The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association held the state final high school volleyball championships on November 12, 2016. There are five different brackets divided up in New Jersey from public groups #1-#4 and a non-public division. The division are classified by location of the school and student population. The championship games were all played at William Paterson University.
Bogota High School dominated once again and won their 8th overall state title against Verona High School. Bogota had an overall record of 28-4 and is ranked #11 in the state. Bogota beat Verona 26-24 and 25-18.
Samantha Gioiosa had 20 kills during the championship game and left her ranked #2 in the state with 428 kills. Gioiosa was also named NJ.com girls volleyball state Player of the Year for 2016.
Carly Waterman from Verona beat out Gioiosa for the state title of most kills during the 2016 season with a total of 455 kills.
River Dell had an undefeated season going into it’s 3rd straight title final game against Ramapo but lost in an intense 3 game match with the 3rd game that reached 28-26. Ramapo had an overall 22-3 season being left ranked #2 in the state. River Dell had an overall season of 27-2 and left them ranked #7 in the state.
Ramapo’s outside hitter, Elena Montgomery, had a season high of 23 kills during the final match. Gretchen Kincade reached a double-double with a total of 19 digs and 11 kills during the finals.
Samantha Grandich hit a team high of 20 kills and 16 digs for River Dell but it wasn’t enough to take down Ramapo. Emma Plutnicki had 15 digs, 2 kills, 2 assists, and 1 ace.
Old Tappan won state title and is ranked #1 in the state for the first time in school’s history. Old Tappan defeated Mount Olive in a 25-20 and 25-14 final match. Old Tappan was named NJ.com Team of the Year for 2016 and #1 team in the final top 20. This is Old Tappan’s third state title since 2010.
Becky Chu had 20 assists and 3 aces during the final match for Old Tappan while Julia Passante had a team high of 11 kills.
Mount Olive’s libero Catarinia Dubeux had 7 digs, 1 assist, and 2 aces. Isabella Soriano totaled 14 assists and 3 digs while teammate Britney Rivera also had 3 digs as well as 6 kills.
Hunterdon Central took their 3rd straight state title against Bridgewater-Raritan in a 25-17 and 25-18 final game. Hunterdon Central had an overall record of 21-1 which left them ranked #3 in the state. Bridgewater-Raritan had a 20-6 overall record and was left ranked #5 in the state.
Hunterdon Central’s Daniella Besecker was the only current teammate to win all three state championship titles. Besecker totaled 8 digs, 7 assists, and 2 aces during her finals match.
Bridgewater-Raritan’s Brittany Repak tallied a team high of 10 digs during the final match. Emily Sullivan had 16 assists, 7 digs, and 4 kills while Sarah Neves had a team high of 10 kills.
Immaculate Heart won their 10th consecutive Non-Public title against Hudson Catholic in a 27-25 and 25-18 final match set. Immaculate Heart had an overall record of 38-5 and was left ranked #4 in the state while Hudson Catholic had an overall record of 28-2 and was left ranked #12 in the state.
Immaculate Heart’s coach Maria Nolan has over 900 wins in her 40-year career and coached the Blue Eagles to their 10th state title win since 2006. Catherine Fazio led the team with 14 kills while libero Erica Timpanaro had 16 digs. Julia Morris leads the state in assists with 251 and tallied 20 during the finals match.
Hudson Catholic lost in the state final but had the best overall season record in school’s history. Alanis Alvarado lead the team with 9 kills and Kaylana LeeChow had a team-high of 8 assists. Andrea Lombeyda and Rose Vega both finished the game with 8 digs.
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