6-8-19 Just want to take a few minutes to recognize the outstanding work of Brian Bobal from NJ.com this season. His tireless efforts to cover 148 NJ High School volleyball teams has been thorough and much appreciated. We are so lucky to have a passionate professional covering our favorite sport. Thank you, Brian, for a job well done!
6-7-19 NJP continues to get a lot of input and feedback on our all-state selections. Anyone who has sent constructive comments, please know it is greatly appreciated. Our goal with our player rating system and awards was to put out unbiased information based on the pure data of achievements of each individual player. It was meant to open some eyes on the progress and achievements of players who may not play 40 games in a season and we made an effort to provide apple to apple comparisons. We do not want to take anything away from the high achievers who play a ton of games. They are great players. But if you are matching gross stats of players playing 40 games vs players who play 20 games, you will never have an appreciation of the reality of per game or per set statistics. Coaches in each league put together their lists of the best players in their league or county. Players receive 1st team honors and many more awards based on the Coaches who know them best, which is awesome. But in case you haven’t noticed, our site is typically about analytics. So we let actual numbers do our talking. We always encourage debate of the data. That’s the fun part. There will be more awards posted in the upcoming weeks.
6-6-19 Congrats to the Old Bridge Knights for their thrilling 3 set victory over the Fair Lawn Cutters on Thursday in South Brunswick. NJP’s number 1 ranked team proved they were NJ’s best. It has been an amazing year and the semi-finals and finals were an incredible tribute to the excitement that NJ High School volleyball can bring with a culmination of exceptionally talented teams doing what they do best.
6-4-19 The Predictor has locked in its picks for today’s semi-final matches but at this point in the season, it’s time to kick back and enjoy the matches. These 4 teams have battled all year to get here so why not take the trip down today to watch the best of NJ Volleyball and show them your support. Ridge will have its hands full with an Old Bridge team that is on a mission to repeat as Champion. Old Bridge has had the toughest road of any of the top 4 and will reap the benefit of the higher caliber of play. Ridge has not played any of the top 3 powerhouse teams this season so we will see if they can survive the pace adjustment early. It’s a classic David and Goliath matchup with the Knights bringing in a 40-2 record to the show. Ridge (21-5) has been in the top 8 all season and has beat some very tough teams including Hillsborough, BR, St. Peter’s, SPF and Harrison but The Knights are on cruise control these days and the Red Devils may need more than a rock and a sling to down this giant. The 5PM match-up is a virtual dead heat. #3 Fair Lawn (35-3) and #2 Southern (38-2) have met three times this season not counting Tournament play and the Cutters have won 2 of the three. All three matches went three sets. We expect nothing different today. Southern took the last meeting on 5/11 at the Super 6. This will be a showcase of NJ talent as we have two of the best setters in sophomore Gil Zyndorf of Fair Lawn and senior Matt Maxwell in his farewell tournament after an epic career as one of NJ’s best. Fair Lawn’s Mark Berry has had over 50 kills in the 3 matches against Southern and both senior Zach Hem and junior Justin Kean have combined for 58 kills against FL. The game showcases two of the best defensive players in NJ as well with Alex Work (FL) and Logan Lipositz (S) keeping every ball in play. Southern is attempting to make it to the finals for the eleventh year in a row. They are 10-0 in semi-final games in the last decade.
6-4-19 Directions to today’s games…
6-3-19 Check out all the matchup info you need to know for the TOC semi-finals here… https://njpowerranking.com/home/final-4-tournament-of-champions/
6-3-19 Official NJSIAA TOC Program here: https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/document/19%20Boys%20Volleyball%20Program-Web.pdf
6-2-19 Check out all of the NJP 2019 Awards at https://njpowerranking.com/home/2019-awards/ Congrats to all recipients!
6-1-19 The Predictor finished the State Sectionals with an 86.4% win rate. North 1=88.3%, North 2=80%, Central=82.4%, South=94.1%.
5-31-19 True to form… all higher seeds advanced with 2-0 victories tonight setting the table for an amazing Final 4. Fair Lawn will take on Southern and Old Bridge will face Ridge. Congrats to these 4 Sectional Champs.
