May 27, Fair Lawn - The Lions' historic
`04 season came to an end here after a 5-game marathon against the Cutters
of Fair Lawn that ended up being one of the state's most exciting matches
of the year. FL's quick attack led to Cutter wins in games 1 and 2
before the West defense adjusted to take games 3 and 4. With
the 5th game tied at 10-10, costly errors by the Lions carried FL to the
match win. Adding up the total points from all 5 games produced a
match point score of 109-107 in favor of FL which tells the story of how
tightly contested the match was.
Why was the 2004 season
historic? Here's the extensive list:
► 21 wins, the most ever by a Lion team
► First ever Olympic American Championship in team history
► First S.J. team to sweep 3-time state champ. C.H. East in
one season
► 4th team in Lion history to advance to state tourney's
"Elite 8" and end of season state rank of #6
► Named "The Inquirer's" Team of the Year
► Placed 4 team members on All-South Jersey teams, 5 team members
on All-Olympic Conference teams and had its first South Jersey
Player of the Year (OH Matt Parisi) according to the "Courier-Post" and
"The Philadelphia Inquirer"
Well done, guys. You have a lot to be proud of.
May 25, Cherry Hill West - With the help
of detailed scouting reports from the East side of town, the Lions
controlled their "Sweet 16" match against the Bees from Bayonne from start
to finish and scored a 3-0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-16) win. West limited
Bayonne's hard hitting OH and setter, Josh Coffing, to 5 kills and also
effectively served and hit the ball away from him to score in spurts.
Matt Parisi (14 kills, 9 digs) and Mike Farreny (8 kills, 7
digs) continued to make smart decisions on the outside sets of Rob
Kuoch (31 assists) and the Lion middles came through with 3 blocks by
Rahul Desai and 7 crucial aces by Liam Howley, a new team
record for aces in one match. A healthier Eric Yoon added 4
kills and 10 digs from the right side.
#2 seed Fair Lawn's 3-2 victory over #15 WWPS sets up a
Thursday trip to Exit 18 on the NJ Turnpike for the Lions. The last
time West was a #7 seed was in `97 when they made the same trip to #2 F.L.
in the quarterfinals. The Lions came away with the win and the
team's first and only visit to the tourney's "Final 4".
May 20, Cherry Hill West - Despite an
impressive defensive effort by the 2nd year squad from South Brunswick,
the Lions advanced to the "Sweet 16" round of the state tourney with a 3-0
(25-17, 25-17, 25-21) win over the Vikings on the strength of a smart,
controlled attack and consistent passing. Matt Parisi (15
kills) and Liam Howley (12 kills) led the attack. Mike
Farreny added a match high 21 digs while Rob Kuoch did another
impressive setting job, tallying 41 assists.
An upset win by hard-hitting Josh Coffing and the #23
seed Fighting Bees of Bayonne over the #10 Cougars of Cherry Hill East
brings the Bees to West on Tuesday, May 25th for the round of 16 match.
May 17, Collingswood - In a great state tourney warm-up, the Lions
went down Cuthbert Blvd. to face the nearby remaining Olympic Conference
title-winner, the National Division champion Panthers of Collingswood.
Although the Colls had scoring runs based on the hard work of their top
passer and attacker at times, the Lion attack steadily found more and more
ways around blocks to open spaces on the floor to result in a 3-0 win.
Mike Farreny and Matt Parisi led the attack with 13 and 10
kills respectively. The win made the 2004 Lion campaign the
winningest season in school history with 19 wins, topping the 18 victory
mark set by the 1997 team.
May 13, Cherry Hill West - After a brief ceremony introducing each
team's senior members that would be playing in their final, regular season
match at C.H. West, a hard-fought 5-game match (war?) broke out, something
that has become a tradition between West and Township teams in recent
years. After each team passed and attacked either very well or very
poorly in the first 4 games to bring about the tie-breaking 5th, effective
serving to the seams by middle Liam Howley (7 points) and setter
Rob Kuoch (2 points) led to an insurmountable 9-1 lead for the Lions
that they carried to a clinching 15-8 win. Matt Parisi (24
kills) and Mike Farreny (15 kills) led a relentless attack that got
smarter as the match wore on. Rahul Desai added 7 kills and 5
blocks at crucial times during the winning games and Eric Yoon led
the defense with 26 digs Senior setter Rob Kuoch set a
personal record with 46 assists with a tremendously accurate effort during
the match.
