Magical 26-2 season ends in South Jersey sectional game
OCEAN CITY — In an intense, back-and-forth match that went the distance, Toms River South High School’s girls volleyball team ended Ocean City’s magical season in the South Jersey Group III semifinals Saturday afternoon.
It was just the second loss for the Red Raider girls, who finished their third year of varsity competition with a 26-2 record.
The best-of-five match went five sets.
Ocean City narrowly won the first set 25-23, lost the second 25-21, then controlled the third set 25-19. Toms River South tied things up in the fourth, 25-22, then won in the third set, 15-12, to move on to the sectional championship game.
TRS, the No. 3 seed with a 17-7 record, will face No. 4 Shawnee (14-9), a team that upset top seed Moorestown (22-4) 3-1 in the other semifinal. Ocean City was the second seed.
In early September, Red Raider head coach Jillian Garza told the Sentinel her team was special when the girls were 2-0 and had just defeated Lower Cape May Regional. That was reinforced when the team was 9-1 and outstanding hitter Bradee Boyd, a transfer student, became eligible, hitting the floor with a squad that included her freshman sister Rylee Boyd.
The Red Raiders won 17 more games in a row, including the Cape-Atlantic League crown over Our Lady of Mercy Academy.
“They had an awesome season, one we’ll never forget, and a season that we literally never expected to get as far as we did. So we’re more than proud of them for sure,” Garza said after the game.
“It’s amazing and we worked so hard and our team has so much chemistry together and they pick each other up so much.
“Just watch them right now,” she added as the players consoled each other after the close loss. “They’re trying to pick each other up.”
“They worked really well as a team and that’s why we remind them so much that we need them all. We need them all out there, and they did so great together as a team. I’m just proud of every single one of them,” Garza said.
Toms River South coach Kim Williams was impressed with both squads.
“They came out with such intensity and played that way the entire time from the first whistle to the last whistle,” she said of her team. “I couldn’t be prouder of them because Ocean City is a phenomenal team.”
Although her team was down two sets to one, the squad didn’t let up.
“They just kept their positivity up the entire time. Everyone on the bench, everyone on the court. We just tried to stay positive through everything and just take it point by point and then see what happened at the end,” Williams said.
She cited the team’s intensity and energy as factors for the win.
“I just think being able to keep that the whole entire time was great. I mean, just point for point, we were so evenly matched,” she said.
“We played really well today.”
The match
The first set was pretty even throughout with neither team getting a big lead and it tied at 12-12, 14-14 and 16-16. The Red Raiders got to 20 first and led 23-18 before TRS closed in at 23-22 and then 24-23 before Ocean City won to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set saw TRS leading early 11-5 and then by as much as nine points, 19-10. Ocean City closed back in, making it 22-19 and then 23-20, but TRS got the set point at 24-20 before tying the match 1-1 with a 25-21 set score.
Toms River South started strong in the third set, leading early 6-2 before the Red Raiders tied at 6-6. Ocean City took the lead for good at 12-11. TRS got within a point later, 14-13, but Ocean City held at 22-18 and then got five set points at 24-19 before winning 25-19.
The fourth set was tied early, but TRS took control and ran its lead to 16-8 before Ocean City narrowed it to 20-16. The visitors got up 23-17, but the Red Raiders closed back in to within a point at 23-22 before TRS won 25-22 to even the match at 2-2.
In the first-to-15 final set, neither team got ahead by more than two points with each leading. After the set tied at 11-11, a kill by Bradee Boyd gave Ocean City its last lead at 12-11. TRS blocked another kill attempt to tie at 12-12 then went on to win the set 15-12 and the match, 3-2.
“Awesome” season
with almost entire
squad returning
Garza has almost her entire squad returning because they are mostly juniors with a sophomore and a freshman.
“We’re looking good ahead for sure,” she said of next year.
Brooke Sutor notched her 100th ace in the sectional semifinal. She was happy she got it.
“I wanted it so bad last game and I didn’t manage to get it,” she said, “but this game I did. I just focused on where to put it instead of thinking, ‘I need to get this, I need to get this.’ And it worked.”
The sophomore was happy about the season as well.
“We made it so far. Last year, we never made it into the CALs and (this year) we won the CAL. There’s so many things to celebrate and next year hopefully we’ll get as far as we did,” Sutor said.
Junior libero Gabrielle Erace and fellow junior Brynn Williams were tearful after the game, but also proud of what they accomplished.
“It was a really great season. We worked really hard for this. Going up against Toms River South, they were a good team,” Erace said. “We left it all out on the court and the result was not what we wanted, but it was a really good season.
“We’re coming back for revenge, so they better watch out,” she added with a smile.
“I feel we had a really great season. I think we came out and we did really well. It was neck-and-neck the whole game,” Williams said. “I mean, we could have came out on top.” (The teams were tied 12-12 in the fifth and final set.)
“I think that we can really take it farther than what we did next year with this great team,” Williams said. “My teammates are wonderful. They’re here for me every single time. I know I get mad sometimes, but they know it’s all out of love and I’m just trying to help them out.
“We’re just always here for each other and the chemistry is just always there,” she added, “and we’ll have the same team next year so I think we’ll come out on top next year.”
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
