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Boys Volleyball Wins Rematch Against Hunterdon Central

Panthers step it up with senior day enthusiasm.

Bridgewater-Raritan's boys volleyball team beat Hunterdon Central in straight sets 25-23 and 25-19 Monday to improve its record to 15-7.


Game 1 Game 2 Bridgewater-Raritan (15-7) 25 25 Hunterdon Central (14-9) 23 19

IN SHORT

Bridgewater-Raritan commanded the first game, but made it interesting at the end when the team almost let Hunterdon Central back in the game. Leading 23-18, the Panthers failed to convert on a scoring opportunity and had its serve broken by its own error. The Red Devils went on to score three straight points to make it 23-21. The Panthers took back control of the game to end Central's comeback attempt and finish it off 25-23.

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It was a different story in game two, where both teams traded swings until Bridgewater showed its dominance. The score was tied five different times before the Panthers staked a 12-10 lead over the Red Devils. The Panthers went on to score seven successive points making it 19-10. The team held the lead to close out the game 25-19.

A packed house was on hand as the Panthers honored the team's eight seniors before the game. Michael Billy, Anthony Cuzzola, Brandon Deck, Nick Diacont, Ryan Doheny, James Geary, Karas Lambert and Dan Sutter were among the group recognized alongside their parents.

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"It was such a picture perfect senior day. We were playing one of our rivals and they stepped up," head coach Corey Romanak said.

PANTHER OF THE GAME

Michael Billy—The outside hitter had nine kills and five digs. He accounted for 37.5 percent of the Panthers' points on the attack.

OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES

James Geary—The opposite hitter had a well-balanced game with four kills, six digs, a block and an ace.

Anthony Mandraccia—20 assists, four digs and a block.

COACH'S TAKE

"We just played balanced. That was one of the things we were talking about going into the game. Lets just play at a certain level and play poised at that level the entire match and I think we did that today."—Head Coach Corey Romanak

"When you play a good team like Hunterdon Central, we're both pretty evenly matched. I think you know when it was 8-8 it was just going swing for swing and then we just kept playing our game. We were serving real aggressive today and just really swinging with a lot of confidence. I think that was the difference today."—Head Coach Corey Romanak said about the second game.

"My senior captain Ryan Doheny, he's hurt. He played in a limited role today. He's normally one of my outside go to offensive weapons, but because he has a high ankle sprain he only played back row. So I think that put more pressure on the rest of the team, especially the seniors to rally around him and really play a step above what they're used to playing because they didn't have Ryan to play that offensive position."—Head Coach Corey Romanak    

UP NEXTRoselle Catholic Thursday at 4 p.m.

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