5-31-19 We took a quick look at starting underclassman in the Great 8. The standout has been sophomore Gil Zyndorf for the Fair Lawn Cutters. Gil has 878 assists to complement his 801 as a freshman clearly distinguishing him as one of the best setters in the state. In his two years, he has also amassed 67 aces, 36 blocks, 272 digs, 374 service points. His is on pace for some really prolific numbers for a high school career and will be a top player to watch now and for the next two seasons. Major credit to new Varsity Head Coach Greg Steward at St. Peter’s. He currently has four sophomore starters in his line-up who compliment his senior and junior standouts. Tim Jiminez (243 Assists/117 Service points/20 Aces), Aidan Apito (76 kills/18 blocks), Ryan Karbowniczak (70 kills/19 blocks), and Pius Mwemba (24 kills/15 blocks) provide a solid future foundation for the Great 8’s youngest team. Tommy Deakyne from Southern stepped up with senior Zach Hem being injured early in the year and was just outstanding for the Rams. He provided 83 kills and 20 Aces and still gets some time now that Hem has returned. Justin Hong of Ridge has had a solid year for the Red Devils. With 48 kills, 7 blocks, and 78 digs, he has been an all-around player and contributor. Hunterdon’s Thomas Menyhert has provided some strong defensive skills with 26 blocks this season to go along with 17 kills. Others worth mentioning are Chinoso Anyanwu of Bloomfield, Zach Cuisinier and Nick Schon of Old Bridge, and Ethan Case and John Barbieri of Southern. Good luck to these young men today!
5-30-19 Great 8 matchups and team pages are here: https://njpowerranking.com/home/great-8/
5-29-19 The Great Eight has been established after a no surprise day of sectional semi-final action. The Predictor was 8-0 with top seeds taking each match-up. This sets up Sectional final games as follows: Bloomfield will travel to Fair Lawn to take on the third-ranked Cutters. Bloomfield handled a high achieving Passaic Indian team in two sets. FL disposed of Cinderella West Caldwell Tech in straight sets and will be a strong favorite (3.4 rating points) to get to the TOC next week. Ridge had a very strong showing against Harrison, coasting to a 25-15, 25-16 victory. They will host St. Peter’s Prep (19-4) who outlasted a resilient Livingston Lancer squad who fought hard to reach the final. The #7 Marauders and #5 Red Devils did not face each other this season. According to the math, this game will be a toss-up as both teams are within less than 1 rating point. Old Bridge may have had the toughest test against #5 Bridgewater Raritan but like the first two times these teams met, the Knights once again rose to the occasion and put down the Panthers for the third time this season. This sets up the best Sectional matchup in the state as #1 Old Bridge (39-2) takes on #4 Hunterdon Central (18-4) for the Central sectional title. The Red Devils disposed of a feisty South Brunswick Vikings team who concludes their season after a solid tournament. And in the South, no surprise that #2 Southern (37-2) will be in the finals, familiar ground for the Rams. Sterling (26-2) was impressive in shutting down a very solid Washington Township team who finished the season at 24-4. Will there be an upset in the sectional finals? Old Bridge, Southern, and Fair Lawn have been off the chart great all season and that three-pack was certainly expected to be part of the TOC. It would be a major surprise if Sterling, Hunterdon, or Bloomfield could knock one of these powerhouses out. Ridge 20-5 and St. Peter’s 19-4 is a virtual toss-up statistically so don’t be surprised by a three-setter to decide the final spot.
5-29-19 It’s Sectional Semi-Final Day in NJ. Eight Sweet 16 match-ups on the schedule. Let’s take a deeper dive into head to head match-ups this season… Bridgewater Raritan and Old Bridge played twice this season and the result was two lopsided wins for the defending champs. In the 4 sets, the losing totals for the Panthers were 14, 20, 15, and 17. A clear matchup advantage to the Knights. Livingston and St. Peter’s went head to head once this season on 5/2 with the Marauders taking down the Lancers 25-21 and 25-13. Livingston brings in a 1-9 record against the S16 so it will be an uphill climb against a very strong SPP squad. Sterling and Washington Township went to battle very early in the season with Sterling emerging as a straight set winner. We anticipate this match will be as close as they come. Here are the records of semi-finalists against the Sweet 16 teams during the regular season… Old Bridge 8-2, Southern 7-2, Fair Lawn 6-2, Bloomfield 3-1, St. Peter’s Prep 2-1, Sterling 2-1, Hunterdon Central 4-3, Bridgewater Raritan 6-6, Ridge 2-3, Clearview 1-2, Washington Township 1-3, Harrison 1-7, Livingston 1-9, West Caldwell Tech 0-1, South Brunswick 0-2, and Passaic did not play a Sweet 16 team this season 0-0. Good luck to ALL!
