OCEAN CITY – It took a set for the Ocean City High School volleyball team to settle down in their sectional quarterfinal against visiting Holmdel Nov. 5, but once the team did, it was over in short order.
The Red Raider girls, the top seed the Group II South Jersey tournament, beat No. 8 Holmdel in straight sets, 25-21, 25-15, 25-12. During the regular season, most matches are the best of three. During the tournament, it’s best of five. So far, the OCHS girls haven’t needed more than three. In the opening round, they knocked off No. 16 Timber Creek 25-6, 25-9, 25-16.
“I felt like they were pretty calm until like right before that game,” head coach Jill Garza said. “Sometimes it takes us a minute to just get it together, but I thought we played great. I thought we really picked each other up and just moved forward from that first set.”
Senior hitter Bradee Boyd led the team with 25 kills against Holmdel after posting 24 kills against Timber Creek.
Statewide last week, Boyd was the leader in kills with 385 and aces with 75.
Boyd smiled and shrugged when asked about the statistics and how she ranks with players across the state, saying she sometimes looks at the statewide statistics, but her focus remains on the team.
“The stats will come along as I’m just getting better, working towards what I can do for my team,” she said. “If the stats are full, that’s great.”
Boyd acknowledged the first game started off tight. It was tied 19-19 before Ocean City won 25-21.
“The beginning of the first game was definitely a little bit crazy. We didn’t expect all of that, but it was a good challenge for us just going into our next few games,” Boyd said. “It’s fun to play volleyball like that when it’s back and forth. I personally love playing in that environment.”
“Then going into the next two sets, we were definitely like, ‘we’ve got to crack down, we’ve got to lock in, we know how we have to play,’” she said. “We want to keep moving on. So I think that’s what we did.”
Boyd’s sophomore sister, Rylee Boyd, led the team in assists with 29 and 32, respectively, in the first two playoffs games. She ranked third last week in Group II statewide with 451 assists.
Coach Garza said her team is senior heavy and they want to keep playing. “They don’t want every game to be their last game. They are definitely pushing for wins.”
The Red Raiders were going into some practice Friday and to get some rest before the semifinal Saturday.
The coach noted the commitment it takes given the team is playing and practicing while school is off for fall break.
“A lot of people take vacations during this week because some schools are off the whole week, some are off half the week, but when our girls try out in the summertime, we tell them that the season ends right before Thanksgiving,” Garza said. “We kind of keep that in their heads the whole time because we want to try to go as far as we can go through the season and it’s tough. Some people will cancel their vacations and they’ll stay. We even pulled up a few JV players and asked them to stay on with us and they were more than happy to do so.
“It’s a major, major commitment,” she added.
Asked about her use of substitutions during the games, Garza said it’s often for defense.
“I do have some girls that are better defensive specialists than other girls so a lot of the times I’m just subbing in a defensive specialist depending on the score,” she explained. “I also want to try to get some playing time for some of the younger girls that we pulled up because they made a sacrifice to stay and keep playing with us. The more I put them in, the better that they’re going to get, the more confident they’re going to get, and they’re going to be ready to go.”
Acknowledging some of her team leaders in statistics, she made the point that those players also do well because of the chemistry on the team and the support they get. “They’re constantly picking each other up,” Garza said.
The girls were definitely up during and after the Holmdel game.
Senior Brynn Williams said she was “really overwhelmed with excitement” after the quarterfinal win.
“We’ve been working so hard for this. I remember the first summer practice we had and my coach asked us, ‘what is the goal for the end of the year?’ And we said, ‘it’s to make it to states.’
“I think we’re on a really good run for that right now and I just couldn’t be more happy with how we’re playing and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone and how we really come together as a team,” Williams said.
Fellow senior Gabrielle Erace, the team’s libero, was equally excited.
“I think next we just have to focus in and just know that like any game could be our last, this next one could be our last game,” she said. “So we just have to go 110 percent and I think that everyone just needs to know that and to just focus.”
At 11 a.m. Saturday, the Raider girls host No. 5 seed Sterling (17-7) in the sectional semifinal. On the other side of the bracket, No. 2 Pinelands (15-13), a former sectional champion, is hosting No. 6 Gov. Livingston (16-10). The winners meet in the finals Thursday, Nov. 12.
“I don’t want this to end,” Erace said. “I just love my team so much, and the last thing I want is an abrupt stop. That’s for sure.”
Ocean City now sports a record of 23 wins against 2 losses.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
