MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — The Columbia High School girls volleyball program enjoyed success at tournaments on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The JV team won the second annual Payne Tech JV tournament title. Columbia defeated Payne Tech in the final by scores of 25-22, 25-12. Junior outside hitter Caroline Schmidt was named the tournament Most Valuable Player. Last year, the Columbia JV team and freshman team went to this tournament, with the freshman team winning the freshman title and the JV team reaching the JV semifinals.
At the second annual Millburn Varsity Tournament, the Columbia varsity finished runner-up, losing 27-25 to Madison in the final. Going into the playoffs, Columbia earned the third seed after the 10-team single-game round robin group stage. In the group stage, Columbia’s results were as follows (in order):
- lost to West Orange 25-19.
- lost to Linden 25-18,
- lost to Madison 26-24.
- beat Johnson 25-9.
- beat Millburn 25-20.
- lost to Morris Hills 25-18.
- beat Mountain Lakes 25-14.
- beat New Providence 25-20.
- beat Roselle Catholic 25-17.
Playoffs:
- Quarterfinals – beat Morris Hills 25-21.
- Semifinals -– beat West Orange 25-17.
- Final – lost to Madison 27-25.
On Friday, Oct. 7, the varsity defeated West Orange 26-24, 26-24 on West Orange’s senior night, to improve to 11-3 on the season. It was Columbia’s third straight victory. Prior to that, Columbia defeated West Caldwell Tech, 25-17, 25-13, on Monday, Oct. 3, and defeated Cedar Grove, 27-25, 25-16, on Thursday, Oct. 6.
Columbia received the No. 10 seed in the Essex County Tournament. Columbia will host a third preliminary round match on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 4 p.m. against either No. 23 seed Newark East Side or No. 26 seed Newark Collegiate Academy. The winner will visit No. 7 seed Caldwell in the first round on Saturday, Oct. 15. The quarterfinals are on Tuesday, Oct. 18. The semifinals are on Thursday, Oct. 20, at Mount St. Dominic Academy in Caldwell. The final is on Saturday, Oct. 22, at Livingston High School.
Columbia defeated Caldwell on Friday, Sept. 16, at home in a Super Essex Conference crossover match.
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