The extended reign atop the Skyland Conference by the Bridgewater-Raritan High School boys’ volleyball team came to an end on Thursday evening.
Although the third time was not the charm for the third-seeded Panthers at top-seeded Hillsborough High School: New Jersey’s No. 12-ranked team, Bridgewater-Raritan’s performance solidified its status as a contender in next week’s state tournament yet again.
Bridgewater-Raritan (17-10) rallied from an early five-point deficit to set up back-to-back match-point opportunities at Hillsborough (23-4), which ultimately forced overtime and stole game one with four consecutive points. While the Panthers rebounded and remained deadlocked with the Raiders late in game two, Hillsborough pulled away with eight of the match’s final nine points en route to a 2-0 (26-24, 25-18) victory in the Skyland Cup finals, Thursday, May 22, at Hillsborough High School.
In defeat for the Panthers, as part of his milestone day under the leadership of his dad, sophomore libero Ethan Romanak (two assists, nine digs) ended the evening with 341 digs in his debut varsity season. This broke Bridgewater-Raritan’s single-season record set in 2013 by then-senior Drew Ungerledier, who made 340 digs during his senior season 12 years ago.
“I loved the way we played, but Hillsborough was the better team today,” praised Bridgewater-Raritan head coach Corey Romanak of the Panthers’ third matchup of the season against rival Raiders. “This was not an upset.”
“These are two top teams in the state battling against each other, so we knew it was going to come down to the wire.”