October 12, 2023
The dynamic in the Girl’s high school volleyball has shifted since our last blog on Monday. The Sparta Spartans flipped the script on Tuesday with a one sided victory over #1 IHA on the Blue Eagles home court. NJP expected a tight three set match but the Sparta win was a big surprise despite the Spartans undefeated record.
It took an entire team effort from the Spartans in this clash and all team members were up for the challenge. Haley Maher ruled the back row with 12 digs, Tara Keller owned the attack registering 7 kills, and Giselle Faria had 6 big aces along with 8 assists. Aralyn Saulys, Payton Simpson and Lea Tsamadis had multiple contributions with Saulys providing 10 assists, 6 digs, 1 block, and 3 kills, Simpson dug 10 while posting 6 kills and a block, and Tsamadis had 7 digs, 5 kills and an ace. And we can leave out Sylvia Przdzial who had an all around great match with 3 kills, 2 blocks, 2 aces, and 2 digs and Emma Kristiansen who had a block, a kill, and 2 digs.
Here is the winning point… Saulys to Keller for the Killer…
The algorithm has shifted spots in a preview of this weekends updated rankings, with Sparta moving to #1 and IHA regressing to #2, but there is still some volleyball to play before Saturday nights update.
Next week, Sparta takes on 16-5 West Essex as well as undefeated Morristown. IHA got back on track by smothering DePaul tonight, limiting them to 16 points over two sets. They will get immersed in the Bergen County tournament this upcoming week.
Livingston experienced their second loss of the season tonight as Morris Knolls took them down in straight sets. Grace Peters, Olga Rostek, and Abby Mackey leading the way for the Golden Eagles.
Old Bridge had a key win tonight in the GMC against rival East Brunswick. Ashley “Sparkle” Markle dazzled with her best game of her young high school career as she smashed 13 kills as well as 10 digs and a block. So far, the freshman has 135 kills, 10 blocks, 64 digs, and 28 aces over her first 17 matches at the high school level. The Knights are now 15-2 and the Bears fall back to 10-4 overall.
What a interesting season for Pascack Hills. They must be seeing Hawks in their sleep as River Dell has defeated them twice this season, the second coming tonight. What’s unusual about it is that Pascack Hills has just 2 losses all season. The Hills squad is super balanced and boasts 4 players with over 80 kills on the season. All be fed by senior setter Mikka Jarvis who got to 1,000 assists in her career (shown below). Three of the four are not seniors to Hills should get a lot of firepower back next season. Kudos to junior Gianna Juliano (87), senior Elyssa Samani (84), sophomore Eva Myers (89), and junior Lily Kelly (86). River Dell remains one of NJ’s best squads. They will have a chance to avenge one of their three losses this season when they take on Northern Highlands in the Bergen County Tournament quarter-finals on Saturday.
Big match in Hudson County tomorrow as 13-0 Hudson Catholic takes on 13-1 Hoboken. The Redwings and the Hawks have not lost a set in a month and both have been cruising. Last season, these two teams battled to three sets with Hoboken winning a thrilling third set 26-24. We will see if this match packs as much drama. We think so…