With the win, the Lions became the first
boys' volleyball team in school history to win a division title. The
next day, the team was informed that they would enter the NJSIAA State
Tourney as the #7 seed among the 33 teams that qualified, setting them up
with a first round match against the tough, underrated #26 seed, the
Vikings of South Brunswick.
May 12, Pennsauken - The Lions put themselves one win away from
clinching their first-ever American Division championship with a
business-like 3-0 effort against the Indians of Pennsauken. Senior
right side Eric Yoon's 4 kills and 13 digs along with junior middle
Rahul Desai's 5 kills sparked the win, each playing in just two
games to earn those numbers.
Next up, the long-awaited rematch against Township for
all the marbles in the division race.
May 11, Williamstown - A trip to visit the Braves of Williamstown
resulted in a valuable 3-1 win on NJ State Tourney qualification cut-off
day. The recently-crowned Patriot Division Champion Braves hung
tough in each game through their effective middle attack and solid defense
but the potent outside attack and more consistent passing of the Lions
turned the tide. Junior OH Matt Parisi (19 kills) and middle
Liam Howley (14 kills) led the attack while Liam (32 digs, personal
best), Matt (19 digs) and Mike Farreny (15 digs) combined to keep
the floor clean. Senior Steve Young filled in on the right
side admirably and added 11 digs.
May 10, Cherry Hill West - A desperate Hunterdon Central squad
came to West needing 2 victories in 2 days in order to qualify for the
state tournament and despite an emotional start that forced many Lion
errors and an exciting first game, the home team slowly took control by
minimizing those errors for a 3-0 win. Senior OH Mike Farreny
led the way with 11 kills and very few hitting errors while junior middle
Liam Howley added 8 kills and 12 digs.
May 8, Manahawkin - A long day of
volleyball that ran from 9am to 7pm at the Southern Invitational paid big
dividends for the Lions. At day's end, West had posted a 6-0 pool
play record, a come-from-behind, 30-25 win over Eastern in the semifinals
and a hard-fought, exciting 28-30 loss to the hosting Rams in the final.
Junior outside Matt Parisi and senior setter Rob Kuoch were
selected by the participating teams' coaches to the All-Tournament team.
For complete results from the tourney, go
HERE.
May 7, Cherry Hill West - A vastly improved, 2nd year Quaker squad
from Moorestown visited West and put up a good fight before the Lions
posted a 3-0 (25-11, 25-21, 25-21) win. Liam Howley led the
way with 10 kills and 9 digs while Mike Farreny once again had the
top dig total with 12. After the match, both teams went to Coach
Sweeten's classroom to watch a tape of the previous evening's NCAA men's
volleyball semifinal between Long Beach St. and Penn State.
May 6, Cherry Hill West - The first-year,
scrappy Pioneers of Clearview, Coach Sweeten's alma mater, visited West
today and the Lions came away with a 3-0 win. Senior right side
Eric Yoon, who played on the left side for most of the match, led the
way with 5 kills and 14 digs. Seniors Steve Young and Ryan
McClure each added 2 kills and 12 and 7 digs respectively.
May 5, Cherry Hill East - In a match pitting the #6 and #7 ranked
teams in NJ against each other, the Lions accomplished a first and took a
major step toward another with a hard-fought 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 16-25,
25-23) win over the rival Cougars from the other side of town today.
They became the first team in South Jersey volleyball history to win two
matches in the same season against East and they also put themselves in a great
position in their quest for West's first-ever division championship by
raising their Olympic American record to 5-1. Sound attacking and
defense in games 1 and 2 gave way to tentative play in the 3rd game and
the start of the 4th when the Lions quickly found themselves down by a 7-1
score, facing a possible 5th game. Gradually, solid play returned as
the game progressed and despite the continued effective attack of East outside
Dan Hamill, the Lions closed out the game, 25-23.
The usual Lions, Matt Parisi (15 kills, 13
digs), Mike Farreny (11 kills, 14 digs) and Liam Howley (14
kills, 3 blocks, 11 digs), led the way on both the attack and with their
defensive effort. Junior middle Rahul Desai again contributed
4 blocks at important times and Rob Kuoch's leadership from the
setting position continued as he tallied 39 assists.
May 3, Princeton Junction - After a one
hour trip north up Route 295, it took the Lions another two hours on the
court before coming out on top over the hard-working, defensive Pirates of
WWPS in a 5-game thriller (25-21, 25-12, 25-27, 24-26, 15-10). After
the teams traded serving, defensive and attacking errors in games
1-4 to create the 2-2 tie, the Lions re-established their passing and
attack in game 5 to pull out the win. Setter Rob Kuoch's
balanced distribution to not only outside Matt Parisi (20 kills)
but also to middle Liam Howley (11 kills), outside Mike Farreny
(10 kills) and right side Eric Yoon (8 kills) kept the Pirates'
blocking and defensive scheme honest and off-guard. Mike had his
jumper "goin' on" to the tune of 4 aces while senior middle Rahul Desai
added 4 crucial blocks of WWPS's hard-hitting left side attack.
