After traveling two hours to face Immaculate Heart Academy in the Non-Public Group A final, the Paul VI girls volleyball team returned home with an extra passenger – a shiny new trophy to celebrate the first volleyball state championship in school history.
“We rode the bus home, but we stopped at McDonald’s and we were all cheering in there,” said senior Sadie Arasim, who led the Eagles with seven kills. “They gave us free food. The rest of the ride home, we were so tired … but we talked the whole way. We were just in shock. We couldn’t believe we did it.”
Paul VI was facing an Immaculate Heart Team with a 23-1 record that had won the last 13 state titles in Non-Public A – a state record run that started in 2007. It included a championship win over Paul VI in 2014, which was the only other time the Eagles reached the final stage.
The defending champs won the first set of the best-of-three championship match easily at 25-14. Paul VI regrouped and remembered what they discussed on the bus on the way up the New Jersey Turnpike to William Paterson University in Wayne.
“I think we just realized that we are here to have fun,” Arasim said. “For us, it was just cool that we even made it there. IHA was really the team feeling the pressure because they won so many years in a row. We decided to have fun, let it be and just play our game.”
A more relaxed Eagles squad took the floor for the second set, and things began to click.
“Our kids play on the big-time stage, but being in a championship game is totally different,” Paul VI coach Dan Chung said. “I think we were just trying to get a feel for what [Immaculate Heart] was doing. But even when we traveled this year, Padua [Delaware] was the same scenario. Cardinal O’Hara [Pennsylvania], too,” he said, explaining that Paul VI (26-2 record) played the majority of its season on the road this year as a new gym floor was installed at the school.
“We got down big in the first set, and we settled in. I just knew our kids were going to respond,” he said.
The Eagles responded with a strong second set, 25-18, to force the decisive third frame.
“After that first set, it looked kind of iffy,” Chung admitted. “But I thought, ‘We will be OK. We’ll settle in.’ And once we settled in, it was just two giants going at it.”
The third set spared no dramatics as the teams seesawed back and forth in a tight set. Immaculate Heart swung in front, 23-22, before Paul VI took the last three points to win it all.
The Eagles received a monster effort from Zharia Harris-Waddy, who locked down the middle with four kills and a block. Meggan Bischoff contributed seven digs; Emily Ezeiruaku delivered five kills, a block and five digs, and Lauren Vincenti and Ella Pobre each supplied three digs. Paris Lott chipped in a pair of kills.
Paul VI’s victory represented just the ninth time a school from South Jersey has won a state championship in the North Jersey-dominated sport of volleyball. Williamstown has won five titles, including one this year in Group 4. Cherry Hill East, Eastern and Southern Regional are the others who have won in the past. Paul VI is now on that very short list.
“It’s a really big accomplishment,” Chung said. “It’s something these kids have been working hard for. I’m just glad I was part of it, and I’m glad we made history. I hope that we can continue to have a successful program that can continue to compete at that level.”
Arasim, the lone senior on the team, said she was thrilled to get the job done in her final attempt. She was even happier for her coach.
“He works so hard,” Arasim said. “We are excited we could do it for him and our school. To be the class to get it done was amazing.”
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