Warn Leads Raiders into State Semifinals with 17 Kills

The No. 1 seeded Hillsborough High School Volleyball Team beat No. 9 seeded East Brunswick Bears to advance to the semifinal round against the No. 4 seeded Piscataway.  Piscataway beat No. 5 Christian Brothers Academy 25-19, 29-27 in their quarterfinal match.

Game 1

Game 2

East Brunswick (14-9)

23

26

Hillsborough (29-3)

25

28

IN SHORT

The visiting East Brunswick Bears gave the Raiders all they could handle Thursday but the Raiders were able to prevail  in two tightly contested games.

Both games were back and forth with neither team able to gain much of any edge. When it came down to crunch time the Raiders just would not give in as they were able to edge past the Bears by the slimmest of margins.

In the first game, the teams traded points back and forth. The largest lead either team had was two points, at 11-9 and 23-21 Raiders. At 23-21 it looked like the Raiders might be able to put the first game away but the Bears came right back to tie the game at 23-all.

With Michael Warn serving at 23-all the Raiders won the point to go ahead 24-23 and on game point Warn served an ace to give the Raiders the win.

In the second game, the Bears were able to get a two-point edge on the Raiders which they were able to hold from 5-7 to 13-15. Trailing 13-15 the Raiders won 7 of the next 9 points, outscoring the Bears 7-2 to to take a 20-17 lead.

The Bears would not give up easily and facing match point at 24-21 they rallied to not only tie but take the lead 24-25.

The Raiders fought off two East Brunswick game points until they were able to get a game point of their own at 27-26. With the match on the line Michael Warn was able to blast another kill to seal the victory for the Raiders.

RAIDER OF THE GAME

Michael Warn –The senior outside hitter had 17 kills, more than double anyone else on either team. He clinched the first game with a service ace and won the final game with his 17^th kill of the match.

“He was definitely our best player out there today. Whenever it looked like they had some momentum he had another kill” Coach Todd Sudol

OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES

Travis Haynes – had eight kills.

Frank Batula– had 28 assists.

THEY SAID IT

“They [the Bears] played two great games against us today. As you move on in the State tournament you expect that level of completion where the games go point for point.” Coach Todd Sudol

UP NEXT – Piscataway in the semi-final of the State Tournament. The game is scheduled for Wednesday 6/1. Start time is TBA.