By Charlie Cangialosi III of The TAP
A rematch of last year’s sectional championship ended with the same outcome as Scotch Plains-Fanwood boys volleyball defeating Hackensack in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Group 3 Championship at home on Monday, June 3. The Raiders won in three sets (25-27, 25-12, 25-14), losing the first set close, then winning the last two sets by 11 points or more.
“I’m relieved to be perfectly honest, because that first set was a little dicey,” said SPF head coach Brock Hor. “Hackensack took advantage of every single error that we made. I told the team, ‘Listen, this whole thing, this whole match is on us. We have to execute, our serving, our hitting, our blocking, our defense.’ They took it to heart, and they came out fired up.”
Senior Tim Ennis had the most dominant performance of his high school career, with a career-high 18 kills along with a team-high 14 digs. Senior Quinn Donahue also had a career-high 37 assists in Monday’s win.
A surprise performance came from sophomore Brandon Indoe, who finished with a career-high 12 kills, with other great performances coming from Kieran McElroy Barker, Daniel Ennis, and Michael Wojcik.
| Scotch Plains-Fanwood | Kills | Blocks | Digs | Assists | Service Points | Aces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Wojcik | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Ryan Pierson | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kieran McElroy Barker | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| Tim Ennis | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Daniel Ennis | 10 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Quinn Donahue | 4 | 3 | 9 | 37 | 6 | 1 |
| Ryan Adams | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Brandon Indoe | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aaron Frank | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals: | 49 | 17 | 66 | 42 | 38 | 2 |
Scotch Plains-Fanwood will play in the NJSIAA Group 3 State Championship against Cherry Hill West. Coach Hor and his team plan to prepare for this next game the same way they have for the rest of these tournament games.
“It’s the same mentality, play our game,” Hor added. “Don’t let the other team dictate the pace of your game and just see where it goes.”