5-23-19 An amazing day of volleyball in the State of NJ as we widdle the field down from 32 to 16. As we predicted, there were some major upsets but the hard part was figuring out each one. NJP picked Bridgewater over Hillsborough but some of the others were big surprises. Biggest of which was seeing the #2 seed in the Central Sectional St. Joe’s Metuchen being brought down by South Brunswick. St. Joe’s has been part of the NJ HS Volleyball elite this season, always hovering in the top 5 and even beat Fair Lawn just 10 days ago. South Brunswick now gets another Skyland Conference power in Hunterdon Central, the 4th ranked team in the state. It was one of the bigger upsets with a #7 beating a #2, but the straight set win was a major statement. Old Bridge appears in high gear taking it to Howell in two straight sets. The South Sectional appears to be going as planned with the top 4 seeds making it into the semi’s. Southern breezed over Moorestown and Jackson Memorial put up a huge fight against Clearview but fell just short in the third set 27-25. We thought SPF matched up pretty well with Ridge before their match but the Red Devils were ahead early in both sets and never looked back. Livingston has surprised in both their state matches, and going into Bayonne is never an easy task. The looked primed but will face a very strong #2 seed St. Peter’s Prep team in the semi-final. Bloomfield against Passaic will be a great semi-final match-up as they both win 2-1 matches. The most intriguing team of the tourney thus far is West Caldwell Tech. They were able to get by Wayne Valley in the first round and today edged #4 Teaneck to advance. Going into Fair Lawn is as tough as it gets so we will see if Cinderella can make it out of there with a sneaker on.
5-23-19 Fifteen quarter-final matches on the schedule today as we drill down from 32 teams to 16 teams vying for TOC honors. Some really great match-ups of top teams including Howell vs. Old Bridge, Bridgewater Raritan vs. Hillsborough, East Brunswick vs. Hunterdon Central, and SPF vs. Ridge. 28 of 32 higher seed teams won in first round play. But we expect a number of “upsets” in the quarter-finals. The Predictor nailed two of the upsets in round 1 with #12 West Caldwell Tech having a higher rating than #5 Wayne Valley and #10 Union having a higher rating than #7 Payne Tech. NJP did select Elizabeth over Livingston and Wayne Hills over Belleville but was proved wrong on both in three set matches. Bridgewater Raritan is the lone lower seed that NJP has with a higher rating so we are “predicting” an upset. Looking at recent trends and ratings over the past two weeks, SPF could certainly be a candidate for an upset against #1 Ridge. Old Bridge faces a Howell team that has only lost two games all year. If the Rebels had ventured outside of the Shore Conference on their schedule, they could very well be a much higher seed than #8. Howell is certainly an upset candidate despite playing the top team in the state. And watch out for #5 Jackson Memorial. Since April 12, the have only lost games to Southern and could give #4 Clearview a major test. Good luck to all teams! Predictor link here at https://njpowerranking.com/home/game-predictor/
5-22-19 St. Peter’s Prep is the first team to qualify for Sectional Semi-Finals as they outlast the Union Farmers in straight sets. A big story here is the first game which ended up being the second highest scoring game this season as the Marauders edged Union 36-34. The two teams showed amazing resilience, perseverance and fortitude, battling to the very end as both squads had several set point opportunities. SPP will await the winner of Thursday’s quarter-final match between Bayonne and Livingston.
5-21-19 Thirty-Two State Playoff Round 1 games today! Check out the updated Sectional Tournament pages under the ranking menu to see the match-ups and follow your favorites. The Predictor is doomed taking on the entire schedule at https://njpowerranking.com/home/game-predictor/ Good luck to all teams in the tourney!
5-19-19 Need some inspiration before your state tournament game. Check out some of NJP’s favorite video clips to get your psych up!
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/inspiration/
5-18-19 New State Ranking posted. Certainly some movement up at the top. Old Bridge with a narrow lead over Southern and Fair Lawn. Hunterdon Central sneaks into the 4 spot with East Brunswick dropping all the way down to 11 after a rough week. St. Peter’s jumps up to 9. The biggest mover of the week was Atlantic Tech up to #26. This is our last ranking before our final rankings at the end of the TOC.
5-18-19 The Final three County tournaments concluded today. Old Bridge winning the GMC was not a big surprise as the state’s top ranked team but St. Joe’s put up a hell of a fight after beating East Brunswick Friday night. The Falcons have shown they can stay close or ahead of just about all of the top teams in the state. Their #2 seed in the Central sectional could yield a semi-final against Hunterdon or East Brunswick before seeing Old Bridge in the finale. But Old Bridge’s road will not be easy by any means with a projected path of Howell in quarters, and either Bridgewater Raritan or Hillsborough in semi’s. St. Peter’s took down Harrison in the Hudson County final. The Marauders looked fired up and could go the distance in North Section 2. Ridge could be waiting for them if they can get by SPF and Harrison or potentially Kearny. Bloomfield is gathering some momentum as they came off their Essex County tournament win over Livingston. You can’t help but think the road will have to go through Fair Lawn but the Bengals are setup with a potential tough matchup in the semi’s vs. Passaic. We all know, State tournaments usually have some upsets as part of the yearly experience. So stay tuned.
