East Orange Campus HS boys volleyball head coach Eric Ansah gains 100th career victory

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EAST ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange Campus High School boys volleyball team, seeded seventh, defeated No. 10 seed Nutley, 25-7, 25-10, in the first round of the Essex County Tournament on Friday, April 25, giving Jaguars head coach Eric Ansah his 100th career victory.

In an email to the Record-Transcript, Ansah wrote, “My journey began after my high school boys volleyball coach, James Williams, gave me the opportunity to be an assistant coach after graduating from high school. It was a great opportunity to learn, and then in 2013 when he left, Ms. Thlema Ramsey (the vice principal at Campus High School in charge of athletics) gave me the opportunity to be the head coach for the girls and boys volleyball team. Just like anyone trying to build a new program, I had a rocky start, but I had great assistance coaches (John Allocca, Chidi Iromuanya, Claudel Fontus and Ricardo Pierrevil) that helped me through this journey.”

It didn’t take long for Ansah to achieve success.

“Within the span of three short years in 2016, we hung up our first divisional title for the girls volleyball team by winning the division in an undefeated manner,” he said. “This was the first divisional title for girls volleyball in East Orange history. In 2023, after numerous successful seasons and having collegiate players, I reached the milestone of 100 wins with the girls volleyball team, becoming the first volleyball coach in East Orange history and the second coach to have 100 wins for East Orange Campus, behind (former girls basketball head coach) Derrick Johnson.

“In 2017, the boys’ volleyball team also won their first division championship in an undefeated manner, also making this an historic moment for East Orange boys volleyball. The boys volleyball program also went on to win another divisional title in 2021.”

Ansah thanks many people for achieving 100 wins for both the boys and girls programs.

“Being the first coach to win 100 games in two sports as the head coach in East Orange history, I am extremely proud of this accomplishment and I know that I invested the time and energy needed to reach this milestone. I would not have done it without the help of our small, but loyal supporters, the players that have come through the program and my family that allows me to have the time to invest in the program.

“As the product of the East Orange athletic program (soccer, track and volleyball), my goal has always been to bring the culture of volleyball to East Orange and to have student-athletes believe that they can use volleyball as a tool to achieve free college education. The culture of East Orange volleyball is growing, and with every year that passes, we are getting more and more students to play and find their confidence through volleyball. We hope to build a feeder program and also to have a freshman coach, so we can create a freshmen team.”

The Jaguars, who improved to a 10-3 record on the season with the ECT win, were scheduled to visit No. 2 seed West Caldwell Tech in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, April 29, after press time.

If the Jaguars won, they will face the winner of No. 3 seed Livignston and No. 6 seed Belleville in the semifinals on Friday, May 2, hosted by West Essex in North Caldwell.

The following is a list of Ansah’s team accomplishments: