Pictured are members of the East Orange Campus High School boys volleyball team.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange Campus High School boys volleyball is enjoying a great season.
The Jaguars, under head coach Eric Ansah, clinched the Super Essex Conference–Liberty Division championship. This follows the EOCHS girls volleyball team’s SEC divisional championship season last fall, with Ansah also as the girls head coach.
“This season has been so amazing, and I am extremely proud of these guys,” said Ansah of the boys team, in an email to the Record-Transcript. “After finishing the girls season and winning the division, the guys who came to support all the girls’ home games were very excited for their season to begin. After the district provided the girls with a divisional championship hoodie, they were excited to earn their own. Also, they knew that they have some milestones that they had to reach this season, but the challenge was greatly accepted on their end by a show of their hard work for the past three years, since winning the division in 2021.
“I’ve always thought that I’ve had a great opportunity, but fell short. This new group of guys have been playing since their freshman year. They knew the work that needed to be done for us to be successful.”
The season started with a win against Belleville for the first time. They then lost two straight against Payne Tech and Elizabeth. “After playing Payne Tech, I knew that they were going to be the team to beat, but if we were going to win the division, we couldn’t afford to lose any more games, because I wasn’t sure if Payne Tech was going to lose any more games in the division.
“The challenge was highly accepted by the guys, and we went on this amazing run where we didn’t lose any more games, including beating Payne Tech at our house. We still had three more games left in the division to play, but this group of guys, led by Brian Robinson, Mitchell Obeng, Nasio Mathieson, Lerone Adrian Clark, Khalil Giscombe, Zhaiki Coleman, Prince McLeod and Wilson Hercules, were exceptional. We had competition during practice from players like Jevaun Richardson, Obadiah Garraway, Isiah Brown Purdie, KY Marley Mathieson, Rondel Ryan, Engel Vargas and Noah Miller.
“The last challenge was defeating West Essex in a home game to secure the title, “and they were ready to play mentally and physically. with their home fans ready to cheer them on, as they defeated West Essex in two sets. This allowed me to be the first (EOCHS) volleyball coach to have back-to-back divisional titles in the same year. It also allowed my assistant coach, Ricardo Pierrevil, to be the first person to win a divisional title as a player in 2017 and as a coach in 2025.
“We are highly grateful for all our supporters and our fans. Like our mantra goes for the volleyball program, ‘We all we got. We all we need.’ ”
Photos Courtesy of Maria Pablo-Sosa
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