5-17-19 Ranking sneak preview… as of this morning, Old Bridge has the highest rating and will be the #1 team in this weekend’s ranking barring anything crazy. Followed by #2 Southern & #3 Fair Lawn. These three standout teams have been jockeying for position all season long. Southern is knocking on the door with another Shore Conference Tournament victory Thursday. The Knights will need to win the GMC tourney Saturday to stay on top. St. Joe’s and East Brunswick will battle it out Friday to see who faces OB. Congrats to Atlantic Tech for winning the BCSL tourney bringing down 20-1 Sterling. Bloomfield will take on Livingston in the Essex County Tourney final and Harrison will face St. Peter’s Prep in the Hudson County finale on Saturday. Union and SPF will square off for the third time this season in the Union County Championship game. We will see if the third time is the charm for the Farmers after dropping both matches to SPF, their only 2 losses this year.
5-16-19 Owen Heft lead Hunterdon Central to a come from behind Skyland Tournament championship tonight in three sets. HC dropped the first set and charged back to take sets 2 and 3, the last going 27-25. Hunterdon had an astonishing 22 blocks in the match, 5 by Thomas Menyhert and Pete Higley and 4 by Owen Heft and Trevor Benton. Awesome job of proving NJP wrong as we had HC ranked third in the tourney.
5-16-19 After a great run over the past few days, the Predictor was bludgeoned tonight with a 12-7 record thus far. Still at roughly 88% on the year.
5-16-19 Lots of player page updates today. Leaders for Digs, Blocks, Kills, Aces, and Assists updated. The “Table” format allows you to sort and do searches.
5-16-19 The “Team Results” table page has been re-added. This was one of our most popular features for ice hockey but not so much for volleyball. The table allows you to sort by team or search giving you a snapshot of any particular teams results for the season with visible scores of opponents for quick reference. Especially this time of year when evaluating state tourney games. More here at:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/team-recaps/
5-14-19 Some interesting county tournament match-ups today including Colonia v. South Brunswick in the GMC, Payne v. Eastside Newark in Essex County, Dickinson v. Union City in Hudson County, Summit v. Westfield in Union County, and Belleville v. Millburn in Essex County. All of these games are virtual dead heats in the ratings system but NJP took a shot at picking winners. Check them out on the Predictor page here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/game-predictor/
5-13-19 Central comments: The Central is absolutely stacked with top-level teams and despite Old Bridge, the 2018 Champs, being dominant as #1 at the cutoff at 29-1, there are many teams that could rise up to make this sectional interesting. We project The Knights could play both Howell and Bridgewater Raritan before the finals and could then have St. Joe’s or East Brunswick waiting for them on 5/31. Not easy! The Central boasts 10 teams in the top 20. An exceptionally deep sectional so anything can happen. NJP has Howell as the 11th best team in NJ with a 14-1 record but they netted the 8th seed here. Colonia and Wall have had great seasons but landed at #9 and #11. There are 4 of the Super 6 teams here plus Hunterdon Central and Hillsborough. With that being said, Old Bridge could benefit from the higher level of play if they can get through the sectional and end up better prepared for the TOC. It should make for some can’t miss quarter-final and semi-final contests. NJP selects: OLD BRIDGE
5-13-19 South comments: Southern can best be equated to being the New England Patriots of Volleyball. And senior Matt Maxwell would be considered the Tom Brady of setters. What Southern has accomplished over the last decade is truly remarkable and there is no sign of slowing down. Southern fell back to #3 in NJ at the time of the cutoff for the state tournament after getting their third loss of the season. But a Super 6 tourney record of 4-0 has them securely positioned as the team to beat in sectionals and in the TOC. #2 Sterling has been outstanding this year with their only loss coming to Southern on April 27th. We would have loved to see them play some teams from up North in non-league match-ups to better gauge their potential. But the rating formula clearly has them as a major contender in the state at #8 overall, 19-1, and an 8.3 point average win differential per set, the 4th highest in NJ. Southern’s road to the finals may include both Moorestown and Clearview who have a combined record of 30-4. NJP had Clearview ahead of Washington Township with the latter getting a bit easier ride to the finals without seeing Southern. NJP Choice: SOUTHERN
5-13-19 North 2 comments: One of the more wide open sectionals is North 2. Ridge has been solid all year and was as high as #4 in NJP rankings this season. The Skylands conference always ensures a high level of competition throughout the campaign and Ridge did well with 16-4 overall record. Hudson County took down the 2, 3, 4, and 5 seeds with St. Peter’s Prep leading the charge by a slight margin over Bayonne, Harrison, and Kearny. Union County did not fare well as we expected SPF and Union to come out better than #8 and #10 as well as Elizabeth and Summit at #11 and #12. NJP had Livingston 13th in this group but they secured the #6 seed. Payne finished second in the Super Essex American, ahead of Livingston, but settled for the #7 seed. Payne has had several surprise wins this year, including knocking off Bloomfield in straight sets, and should be a team to watch. St. Peter’s and Harrison could certainly give Ridge more than it bargained for… NJP Pick: RIDGE
5-13-19 North 1 comments: No surprise that Fair Lawn locks down a number 1 seed after a dominant season and 27-1 record at the cutoff. Beating Old Bridge in Super 6 was another accomplishment but they did fall to Southern and St. Joe’s on the same day. That was a surprise. The questions in regard to North 1 were more about which team was going to be #2. NJP has Passaic slightly ahead of Bloomfield but the seed Gods saw differently as Bloomfield gets the slightly easier ride but we expect they will face each other in the semi’s. It looks like Passaic may face Eastside Paterson in the quarters, a team they have already lost to earlier in the season. One of the hottest teams of late is Belleville and they got some love with a #7 rank but will face Wayne Hills in the first round. Jefferson did not get any love with a #8 seed and will have a tough first round match-up with Bergen Catholic. NJP had Jefferson as the 4th ranked team in the sectional. Can any team knock out Fair Lawn from winning this sectional? We think not. NJP Choice: FAIR LAWN
5-13-19 All seed and grids have been posted for all four State Sectionals.