Senior defensive specialist Steve Young also chipped in 11 digs.
April 29, Cherry Hill West - The Lions dispatched the National division
contending Silver Knights of Sterling in a business-like manner by a score
of 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-23) this afternoon. Liam Howley
contributed a solid, all-around effort with 9 kills and 12 digs as the
team fine-tuned its game for the final two weeks of the season, a stretch
that would include 8 crucial matches (3 against NJ top 15 teams) and the
Southern Tourney.
April 28, Voorhees - An effective attack and pinpoint passing
early in game 1 helped the Lions jump to an early lead against the Vikings
of Eastern and the momentum of that quick start carried the team to a
decisive and important 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-19) division win in this
highly-touted rematch. Junior Matt Parisi led the attack with
22 smartly-placed kills on senior Rob Kuoch's 37 assists while
senior Mike Farreny's standout passing (15 good passes) and
defensive effort (18 digs) kept the floor clean. Junior Liam
Howley added 3 blocks.
April 26, Cherry Hill West - The Lions scored a 3-0 (25-17,
25-11, 25-18) win over a well-coached but inexperienced Pennsauken squad
this afternoon. Matt Parisi and Mike Farreny (13 and 12 kills
respectively) led an attack that was very evenly distributed by senior
setter Rob Kuoch (33 assists). After the match, the Indians and
Lions together watched a video on the Stanford women's volleyball, a team
that knows how to get it done, in Coach Sweeten's classroom.
The win moves the Lions into sole possession of first place
in the American division heading into Wednesday's away rematch with a
hungry, revenge-minded Eastern team that defeated first place Washington
Twp. the same day.
April 20, Cherry Hill West - The Lions posted a convincing 3-0
win over the Camden Panthers this afternoon. Points came from senior
outsides Eric Yoon (8 kills) and Steve Young (5 kills, 6
aces) on the attack along with senior right side Ryan McClure's (6
aces, 13 service points) effective serving.
April 19, Cherry Hill West - The Lions got back on track with
a crucial 4-game win (17-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-10) over sister school,
super-rival Cherry Hill East, in front of another energized evening crowd in
the Jones Gym. After a game plagued by Lion passing and hitting
errors, the team gradually made the switch to a more aggressive defense
and blocking scheme that in turn fueled a smarter, more effective attack. Junior outside
Matt Parisi led the way with 17 kills and 18 digs while senior
outside Mike Farreny provided his usual stable, serve-reception
effort with 19 perfect passes. Click
HERE to read the "C-P"
article on the match.
April 14, Turnersville - A tall, smart, athletic Township
team brought the lingering high from the night before to an abrupt end as
a sluggish Lion team lost in 3 games (19-25, 23-25, 27-29) to the
Minutemen. Inconsistent passing, hard swings into well-positioned
Township blocks and hitting errors coupled with a smart attack and sound
defense from the Minutemen led to the team's defeat. Defensive
leadership came for the Lions from senior right side Eric Yoon (4
blocks, 12 digs) and from junior middle Liam Howley (3 blocks, 13
digs).
April 13, Cherry Hill West - A tough Olympic American stretch
of the schedule began with a bang for the varsity Lions as they tallied a
3-1 (25-12, 25-12, 24-26, 25-18) victory over an always tough Eastern
squad before an evening crowd of nearly 200 in the Jones Gym.
Adrenalin fueled West through the first two games before a gradual switch
to smarter decisions on the attack and on defense carried the Lions to a
game four win. The usual suspects, Matt Parisi, Liam Howley
and Mike Farreny led the offense with 20, 12 and 11 kills
respectively with Matt and Eric Yoon both posting 18 digs to lead
the defensive effort. Rob Kuoch found a setting rhythm that
carried him to 41 assists. For more on the match, click
HERE to see
the "C-P" article on it and
HERE to see photos from the match.
April 10, Manahawkin - The varsity Lions
took Routes 70 and 72 across the state the day before Easter to take part
in a tri-match with the hosting Rams of Southern Regional, the #5 team in
the Gannett News Service NJ Boys' VB Top 10, and the Braves of
Williamstown. In their first match after shaking the bus out of
their legs, the Lions rode consistent passing, defense and attacks to a
3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-13) win over a Williamstown team that was 6-1 coming
into the day. Senior Eric Yoon led the defensive effort in
the match with 13 digs and junior Matt Parisi tallied a season high
18 kills.
