, have been solid as well. McGeehan has piled up 541 assists to go with 91 digs, while Turovskiy has 129 digs and 22 service aces.
“I’m generally happy with the way our guys have played since the end of April; even our losses have been well-played,” Hopman said. “We took Southern Regional to three sets, and our guys are getting more confident.”