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/state-tournament-north-1/
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/state-tournament-north-2/
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/state-tournament-central/
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/state-tournament-south/
5-13-19 State Tournament seeds announced today! Stay tuned.
5-12-19 Wishing a great day to ALL of the NJ HS Volleyball Mom’s today!!!
5-11-19 Hudson County tourney seeds and grid posted. See link here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/tournaments/hudson-county-tournament/
5-11-19 What a day at Super 6 at St. Joe’s. As the top 6 teams in NJ face off against each other, there were quite a few surprises as expected. The biggest of which was Fair Lawn trouncing Old Bridge and then losing to both Southern and St. Joe’s. Southern headed back to LBI with a 4-0 showing and could be back on track to reassume the #1 spot in the state. Old Bridge beat St. Joe’s, East Brunswick, and Bridgewater. A great day for the home team as SJM wins over Fair Lawn and Bridgewater Raritan. All teams played 4 games. The next ranking should be very interesting.
5-11-19 Passaic County Tournament update at:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/tournaments/passaic-county-tournament/
5-11-19 Essex County tourney seeds and brackets posted. See link here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/tournaments/essex-county-tournament/
5-11-19 Shore Conference Tourney seeds and grids now posted at:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/tournaments/shore-conference-tournament/
5-10-19 Super 6 Tourney is tomorrow, Saturday 5/11/19 at St. Joe’s Metuchen starting at 9 AM. Participants will be #1 Old Bridge, #2 Fair Lawn, #3 Southern, #4 East Brunswick, #5 Bridgewater Raritan, and #7 St. Joe’s Metuchen. The Predictor takes on the impossible chore of picking every game of these top-ranked foes. Check it out here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/game-predictor/
5-10-19 GMC Tourney seeds and bracket now posted at:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/tournaments/gmc-tournament/
5-10-19 Note that we missed some game score updates for our state cutoff ranking completed late last night. Atlantic Tech has 2 more wins as the Pleasantville and Cinnaminson scores were not included in the ranking. These will be adjusted but please note this when evaluating. We invite teams to clue us in whenever possible if they see any errors or omissions. As meticulous as we try to be, scores are entered into our system daily by hand, so there is always a chance that we can miss some games. UPDATE: We completed a full audit today and have updated a number of games in our system. These will reflect in our next update.
5-10-19 A little late on posting Predictor today (2:30PM) after a late night ranking update. Had a solid day yesterday at 24-1. Still a few scores not submitted. Current win percentage for the season is 88.79%.
5-10-19 Bergen County Tournament update at:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts-2/tournaments/bergen-county-tournament/
5-10-19 Not a huge surprise but Old Bridge is the new #1 team in NJ. Fair Lawn falls to #2 and Southern remains at #3. Movers and shakers for the week: Sterling jumped 3 spots to #8 and South Brunswick jumped up to #18. Jefferson rose up 8 slots to #22. And both Kearny and Bayonne are now top 25 teams in a virtual dead heat ratings-wise.
5-10-19 Our sectional ranking takes a look at projected seeds for the state tournament. It also projects which team will make the cut (subject to final game scores being entered by today’s cutoff). Info here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/nj-boys-sectional-rankings/
5-10-19 We have added an opponents schedule strength ranking under the team ranking menu. This analysis looks at the average rating of opponents for all NJ HS volleyball teams through 5-10-19. Who had the toughest schedule? Hillsborough takes that honor so far this season. More here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/opponent-schedule-strength-rank/
5-9-19 We have updated all team rankings as of the state cutoff date.
