Following last year’s 24-5 record, the Randolph Boys Volleyball team hopes to three-peat as NJAC champions and have a successful year. The team is looking to new and old faces to bring potential and talent to this year’s roster.
“Winning the NJAC Championships for the third year in a row is a goal, as well as making it to state finals, which this program has not yet done,” Head Coach Eric Novack said of the team’s goals for the season. The players are also hoping to gain more popularity as a volleyball team and get Randolph noticed as a top contender in the program.
Returning senior Hunter Kasper plans to use his leadership role to build a winning culture for the team. Last season, Kasper earned 103 kills and 137 serving points along with an All-Conference Honorable Mention.
“[My goal is to] hold players accountable for their effort on and off the court and being effective and intentional with all our practices throughout the season,” Kasper explained.
The team lost a large chunk of talented players to last year’s graduation, including Jonas Covalesky, Joshua Barrett, Chris Lagomarsino and Dan Piatek.
“We have already been preparing by going to the weight room and having the kids play at local clubs when they can,” Novack commented.
Junior captain Kevin Tinio said he plans to prepare for the upcoming season by “going to the court as much as I can and practicing with my teammates to build the chemistry early.”
Returning seniors are Kasper, Marko Aksentijevic and Ramon Fernandez. Junior players are Tinio, Thomas LaDieu and Jayden DeCarvalho.
New to the varsity team are senior Michael Barrera, juniors Daehan Jo, Nicholas Hart and Cole Cantada. Gabriel Sherwood, Ben Barninger and Aeden Perez complete the sophomore roster. Jan Rostek is the only freshman to make the varsity cut.
“It’s all about having certain kids step up and rise to the occasion. I am excited to see who that will be this year,” Novack said.
The captains for this season are Tinio, DeCarvalho and Kasper.
The boys open their season against Morristown High School at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, April 1.