The Lions' second match of the day proved to be an
exciting one. After nearly flawless play led to a 25-18 game one
win, passing errors and Southern's increasingly effective attack led to
25-19 and 25-15 Ram wins. Game four went back and forth until pesky old passing and hitting errors allowed Southern to move out to a 22-18
lead. The Lions closed the gap to 24-23 before the Rams closed the
match out with a kill.
Although the team was disappointed with the match
result, the following valuable lessons can be learned as the team heads
into the American Division stretch of its schedule:
► A 78% passing success rate won't do against very good teams.
► Emotional and nervous volleyball results in passing, hitting and service
errors at very costly times. April 7, Cherry Hill
West - The regular season resumed for
West mid-spring break week with a clash against the defending National
division champion Pennsauken Tech
Tornadoes. Although Tech was tough defensively as always, the Lions
gradually exploited their size advantage as the match wore on to record a
3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-10) win. Outsides Matt Parisi and
senior Mike Farreny tallied 14 and 7 kills respectively with
Liam Howley also effective out of the middle with 11. Senior
setter Rob Kuoch accumulated 30 assists in the effort. Liam
and Matt also led the way defensively with 12 and 11 digs each.
April 3, Voorhees - The annual Eastern Viking
Invitational proved to be as competitive as always, featuring several of
the teams in the initial NJ top 10 rankings. The Lions
went 6-2 in pool play which included defeats of St. Peter's Prep,
Hackensack and intense 15-13, 15-13 wins against rival C.H. East. Costly mistakes led to their elimination in
a one game quarterfinal against Eastern by a score of 20-25. For complete results, go
HERE.
April 1, Cherry Hill West - The Lions finally got a real one under
their belts with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-15, 25-13) victory over the 2nd year squad
from St. Augustine Prep. Junior Matt Parisi led the attack with 17
kills along with 6 from junior Liam Howley and 4 each for seniors Eric Yoon
and Steve Young. Liam also contributed 13 digs and 4 aces to
the effort. Senior Rob Kuoch and junior Andrew Nop shared the setting
duties with each chipping in 18 and 16 assists respectively.
Coach Sweeten |
May 7, Cherry Hill West - West met Moorestown for the first
time this year. Eddie Hernandez played outside for the first
time and led the team with 5 good passes. Matt Shanker had 4
assists with Pat Carey leading the team with 2 kills. Tim
Pao had 4 digs and Bobby Malaczewski played his first game at
middle and led the team with 4 aces. Next up, Hunterdon Central.
May 6, Cherry Hill West - Coming off a big win over Cherry
Hill East the day before, West appeared set for a letdown. After an
early 8-1 deficit, West rallied to beat Clearview 25-19, 25-12. Once the
team overcame their errors, they played solid defense and made fewer
mistakes to win the match. Next up, Moorestown.
May 5, Cherry Hill East - East beat West in the JV tournament
2 times so West was looking forward to the rematch. They knew it was
going to be a close, hard-fought match and the Lions ended up winning the
match in 2 close games, 26-24, 25-22. Chan Chih-Wei played very well
in the back row, getting 11 digs while Andrew Lincoln and Eddie
Hernandez led the team with 7 and 5 kills respectively. Andrew
Nop added 18 assists. The team played very well defensively and
made fewer errors which led to the victory. The freshmen team came out
and won their best out of 3 match 15-10, 15-6, completing the first ever,
"all level" West sweep over East.
May 3, Princeton Junction - After starting off the first game losing
12-7 to the Pirates of West Windsor-Plainsboro South, West turned the game
around and won the first game 25-23. The 2nd game was filled with
mistakes which enabled WWPS to win, 25-17. The 3rd game was a very
close game. After calling a time out down 13-12, the team had
confidence that they would win. Playing well defensively and smart
with their hitting, West came back and won the game, 15-13.
May 1, Williamstown - West entered 2 teams into the annual
Williamstown JV Tournament.
Team A started the day with 2 very close losses to cross-town rival Cherry
Hill East. They then lost the first game to Christian Brothers
Academy. To their credit, they realized they were a better team and
finished pool play with a win against Christian Brothers and then 2 against
Southern B. This placed them 7th for the playoffs. They were
matched up against a tough Collingswood team in the quarterfinals and they
started out by letting the Panthers get out to a 15-9 lead. After a
time out, they decided that they did not want to lose and came back to win
21-19. The semifinals matched the Lions against our rival, Eastern.