5-8-19 Southern has dominated the South sectional for the past decade. They have reached the tournament of champions every year over that period, winning it 6 times. It would be a far reach to think this year would be any different. They have a solid team and Coach Maxwell would like nothing better than see his son Matt get a title in his senior year. Who has the possibility of bringing them down? There are two teams playing each other tomorrow that we feel have that potential. Sterling has only lost 1 game this season. And guess who they lost to? Yes, Southern. They met on April 27th and Sterling kept it pretty close losing 25-17 and 25-21. Sterling’s top 4 (Matchett, Matchett. Kriebel, and Wilsey) can compete with any team in the state but Southern is deep with talent and has the Maxwell/Kean combo that has terrorized a long list of opponents. Moorestown has been quietly winning games and amassed a 15-1 record thus far with their only loss to Sterling. Other possible contenders could be Clearview and Washington Township. We expect 16 teams to qualify for this section. Jackson Memorial, Donovan Catholic, and Rancocas Valley could be sleepers. Kingsway is a gutty team and typically challenging at the top but after a tough quad and three losses on 5/7, it may not be their year.
5-8-19 SPF emerges as Union County Champs with a straight-set victory over Union tonight. It’s been an up and down season for Scotch Plains after starting the season 8-0, then losing to highly ranked Ridge in a thrilling 3 set match and losing to Colonia, they reeled off 6 straight again before losing to Summit and Colonia for a second time. They knocked off Union earlier in the year in a very close 3 set match that was the only mar on the Farmers record all season. At 13-2, with their only losses to SPF, Union will enter the state tourney hoping for a high seed in North Section 2. We will see how the state seeding committee will treat Union County vs. Hudson County teams such as Bayonne, Kearny, Snyder, and Ferris. We think SPF and Union could get as high as #5 seed but should not fall below 9. We are projecting only 16 teams to be eligible for North 2, which could mean a very tough second round match-up for any seed lower than 5. North 2 will have some sleeper candidates as well with Payne Tech, Elizabeth and Eastside Newark looking to make their mark on the 2019 season. Ridge, St. Peter’s and Harrison should take the top 3 seeds.
5-8-19 Passaic County Tournament semi-finals tonight with Passaic vs. Eastside Paterson and Wayne Hills vs. Wayne Valley. Wayne Hills is hosting the semi’s and the home court advantage will be a big plus when they square off against their town rival Wayne Valley. Valley and Hills are in a dead heat ratings-wise but we are giving Hills the slight edge tonight. Passaic has had a stellar year thus far, with just one loss at the hands of Eastside Paterson. They will look to avenge that loss tonight to gain entrance to the tournament championship. Passaic is our top-ranked team in the tournament and they remain our choice for top tourney honors.
5-8-19 With Old Bridge taking down undefeated Fair Lawn last night 2-0, the top 3 teams are all in a virtual dead heat. There is a new ranking scheduled to come out Friday morning to coincide with the state tournament cutoff date and we will see what the numbers say as to who will be 1, 2, and 3. But we totally expect the difference to be negligible. All three teams will be heavily favored to come out of their sectionals on top in state tourney play. As powerful as Old Bridge is, their road will probably be the toughest in the stacked Central region. North 2 is a bit more wide open as Ridge lost last night, St. Peter’s is coming off a loss to Kearny, and Union and Harrison are playing very well right now.
5-6-19 Big game tomorrow as Old Bridge travels to Fair Lawn and for the third time this year, we have a #1 vs #2 matchup. The Cutters remain undefeated and with a solid hold of the top spot in the state but last years Champs have been quietly building momentum after an opening day loss to Southern and appear ready to stake their claim for #1.
5-6-19 Belleville appears to be peaking at the right time as they now qualify for the state tourney with three solid wins over West Orange, Millburn, and Livingston. This run could get them in at #12 or #13 in the North 1 sectional and the could avoid playing one of the top 4 teams in round 1.
5-6-19 Kearny has put together back to back wins over Bayonne and St. Peter’s Prep and is revving up for the Hudson County tournament. Looks like they will get the #2 or #3 slot depending on how the committee weighs Harrison’s record.
5-6-19 As we start to prepare for year-end awards for each class year… please email us your positions or even better get your coach to email us your entire team’s positions to njpowerranking@yahoo.com. NJP Awards for 1st team, second team, third team and honorable mentions for each class.
5-5-19 Ranking update #5 for 5/5 is complete. Certainly some movement in the top 30 with Old Bridge now taking over the #2 spot ahead of Southern who lost to Fair Lawn. East Brunswick moves all the way up to #5 and Washington Township takes over the #14 slot, both after very strong weeks. Moorestown jumps to #19 and Union joins the top 20 for the first time this year. SPF and Teaneck drop from the top 20.
