By Jeff Appelblatt
The recent victory against North Brunswick Township High School advanced Woodbridge High School’s girls’ volleyball team to a perfect 4-0 start. The majority of opponents in the first four barely gave the Barrons any kind of challenge, losing to last year’s White Division Champions, 2-0.
But it was the team’s Sept. 12 matchup at Monroe Township High School that made coach Jayson Calhoun the proudest.
Prior to the tie-breaking final game, Woodbridge won the first, 25-21. Monroe bounced back and dominated the Barrons in game two, sinking Woodbridge, 25-18. It seemed like the Falcons had taken over the momentum at that point, and it looked like it carried over to the final game. But Calhoun’s girls refused to give up.
“We were down, 22-18, in the last game,” Woodbridge’s coach said. “We made an incredible comeback and won the game, 25-23.”
Not only did overcoming the late deficit amaze Calhoun, but he was also stunned that it was Monroe that gave away its lead.
“They’re the defending [Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC)] champs,” Woodbridge’s coach said about the Falcons.
Since day one, Calhoun has liked to say that his team could compete with anybody. But then he realized “teams don’t want to play us anymore.”
That’s a problem for Woodbridge’s coach. Last year, he made it clear to the state that his team was willing to take on anyone; the busier his team’s game schedule was, the better.
“We’re now practicing three days in a row [this] week,” said the coach, who is disappointed that local rival John F. Kennedy (JFK) Memorial High School canceled a match originally scheduled for Sept. 21. “They didn’t want to face us three times this season.”
Still, Calhoun won’t let the fact his team’s competitive schedule is lighter than a year ago get in the way of its goals.
“I’d like to say we have a few goals: win the division, compete in the counties and, for the first time, win one state tournament game,” the coach said.
The match with Monroe made Woodbridge’s coach confident that each goal was attainable.
“The win against Monroe solidified we could compete with anyone in the division,” Calhoun said. “But we’ll see where we stack up.”
Some teams may have overlooked the Barrons this season because of student-athletes lost to graduation. Two of them — Carly Kjersgaard and Comfort Akinbo — were tremendous parts of last year’s team, and Calhoun won’t deny that. But he’s happy with his current captains.
“We have four captains,” Calhoun said, pointing out the importance of Alyssa Abatemarco, Azra Kukuljac, Sachi Rajadnya and Samantha Elbayar. “They’ve all been doing a very good job.”
Abatemarco has worked hard to control the ball as the team’s libero. Kukuljac has smacked down about seven kills per match. Rajadnya, last year’s leader in assists, has averaged more than 16 per outing. Elbayar has been sharp from the service box, dropping a pair of aces per match.
But Calhoun knows in the back of his mind that all four are seniors, and they’ll be hard to replace. In fact, they’ll be so hard to replace that he’s already calling next season a rebuilding year.
He won’t rush his thoughts to next season, though. He’s eager to see what his girls will accomplish before this season’s over.
And he’s also quickly seeing who will help the four captains the most.
“Kyle [Gautier] had seven aces [vs. North Brunswick],” Calhoun said. “Outside hitter Nyah Anderson has played real well.”
And this year more than last, the two, along with the rest of the club, will have more chances to sharpen their skills at a slower pace with one another at practice.
Then things will pick up and game time will come for the Barrons Sept. 23, when they take on Rahway High School in Woodbridge at 4 p.m. The following day, Woodbridge will make the short trip to Colonia High School to face each of its local rivals — Colonia and JFK Memorial. The tri-meet will start at 10 a.m.