A lofty set from a teammate placed the ball above junior Veer Agarwal, allowing him to leap above the net and send the ball careening towards the ground in between two Roselle Catholic players. Agarwal and his teammates celebrated, having won the second set, 25-8, and the match, two sets to zero.
The Blue Devils first game of the season was a commanding victory, only allowing Roselle Catholic 14 points throughout the 2 sets. A strong start to the season is what this team needed, as this is a much different team than last years. Many crucial seniors graduated, leaving holes to be filled by both new upperclassmen and underclassmen. “You know, like every first game, you’ve got your jitters,” said senior Aidan Richards. “But after the first couple of points, Sebastian [Lorenzo] got us some nice points, everything kind of goes away and you’re engulfed in the game. Some things to clean up but as the first game goes, it was pretty good.”
This year, the two captains are seniors Lorenzo and Logan Shepherd. Lorenzo has experience on this team, and when asked about his mentality for matches, he said, “I just come into every game and play as hard as I can. Our team’s really young, so I just hope to set a great example for them.”
Unfortunately, Shepherd and another starter for the Blue Devils could not attend the match, but the boys were still able to secure the win over an uncertain Roselle Catholic lineup. Head coach Ed Saggio said, “We executed our gameplan and didn’t play down to the level of our competition today, which was good.” The Blue Devils gave an all around team effort, diving all over the court to secure their win.
Since this was only the first match, things are still changing for the course of the season. Saggio said, “Right now we have a bunch of kids on vacation, including two starters, so we will be changing the lineup once they serve their suspension. Right now we are going to stay on course. We have two tough matches coming up, Monroe on Thursday and the number three team in the state, Scotch Plains on Friday, so we will compete.”
Last year, the Blue Devils lost to Scotch Plains in two sets, but if they continue with the pace they set against Roselle Catholic, they should be in for a competitive match. With the energy that the boys possess on the court, and the sideline, and the roster consisting of 8 seniors, the boys are guaranteed the potential for a successful season.