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/nj-boys-state-rankings/
5-5-19 If the state cutoff was today, we examine each section and who qualifies for the state tournament. See our sectional rankings at
https://njpowerranking.com/home/rankings/nj-boys-sectional-rankings/
5-4-19 I am not sure which match was more exciting… the Fair Lawn three set win over Southern today at Harrison or the Long Beach 4 set win over University of Hawaii for the National Championship. Some amazing volleyball for sure…
5-4-19 College Commitment page initiated and can be found here:
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts/college-commitments/
5-3-19 The seeds are now finalized for the Bergen County tournament. See
https://njpowerranking.com/home/news-posts/tournaments/bergen-county-tournament/
5-3-19 Some general housekeeping answers to questions… Missing games: we do our best to get all games entered nightly but we have noticed that some games never make the public schedule and are added later. If you see any missing games, shoot us an email at njpowerranking@yahoo.com. Some game scores are missing with just a winner noted. In this case, for statistical purposes, we enter a score equal to our rating difference until we are able to receive the actual score. All of our scores are entered meticulously by hand (no API here) so we are counting on you guys in the trenches to have our backs if you see an error. For our player rankings by class, note that your name will not appear if we don’t have your class year. Currently, we are missing about 25 players in the top 1,000. Feel free to email us if your name is not listed but keep in mind our first analysis was only on the top 1,000 players in our scoring system. Currently, there are 1,537 active players in our system with some statistical data associated with them. Our year-end analysis will be all-inclusive. Other questions? Just email us.
5-3-19 Is it really one week away from the state cutoff? It feels like the season just started but as we approach “Counties” you get the sense that it will all be over too soon. Enjoy these last few weeks, especially you seniors!
5-3-19 Some data tidbits after month 1 of the season… 204 games out of 969 games have gone 3 sets (21%). Two weeks ago, this number was almost 23% so we are seeing much fewer games go to set 3. Cherry Hill East is holding on to the record of most points scored in a game at 37. Wall and SPF held their opponents to just 2 points in a game this season. The lowest point total in a third set is 8. Washington Township holds the record for highest point total in a game with 88 over three sets. West Essex, WWPN, and Wall limited their opponents to just 11 points in 2 sets. Of the 969 games played, 524 were won by home teams or 54%. While there is just 2 team left in the unbeaten ranks, we have 14 NJ teams without a win.
5-3-19 In the last ten years, Southern has made it to the state final game 10 times. That is truly remarkable. Fair Lawn and St. Peter’s reached the finals 3 times. And Old Bridge (2018 Champs), Harrison, St. Joe’s Metuchen, and Bridgewater Raritan have reached once. Southern has won the championship 6 times in the past ten years. For more history… visit this NJSIAA.org page at: https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/files/document/2018%20Volleyball%20History.pdf
5-2-19 Saturday will be a rematch of the top 2 teams in the state as Fair Lawn is home to face Southern as part of a Tri-meet. Harrison joins the party as well. It’s a toss-up as the ratings are within 0.30 of each other. Figure a way to get there Saturday to watch the battle.
5-2-19 Reminder: State playoff cutoff date is 5/9!! Teams must have as many wins as losses to qualify for states. Tournament seeding announced 5/13.
5-1-19 After a week of poll results, 80.41% of our fans are in favor of moving to best of 5 sets rather than best of 3. Food for thought.
5-2-19 We are now down to 2 undefeated teams in the state of NJ. #1 Fair Lawn improved to 21-0 tonight with a win over Bergen Tech. #9 St. Peter’s Prep had a convincing win over the Livingston Lancers today to improve to 12-0. Howell fell from the unbeaten ranks taking their first loss to Wall today.
5-1-19 We have completed some player analysis after the first month of play. We took a look at individual player stats in each of the scoring categories and combined them by giving a point for each category and then dividing by the number of sets played. We also took a look at Upper and Under Classman so you can see players by class year. Congrats to Justin Novoa of Union who took #1 in the player rating system. And Gil Zyndorf from Fair Lawn who finished second and is only a sophomore!
4-30-19 Passaic County holding the first “County Tournament” of the season. Rankings and seeds posted.
4-30-19 COACHES… Please send us County tournament seeding at your earliest convenience! njpowerranking@usa.com
4-29-19 Fair Lawn stays at #1 in our NJP ranking system powered by an 18-0 record, 36-2 Set Win/Loss, and a massive 10.722 score differential per set. Southern and Old Bridge have both had remarkable seasons thus far with 20-1 records. Southern’s set record is 41-2. Old Bridge is 40-3. Both have average score differential per set in the 9 range. We are down to just 4 undefeated teams in the state. Howell popped up to #4 this week at 9-0. And surprising St. Peter’s Prep rose to #9 at 9-0. West Orange has yet to lose a match at 10-0 but is ranked #53 due to schedule strength.
4-29-19 Ranking #4 on the season is now live!
4-29-19 The Predictor is now 251-24 and picking winners at a rate of 91.28%.
