Abrupt End for Boys Volleyball

After the Millburn boys volleyball team cruised to an uneventful 25-20 Game 1 win, it appeared that the Millers were headed to the second round of the North II state playoffs, needing just one more win over Summit.

But a different Hilltoppers team came off of the bench for Game 2 and scored the first four points of the game and never looked back. Summit won the final two games of the best of three set on Tuesday at MHS and eliminated the Millers from the playoffs, 2-1.

“We just stopped playing as a team, that’s what happened,” said Millburn head coach Mikhail Sigalov. “They stopped playing together and the biggest mistake is when we start to blame each other.”

With the first two games split, the third and final match was a back-and-forth affair early on. But after a kill from Summit’s Tommy Cummins tied the score up at seven, the next time Millburn got the ball back for a serve, they were down by three and were never able to tie the score again.

Summit closed on an 18-14 run, never letting Millburn draw closer than within two. Millburn earned 11 kills in the third game and never trailed by more than five points. But the locals could not string many points together, getting more than two consecutive points just once, when they strung three together to close within two at 17-19.

After Game 1, in which Millburn’s front line controlled the game (14 Miller kills in opening match), it was Summit’s big hitters who ceased control for the final two contests.

Millburn committed three consecutive hitting errors to start the second match, Summit scored nine of its next 12 points on kills or blocks and took a commanding 15-5 lead. After dominating the first game, Millburn managed eight total kills against 11 hitting or service errors in the second game. Summit cruised to a 25-14 Game 2 win, getting 11 kills, while committing just three hitting errors.

It was the blocker’s mistake. The big guy was hitting the ball so hard, but our blocker was jumping in the wrong spot,” Sigalov said. “We missed a lot of our serves, that also hurt. We never missed so many serves this entire season.”

The Hilltoppers, who improved to 9-7 with the win, move on to face Bayonne in the second round of the state tournament.

Millburn was led by Cedric Lamy’s 12 kills, with Eddie Liu finishing with nine. The Millers finished 11-8 overall, with their first winning record in four years and also their first playoff appearance in as much time.

“To compare with last year, we were much better. …I’m very satisfied,” Sigalov said of the season.

It was one of the best seasons in school history, with the team earning its best ever county tournament seed this spring, earning the seven seed. But with much of the team graduating in June, there could be a long road back for Millburn.

“Five of the six starters are seniors so basically we will have all new players next year and we’ll have to start over,” Sigalov said.