Colts Neck reloads while it rebuilds on court
Howell, Marlboro making schools’ debuts this fall
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff Marlboro’s Angela Evegan dives to bump the ball during the Mustangs’ match with Point Pleasant Beach on Thursday in Marlboro.

Two more schools have added girls volleyball to their sports programs.Colts Neck is no longer the lone ranger on the volleyball courts, being joined this year by Howell and Marlboro. Both teams are going through the expected growing pains, but they have something going for them — the popularity of the sport. It has helped them get a head start.

At Colts Neck, the veteran Cougars are picking up where they left off last year, winning, despite graduating nine seniors from that 13-7 state playoff team.

Co-captains Jackie O’Reilly and Caitlin Clarke and Angela Papasso are the only players who saw any kind of action in 2004 who are returning. O’Reilly is a middle hitter, and Clarke and Papasso are setters. They have had key roles in Colts Neck’s 8-7 start this fall.

Coach Glenn Jansen attributed the Cougars’ success at maintaining its winning way while rebuilding to a number of factors, not the least of which is the dedication of the players to volleyball.

“The girls put in a lot of hard work, went to summer camps,” he said. “They had a good jayvee season, and we’re playing some first-year programs.”

There is another factor as well. This is the fifth year for the Colts Neck’s program, and the girls are no longer starting from scratch.

“They understand the game a lot more and they are playing together,” said Jansen.

The Cougars, who were second in the Shore Conference (SC) to state-ranked Southern last year, are 7-3 in SC play this year. They scored a huge win over Rumson-Fair Haven, which was 5-2 in conference play. The Cougars served the Bulldogs off the court, 25-12, 25-11.

“We played our best volleyball as a group,” said Jansen. “We served incredibly well.

“We use the serve as a weapon,” he added. “We win or we lose by the serve.”

With the service game so important, as expected, Jansen stresses it in practice.

Clarke, O’Reilly, Samantha Shaw and Heather Perez have emerged as the team’s most effective servers.

“They are really at another level,” said Jansen. “They are all capable of getting four, five, six or seven aces a game.

“It’s placement, power and spin, and the way they read defenses,” he added.

While their serving may be carrying the Cougars, their overall offense has improved, thanks to the play on the front line.

“Our front row is attacking,” said Jansen.

O’Reilly and Kristen Anderson, who are both 6-0, and Ferdesa Bauta and Shannon Andl have size and athleticism as a unit up front, and have been blocking and putting shots away with regularity.

Tori Mauro, Cherille Hill, Tiffany Kirk, Ashley Carazzo and Briele have been the key passers from the back for Colts Neck.

The Cougars are in a good position to return to the state playoffs and what is most impressive about it is that they are doing it without a senior on the team.

“I’m very excited about the next two years,” said Jansen.

At Howell, as soon it became official that the school would be fielding a varsity team this fall, the girls attended clinics and played in leagues over the summer. Sixty girls greeted head coaches Todd Going and John Gagliano back in the summer.

“Making cuts was difficult,” said Going.

The coaches ended up keeping 25 so that they could field a jayvee team along with the varsity team.

“Things are going as well as expected,” said Going. “The girls have been hitting some bumps in the road. They’re having a hard time pulling everything together. They’re learning every time we play.

“They knew at the start that this would be difficult,” he added. “They’re great girls, they’re enthusiastic and having fun with it.”

The Rebels did manage to make some school history this year by winning their first-ever varsity match, against Marlboro.

As the season has progressed, the Rebels are becoming more efficient on offense, and that has made them more competitive.

“We’re running our offense better,” he said. “We’re running a 6-2 offense with two setters that took some time for the girls to get used to. They’re learning to play their positions.

“They’re playing real volleyball versus phys. ed volley ball, where you just drop it over the net,” he added.

In the 6-2 offense, setters are very important because they make the all-important first hit that sets a play up for a kill up front. Kristi McGovern, Lyndsay Smith and Kristen Brown have been Howell’s best at making that critical dig.

Up front, Jamie Biddle has been the finisher.

Serving is critical, and it has been Melissa Bright, Sarah Owen and Biddle who have been the team’s most consistent scorers. All three use the overhand serve.

As Howell moves into the second half of the season, Going sees a team that hardly resembles the one the coaches first put together in mid-August.

“I’ve seen a drastic improvement in all of the girls,” he said.

Tom Mulcahey can say the same thing at Marlboro, where the Mustangs are also a work in progress.

Like Howell, it has cleared the first win hurdle and is 2-5 for the season.

“It’s gone beyond expectations so far,” said Mulcahey. “We fielded a competitive team the first time out. The girls are hard workers. Skill-wise they have what it takes to be competitive.”

What Mulcahey likes about his team is that it has qualities you can’t teach.

“They’re playing aggressive,” he said. “They move very quickly. It’s something you can’t teach.”

Like at Howell, the popularity of the sport has helped the Mustangs be more than a typical first-year team.

“There’s a lot of interest in volleyball at Marlboro,” he said. “They love to play it.”

Thirty-three players tried out for the Marlboro varsity, with Mulcahey narrowing it down to 15.

The biggest difference between the Mustangs and their opponents, Mulcahey noted, is experience.

“We’re playing teams with three or four years’ experience of playing with each other,” he said. “That’s the one thing we lack and that’s big. We need that communication. The more we play, the better we get.”

Marlboro set goals this year of working on the team’s weaknesses step by step. The first was receiving. The team has improved in that area and it has produced a more effective scoring attack.

Micha Nadkar and Alissa Forliter have been the team’s best at coming up with digs and receiving serves.

Next on the agenda is serving with more consistency. Abigail Williams, Samantha Saks and Megan Radgovin have been the team’s most dependable servers.