Weekend Roundup: Southern Invitational

<p>This past weekend had some high quality volleyball on display and two teams were at the focal point of it, Southern and Washington Township. Southern hosted the Southern Invitational while Washington Township had a weekend full of madness with a match against Williamstown and then being a participant in the Southern Invitational, the following day. </p> <p><em><strong>Southern Invitational</strong></em></p> <p>We all know Southern has had a brutal schedule to say the least but I personally thought it was something they could handle as one of the best programs in the state. They got off to a rocky start to their season but have seemed to steady the ship. Even in their host tournament, they can’t help to go against great competition like in the five team tournament of Southern, Washington Township, Barnegat, Jackson Liberty, and Our Lady of Mercy. </p> <p>Southern clicked on all cylinders as they were solid in pool play to be the top seed and their defeat came to Washington Township. But they knew what was needed in the final in a rematch and they end up winning in straight sets. </p> <p>Southern has now won five in a row and starting to show signs of life, I think I may have gotten on them too soon last week. </p> <p>Impressive Standouts: Jordyn Hamlin (Southern), [player_tooltip player_id="154727" first="Nina" last="Cleary"] (Washington Township), Robbiann Erskine (Barnegat), Steph Ramos (Jackson Liberty) &amp; Madison Palek (Our Lady of Mercy)</p> <p><em><strong>Williamstown Holds off Washington Township</strong></em></p> <p>Washington Township played the night before against Williamstown in a three-set thriller so did fatigue get to them at the tournament. Hard to say, but both squads in this dual left everything on the court. </p> <p>Williamstown survived its stiffest challenge of the year on Friday with a 2-1 road win over No. 15 Washington Township. The Braves won the first set 25-12, dropped the second 25-22 and pulled away in the third 25-20.</p> <p>The match featured two outstanding sophomores, one on each side and both wearing the No. 4. Dajah Williams led Williamstown with 17 kills to go with eight digs, while [player_tooltip player_id="154734" first="Bryn" last="Bautista"] had three kills, nine digs and two aces for Washington Township.</p> <p>These teams can easily each other again in the upcoming weeks so watch out for it because it will be a must-watch. </p>