By Rich Fisher, Contributing Editor
Top photo: The Donovan Catholic girls volleyball team celebrates coach Glenn Jansen’s 400th career victory after defeating Pinelands on Sep. 28. Courtesy photo
It is shaping up as a season like no other for the Donovan Catholic girls volleyball team.
The school from Toms River is 15-3, its best start ever. It gave coach Glenn Jansen his 400th career win last month, it has players littered among the state statistical leaders and, most impressively, upset St. John Vianney, Holmdel, Oct. 13, snapping SJV’s 41-match win streak.
The Lancers are the defending state champion, had not lost even one set this season, and were ranked No. 1 in the state by nj.com. The Griffins were No. 16 and those rankings will likely change when the next Top 20 comes out.
“It was almost immeasurable,” Jansen said of the victory. “I’ve been doing this a long time, we’ve never knocked off the No. 1 team in the state. They’re a great program, a great coaching staff, unbelievable players.
“We’re no slug team. We’re the No. 16 team in the state, but around March (in the NCAA basketball tournament) they call it a Cinderella Story when the No. 16 beats the No. 1. It’s not March Madness, but there’s a little chaos going on at Donovan Catholic.”
The Griffins won the match’s first set, got “punched in the face” in the second but came back to win the third, 25-19.
“After the second game I told them ‘Do you guys want the story to be about us and our resiliency, or do you want to let another golden opportunity slip away?’” Jansen said. “We started the third game on an 8-0 run and went from there.”
The coach felt playing in the Shore Conference’s A South Division, which features five teams ranked in the conference’s Top 10, helped prepare for the SJV match.
“We don’t have Vianney in the division, but we have teams ranked two through six,” he noted. “I knew we were battle tested. We played more sets than other teams because we played five best-of-five matches (as opposed to the usual best-of-three). And we have a core group of seniors who have been together a long time.”
Those seniors include outside hitter Emaleigh Alborn (261 kills, 137 digs, 114 service points), defensive specialist Selina Gengaro (60 digs), setter Brooke George (83 digs, 251 assists, 97 service points), opposite hitter Briella Kiel (30 digs), and opposite Maddy Terzian, who suffered a season-ending injury nine matches into the season. Alborn is fifth in the state in kills.
“Emaleigh and Brooke are captains who have been together the whole time,” Jansen said. “Those seniors set the table. Brooke is the heart of the team. She’ll dive, she’ll give up her body, she’s selfless.
“I’ve never had a player who’s such a good coach in the huddle and in practice like Emaleigh Alborn. She is so good with the underclassmen, talking about blocking, responsibility. I jokingly say she translates for me. She is our all-time leader in career kills and blocks, and she turned herself into a good passer converting from the middle to the outside.”
Junior libero Val Astralaga leads the state in service points (186), is second in digs (389) and ninth in aces (52).
“We are who we are because of the hard work of all of our players, but Emaleigh and Val are volleyball lifers,” Jansen said. “If they’re not playing or training, they’re at the gym. They’re two of the best players in the Shore, in my opinion. They make their teammates better.”
Sophomore Maddy Ayres (224 assists, 117 service points, 97 digs) has been stellar in a two-setter formation with George, while freshman Jamiah Astrel is eighth in the state in blocks (52) to go along with 54 kills.
“We’ve got the immovable object in Jamiah Astrel,” Jansen said. “She was huge at the net against Vianney’s best hitters.”
Other freshmen in the rotation are Kate Farrell (125 kills, 76 digs, 94 service points) and Caitlyn McBride (37 digs).
With four underclassmen, Jansen feels youth is bliss.
“They don’t realize the gravity of the situation,” he said. “They don’t know how to be scared against a team like Vianney.”
Other highlights this year were rallying for three straight wins to top state power Southern; the team’s current six-game winning streak after losing to Jackson Township; a record-setting fund-raising effort for breast cancer awareness; and Jansen’s 400th win, which came against Pinelands Sep. 28.
“The way the girls celebrated made me speechless, which says a lot for me,” the coach said. “Everything you can ask for, these girls and their families have responded. There’s been a lot of amazing moments. We’ve had a lot of records rewritten.”
After an Oct. 16 match at Marlboro, Donovan will attempt to win the first Shore Conference Tournament title in program history. The Griffins should be seeded either second or third.
“We’re going to have to beat teams we’ve already beaten if we want to do something we’ve never done before,” Jansen said. “We have a resilient team that doesn’t hit the panic button when things go wrong.
“Our theme this year is ‘Choose Each Other.’ Whether it’s hard, whether it’s easy, every play every day, if they keep showing up for each other, we’re gonna be OK.”