Date

Opponent^{^}

Outcome

Records

Our Varsity Team Journal

Our JV Team Journal

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...

 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.