First-year OCHS volleyball team takes on experienced Mustangs
LINWOOD – When the South Jersey runner-up Mainland Regional High School volley team hosted the fledgling Ocean City High School team, the first set was much closer than the teams’ respective experience would suggest.
The Red Raider girls jumped out to an early lead before the Mustangs got into their groove. Late in the game the Mustangs led by only a point, 21-20 before reeling off the next 4 points to win the set 25-20.
The second set wasn’t as close with the Mustangs winning 25-14, but starting yet another Ocean City-Mainland rivalry that should continue for the years to come.
“It’s awesome that we finally have an Ocean City volleyball team to play against,” Mainland head coach Erica Reis said after the Sept. 13 game. “The girls love playing against Ocean City.”
Reis had praise for the new competition.
“They look phenomenal this year. They’ve come out and they’ve been doing a lot of work so I’m happy to have them joining us in the CAL,” she said. “It should be fun in the upcoming years with them.”
The Mustangs finished last season with an 18-5 record, earning the No. 2 seed in the South Jersey Group III tournament. They made it to the finals, where they lost to No. 1 seed Pinelands in three sets, 25-23, 21-25, 25-12.
“We’re stacking up pretty good,” Reis said of her 2023 team. “I have five seniors that are starting pretty much every game and I have a new addition, Bradee Boyd, who is a freshman who moved here from Florida. She is powerful, she is smart on the court and she is working well with our girls. She’s pretty good with us right now. I expect a lot out of her.”
Boyd led the team against Ocean City with 8 service points. Seniors Bella DeRichie and Kassandra Bretones had 7 each and Sadie Kent had 15 assists. Bretones and DeRichie had 4 kills each and Boyd had 3.
“I expect a lot out of our seniors this year. We have a lot of power hitting so we are a good hitting team this year,” Reis said. “Sadie Kent, our center, is doing phenomenal. This should be an incredible season for us.” She said she also is counting on fellow seniors Denver Obermeyer and Sydney Booth.
Asked about team goals, the coach said the Mustangs want to go further.
“We want to be able to compete against better teams. We want to hang with them. We’ve been trying to schedule competition that challenges us more, playing more games, going to a couple of tournaments, giving us the challenge to play better teams so when we’re playing in the Cape-Atlantic League championship and in Group III – hopefully we make it to the finals again – that we have that under our belt with the pressure.”
To that end, the Mustangs were 4-3 with the win over Ocean City and then Cedar Creek, sporting a 4-0 record in the American Division with the three losses coming to out-of-conference teams Cherry hill East, Paul VI and Lenape.
Reis said she expects Pleasantville and Atlantic County Institute of Technology to be some of the best in the division. The Mustangs beat Pleasantville 2-0 in their opener, 25-21, 25-21.
The Mustangs face ACIT at 4 p.m. Friday at home.
Ocean City fielded a junior varsity team last year under coach Jill Garza, who returned as the head coach for the team’s first varsity season.
“We were ready. We knew they were experienced. It was very close the first set. Once the other team gets a little momentum on you it’s a little bit harder to get out of that,” Garza said of the Mainland game.
“I continue to tell the girls to stay positive and that’s what they’re doing. They have skills to build on and they know what they need to build on. I just think it’s more important for them to pick each other up and stay positive and they continue to do that. That’s our goal and that’s what they’re doing,” she said. “I’m happy with that.”
The Red Raider girls were 1-4 at the end of last week, with losses to Egg Harbor Township, Hammonton and Our Lady of Mercy Academy. They beat Middle Township 2-0 in close sets, 25-23 and 27-25, and earned a set off of OLMA. That score was 13-25, 25-16, 17-25.
Ocean City is home at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Lower Cape May Regional.
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
