May 31, 2021 – By NJP
Yes! Club volleyball is back in the limelight after a miserable season filled with cancellations and postponements. Travel tournaments were major challenges and now that things are starting to settle in the NorthEast, Warren SixPack took 6 teams down to Richmond for the Boy’s East Coast Championships at the Richmond Convention Center. Many other NJ club squads headed to Atlantic City this holiday weekend as well but more on that later.
18’s
The 18’s roster consisted of some awesome NJ High School stars as follows: Setter Colin Stevens (CBA), Outside Hitters Christian Trevino (St. Joe’s Metuchen), Ryan Thenell (West Milford), and Jake George (Howell), Middles Aaron LaPlaca (Old Bridge) and Dan Marino (Marlboro), Right Side Ben Fryc (Jackson Memorial), and Setter/DS Mauricio Catalan (Colts Neck) and Libero Konrad Bieniek (Jackson Memorial).
On Saturday, the team went 2-1 with wins over AVA and Coastal VA. They lost their last match of the dat to SNVF. Pool 2 yielded a win over Annapolis and tough three set loss to Orlando, as well as a win against MVP. This earned them a spot in the Gold bracket to compete for top honors in the tournament. 18 started with a win over JJVA and then faced SNVF, the team they lost to on Day 1, for the Championship. They won the first set 25-20 but yielded the second set 19-25 to set up a third set to 15 for all the marbles. It was a tight back and forth affair but Six Pack 18’s won the Championship 15-13. Congrats to all of the boys!
17’s
This is the 17’s roster that competed this weekend: Andrew Sasso and David Flores (CBA), Chris Lynum (Livingston). Michael Wiekum and John Toolan (St. Joe’s Metuchen), Brian Snook (Old Bridge), Chris Mitchell (Howell), Nick Brzoska (Marlboro) and Patrick Rogers (Rutherford).
The 17’s just had a rough first day, losing all three matches (Niagara, MVP, MVP SFL). Second day… much different story as they swept some of the best teams in the country in Adidas Academy, St. James Boys, and ACAD. This earned them a spot in the Bronze division where they won the first game over RVC and lost in the Bronze championship to Adidas.
16’s
The 16 team brought the following formidable roster to Richmond: Nick Schmidt, Jeremy Zimmerman, and Tim Ennis (SPF), Max Finkielstein (WWPN), Blake Krapf and Evan Jazmin (Old Bridge), Scott Schmitt (St. Joe’s Metuchen), Daniel Speicher (Manasquan), Joe Pavlik (Bridgewater-Raritan), and Pat Mullin (Howell).
The 16’s were perfect all weekend, not losing one game. They lost a set to Triangle in the semi’s and a set to Triangle in the finals but won the entire tournament and remained undefeated.
14’s/15’s
The 15’s team featured freshman high school star Trevor van Valkenburgh from Jackson Liberty. The team finished 2-4 and lost in the Bronze playoffs.
Two 14 teams participated at the level. 14-1 finished 4-5 and advanced to the finals of the Silver bracket. 14-2 finished 2-5 and also lost in the silver round playoffs.
Congratulations to all teams for a fine job representing NJ this weekend in Richmond. Safe travel to all.
