Anthony gym, Piscataway High School, NJ- The Piscataway Chiefs Men’s Volleyball team took No. 6 Bridgewater-Raritan to three sets on Friday night, 3/31, posting 25-13, 22-25, and 22-25 set scores.
The Chiefs were held to a total of 45 kills and 6 blocks for the night. Chris Wilson led the attack for Piscataway, posting 12 kills, 12 service points, 4 digs, and an assist on a block. Aiyan Patel collected 3.5 blocks, including one solo block late in the third set, while also adding 5 kills. Ben Coombs and Noah Rivera were also contributing to the attack. Coombs had 11 kills and 7 digs, while Rivera had 12 kills and 11 digs. Jhoan Rosario was all over the court on Friday, making 22 digs and 9 service points.
Piscataway dominated the first set putting up nearly double the amount of points as Bridgewater-Raritan. However, a few coaching adjustments from the Panthers and a few too many mistakes from the Chiefs caused Bridgewater-Raritan to win set 2 and 3.
“We took it to them in the first set, which showed our qualities,” Coach Brian Tuskan said. “We had a lot of great opportunities. We kept fighting and digging in the second and third sets, but it just didn’t really necessarily go our way. It’s just those little one or two points each set that was the difference between this match and once we get over that hump and beat one of these really top rated teams, I think you’re gonna see some really good things this season.”
Muaz Hussainy played throughout all 3 sets for the Chiefs and brought in 37 assists, 2 kills, and 6 digs. He and Rosario were both top 8 stat leaders in the GMC division during the 2024 season. They both showed that they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon in this first game.
“Both played really well, it was a situation where I think our team overall played well,” Tuskan said. “We made some uncharacteristic mistakes in key parts of the game and again, Muaz and Jhoan have led the team well.”
If the Chiefs are able to clean up their small mistakes it can be expected that they are going to make it very far this season.
“I think making better setting choices the whole game would’ve been better for us,” Hussainy said. “We can play better – that was our first game of the season and we went three sets with the number six ranked team in the state.”
“We just showed today, against a top ranked team in the state, that we can make a deep run in the state tournament,” Tuskan said. “We have some kids that are really brought in and play all year round. It’s just now the opportunity to take it to that next level. Hopefully when we play our next ranked team, we come away with the win. We were just a couple points short today.”
Piscataway hosts Iselin Kennedy next week, Tuesday, April 8th.