4-28-19 More tournament info at our “Tournaments” page posted. Rhody recap complete!
4-25-19 Rhody Invitational tournament information posted. Three NJ teams make their way up to Providence to take on New England’s best. Harrison, St. Peter’s and Kingsway will be making the trek. Good luck to these teams as they represent the Garden State.
4-25-19 The Predictor is now 185-19 and picking winners at a rate of 90.69%.
4-25-19 Player Ranking pages added to the site. Details and rankings on Blocks, Digs, Aces, Service Points, Kills, and Assists by player. We have attempted to make an apples to apples comparison using a “per set” average in each category. We have also tried to factor in “strength of opponent” into the formula. Check out the results on our player ranking pages!
4-20-19 We have added a Rank by Section feature for North 1, North 11, Central, and South to give you an idea on how state playoff grids might look like.
4-20-19 Ranking #3 on the season is now live.
4-18-19 WOW! Fair Lawn emerges from the shore with a big win and will be the new # 1 team in NJ HS Volleyball!
4-18-19 #2 Fair Lawn will travel down the Garden State Parkway to take on #1 Southern in LBI today. Both teams have been dominant this season but one team will spoil their perfect records. The winner will be #1 of course in our new ranking coming out Sunday. Good luck to both of these NJ powerhouses!
4-17-19 There have been 515 games played thus this season and 117 or about 23% have gone 3 sets. One would think the momentum factor would take over in game three with whoever won the second set having an advantage for the third. But only 45.3% of teams winning set 2, won set 3. Go figure!
4-17-19 Wow! Great showing of perseverance and determination by both teams tonight as Cherry Hill East edges Washington Township 37-35 in their first set with the highest score total in a game this season.
4-16-19 Survey’s are now an added feature for the site. They will be changed up daily/weekly. You can see results after you respond.
4-16-19 South Brunswick with a big win tonight as they beat #7 Hillsborough. The Vikings make a statement and have dreams of having a home game for the State Championship.
4-15-19 After the first 5 nights, our Predictor is 57-6 with a 90.47% win rate.
4-14-19 Standing by conference are now up and running on our “Standings” page. We also have added a “Team Result” page which will give you a snapshot of each teams opponents with easy access scores for each team.
4-14-19 A new ranking (#2) update is now live! Fair Lawn is the new #1 after it stunned Southern in LBI. The Cutters are now 16-0 and appear to be the Beast of the North. Southern back to #2 at 11-1 and Old Bridge at #3 at 13-1. Lots of movement in our top 20 with SPF jumping in at #7, Passaic at #10, Clearview at #11 and Sterling at #14.
4-13-19 Congrats to the Fair Lawn Cutters for winning the Livingston tournament. NJP’s #3 ranked team looks unstoppable this season.
4-13-19 The Old Bridge Knights are Eastern HS Volleyball Tournament Champs! They mowed down Washington Township in the finals. Last years Champs look in mid season form already and will be tough to beat this season!
4-13-19 Hackensack Tourney results are in! Scotch Plains Fanwood wins it over Teaneck. SPF looks very strong this season and could be a major power in Union County. Teaneck is vastly improved and sits atop the Big North Freedom Division and could be there all season.
4-11-19 First night of the “Predictor” was a success. 5-0 on the first night. Our score predictions were pretty close as well. Take a look at our “predictor” page.
4-10-19 We received a few emails about how we base our rankings. We take the personal side and opinions out of the equation. We apply a proprietary ranking formula that is based solely on past performance and “math”. Our algorithm factors in a wide variety of factors including winning percentage, score differential, and most importantly schedule strength. Our hockey win percentage over the entire life of our predictions was 84%. We are not sure how the formula will do in HS Volleyball, but we shall see. The win % is a reflection of the validity of our ranking system.
4-10-19 The “Predictor” is up and running based on our first published ranking. Our game predictions usually become more accurate through time and we like to have a couple of weeks of game data before commencing, but we are taking a shot after 9 days. Wish us luck.
4-10-19 NJP’s first State Ranking is now up. Southern takes the top spot with an 8-0 record. Old Bridge and Fair Lawn follow. Check out our state ranking page for the rest. And remember, our rankings are for ALL NJ teams.
4-9-19 Social channels are now open in Instagram, facebook, and twitter. We hope you can “friend”, “follow” or “like” us. We have also created a page called “Social” that has feeds from all three venues.
4-7-19 Welcome to NJP. Thanks for joining us. After almost a decade of covering NJ High School Hockey, we will now focus on NJ HS Volleyball. It had grown dramatically over close to a decade with over 1M page views per year. Many of the features of the site are being brought to our new venture as we tackle a new sport. Our beta site is now open for business. We hope you enjoy a blend of analytics, team and player data, rankings, our game score predictor, and a bit of fun.