Both teams played well but in the end, Eastern won 25-21 to advance to
the final game. Andrew Nop set well, while Eddie Hernandez
and Andrew Lincoln played well in the middle. Tim Pao and
Money Hua played well outside and Eric Czerwinski hit opposite
with Chan Chih-Wei playing well in the backrow.
Team B started the opposite way, winning 2
games against Eastern. They then lost 2 games to Washington Twp. and
Southern A. These results unfortunately placed them 9th overall, just
missing the playoffs. Matt Shanker led the team setting while
Pat Carey and John Suender hit outside. Alfonso Larrinago
played very well for his first time as the opposite hitter. Jon
Santiago, Michael Metzger, and Tim Sheehan shared the
middle duties while Anthony Viola played exceptionally well in the
back row.
April 29, Cherry Hill West - West looked to make up for the loss to
Eastern and did by beating Sterling 25-19, 25-19. The team controlled both
games. Matt Shanker led the team with 6 assists while Money
Hua led the team with 3 kills.
April 28, Voorhees - West came in fired up and looking for revenge
against the Vikings of Eastern. They won the first game 25-17 and then
hit a couple of bad passing and hitting streaks in the 2nd game and dropped
it 16-25. They started behind in game 3 with some early errors and
could never recover, losing 10-15. Tim Pao led the team with 6
kills while Eric Czerwinski led the team with 14 digs.
Andrew Nop had 15 assists and Bobby Malaczewski had 18 good
passes. The freshmen came out with Anthony Viola setting for
the first time ever and won their best out of 3 match in two games, 15-12
and 15-11. Pat Carey and John Suender led the attack for
the frosh.
April 26, Cherry Hill West - The JV squad brought its 3-game losing
streak to an end by beating Pennsauken in 2 games, 25-21, 25-16. They
played well, keeping mistakes to a minimum. The next big match is a
rematch against Eastern.
April 20, Cherry Hill West - Facing their 3rd division rival in a
row in the Cougars of Cherry Hill East, West came out playing well and took
the first game 25-20. They lost the 2nd game 18-25, and came up a
little short in the 3rd game 11-15. West continued to learn that mistakes
such as hitting and service errors will always prevent them from winning
matches.
April 14, Turnersville - Once again, West had a tough match, this
time against Washington Twp. They won the first game 25-23, lost the
2nd 14-25, and lost a close third game 13-15. Again, Money Hua led
the team in digs with 10 while Andrew Lincoln led the team with 5
kills. Andrew Nop had 13 assists and Tim Pao led the
team with 19 good passes. The team fought hard, but went down early in
the 3rd game and could not recover.
April 13, Cherry Hill - West fought hard but eventually lost in 2
games 22-25, 24-26 to Eastern. Andrew Lincoln led the team with 5
kills, while Money Hua led the team with 13 digs. Andrew Nop
led the team with 16 assists. The team learned a valuable lesson that
no lead is safe by giving up a 19-10 lead in the 2nd game. In a
freshmen game, the freshmen team won 15-12, 15-10. They played well
defensively and made fewer mistakes to get the win.
April 7, Cherry Hill - The Lions continued their season
with a 25-7, 25-17 win over Penn Tech. Andrew Lincoln and Tim Pao
led the team with 4 kills each. Bobby Malaczewski led the team with
an amazing 13 aces while Pat Carey played well defensively with a
team high 6 digs. Andrew Nop and Matt Shanker split setting
duties and each had 5 assists. The team will have to get up for their big
matches next week against Eastern and Washington Twp.
April 1,
Cherry Hill - The Lions started their season off with a great team
win. They defeated St. Augustine 25-10, 25-14. The team only had
2 bad passes the entire match. Tim Pao led the team with 4 kills, 5 aces,
and 6 digs. Eddie Hernandez had 3 kills in one game of work.
Matt Shanker led the team with 13 assists and 5 aces. Tim Sheehan
and Mike Metzger each had their first blocks of the season. The team
hopes to continue to play well against Penn Tech at home on April 7th.
Coach Szurek Speaking of Coach
Szurek, let's go back in time when
he had less hair...
![](../images/lionvb/1997_team.JPG)
The `97 "Final 4" Lions: Kneeling - John D'Amelio and
Sean Armour; Standing - Ray Mendoza, Kevin Jones, Jason Portnoy and
Steve Szurek
...and Coach Sweeten had hair.
![](../images/lionvb/1997_team_with_coach.JPG) |