Brett Carroll
Staff Writer
Communication may prove to be the difference in the how the results come up for the Christian Brothers Academy boys’ volleyball team.
“As we’re moving into conference championships and the state championships, it’s the communication out there that we still need to work on,” CBA coach Monica Slattery said. “We still need to work on shot choices, and just being smarter out there sometimes.”
Slattery made it known that the Colts have to fix the issues because CBA has championship aspirations.
“Our expectations are to go all the way,” Slattery said. “You can’t have any other expectations than that. We have a couple of games lined up in the Shore Conference, and we just got invited to the Super Six, so hopefully that will prepare us with higher level competition, to really go far.”
The Super Six Showcase, which attracts some of the top teams through out the state, will be held on May 12 at Saint Joseph Regional High School in Metuchen.
Christian Brothers Academy improved to 11-4 on the spring season when the Colts knocked off Freehold High School, 2-0, on April 30 in Lincroft.
“The second game they really picked it up,” Slattery said after CBA was pressed by Freehold in the first game “We played them before, so we knew they had a couple of really good hitters. Our blocking was a little shaky in the first game, but we really picked up the blocking in the second game, and got into the mindset of the dominant way to play.”
Slattery is thrilled with CBA’s balance.
“Our middle blocker, [senior] Michael Werthmuller really does a great job,” Slattery said. “He really is key because that just stops the play dead. The [senior] twins, Ed and Chris Manganiello, the setter and the libero. Ed has done a fantastic job setting and Chris just picks up the ball in the back row. They’ve been doing great. I would say everyone is balanced. We have [senior] Christopher Smallwood hitting the ball well. We have a sophomore that’s playing and hitting the ball down the line. So, they’ve all been contributing. I can’t say it’s only been a few kids.”
The Colts will have another chance to enhance their communication skills while they prepare for the Super Six Showcase on May 10 when they play in Lincroft against Howell High School. The match is slated to start at 3:45 p.m.