Never forget where you came from.
After all, four years of high school fly quicker than a volleyball spike delivered on a set to an opposite hitter: a role that Bridgewater-Raritan High School head coach Corey Romanak once held as a star player at Saint Joseph High School in Metuchen.
A school that bears special meaning to the Panthers’ skipper and his family.
Before Romanak launched his Hall-Of-Fame coaching career, the life lessons he was first exposed to on and off the volleyball court as a student at St. Joe’s (Metuchen) 35 years ago were instrumental in setting him up for his future endeavors.
Today, he continues to pass these lessons down to subsequent generations in his current positions as both an English teacher and volleyball coach at Bridgewater-Raritan High School. For him, it may have only felt like it was yesterday that he played on the same court as students from St. Joe’s, Bergenfield High School, Chatham High School, and Bridgewater-Raritan stepped onto on Wednesday, April 1.
Back in 1991, Romanak launched his high school career with four years of volleyball at St. Joe’s in Metuchen, where he capped off this stretch with an All-State First Team honor and the school record for kills in his senior year. Although Romanak’s school record has continued to be broken, notably under the guidance of his high school teammate, fellow Hall-Of-Famer, and current Falcons head coach Miguel Cabrita, one thing has remained intact amongst the competitive but tight-knit volleyball community in New Jersey.
A brotherhood that will never be broken.
This was especially evident on Wednesday evening, when St. Joe’s held an exciting quad match featuring the Falcons, Bergenfield Bears, Chatham Cougars, and Bridgewater-Raritan Panthers. Four teams representing Middlesex, Bergen, Morris, and Somerset Counties, respectively, began a busy April with three matches against each other to prepare them for the long haul of the 2026 season.
Outside of the scorebook, this time, Corey Romanak wasn’t the only one in his household on the Falcons’ volleyball court – even though he was giving his team instructions from the sidelines.
For the first time ever on Wednesday evening, his son, Ethan, played on the campus his dad starred at over three decades ago.
“There is just a certain tradition here that I value and admire, and Coach Cabrita has been continuing it for so many years with such great success,” Romanak said on Wednesday evening on the court of his Alma Mater, where he played at for all four years of high school before continuing his volleyball career as a player at Springfield College. “For me to come back here and be in the halls of St. Joe’s, have my son playing volleyball with me, and the rest of our boys playing volleyball with me is just a magical thing.”
“I love coming here every single time, and it never loses its luster.”
Inside of the scorebook, for this reason, expectations were high.
In what was arguably New Jersey’s marquee showdown of the evening, 12th-ranked Bridgewater-Raritan and fourth-ranked St. Joe’s (Metuchen) lived up to the hype in a matchup pinning former high school teammates in Romanak and Cabrita against each other.
As part of a successful evening when Bridgewater-Raritan and St. Joe’s (Metuchen) both improved to 3-1 on their young seasons, the Panthers produced five straight points with set one tied at 20-all to take the driver’s seat to open their showdown with the Falcons. Trailing by one game, three-time reigning Group 2 state champion St. Joe’s Metuchen broke deadlocks of eight-all and 14-all to the tune of a late six-point lead in game two, but Bridgewater-Raritan threatened to steal the match after rallying to within two points in the closing plays of game two.
The Falcons ultimately held off the Panthers to force the decisive third game, which St. Joe’s never trailed in to close out a 2-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-14) victory.
“This one was good, especially because our guys sometimes have a tough time battling back from a loss,” said Cabrita after the day’s final match, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame two years ago and ended his day with 571 victories as the Falcons’ head coach going back to 2005. “We watched a little bit of a cleaner set two and made some adjustments after making so many mistakes in set one, and we rode that momentum into set three. It could always go either way, but they kept strong on that.”
“It was exciting to watch, and I am proud of our guys for stepping up to the occasion.”
Bridgewater-Raritan (3-1, 0-0) will open up Skyland Conference Delaware Division play against Ridge High School (3-0, 0-0) in its home opener at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium in Bridgewater. St. Joe’s (4-1, 1-1), which cruised to a 2-0 (25-15, 25-13) victory against East Brunswick Thursday evening, will travel to division rival South Brunswick High School (0-2, 0-2) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in Monmouth Junction.
With South Brunswick serving as the site of both the Group 2 and Group 4 state finals on June 10, perhaps this may not be the only scheduled trip to this campus of the season for St. Joe’s (Metuchen) given the display it produced in its quad match.
A location, Bridgewater-Raritan, also has its sights set on just under two years since its last trip there.
As part of an evening with nearly four hours of volleyball spread across two courts, St. Joe’s (Metuchen) also defeated Bergenfield, 2-0 (25-12, 25-19), and Chatham, 2-0 (25-18, 25-20). It capped off a sweep of the day in between via its three-set thriller against Bridgewater-Raritan, which hopes to be both a Skyland Cup and Group 4 state championship contender again in 2026 despite loaded fields amongst both of these postseason events.
The only other match that went to three sets was the contest pinning Chatham and Bergenfield, which rallied from a 10-point loss in game one two to defeat the Cougars in three sets, 2-1 (15-25, 25-23, 25-23).
Bridgewater-Raritan’s only match loss on Wednesday evening was therefore a very respectable result against St. Joe’s (Metuchen), as the Panthers swept both Chatham, 2-0 (25-18, 25-20) and Bergenfield, 2-0 (25-18, 25-18) to end the day with a 3-1 record.
“We came into the game knowing that Bridgewater-Raritan had a three-set loss to [fifth-ranked Monroe Township High School last year], and we recently just lost to them, but we did not let that stop us,” said afterwards by St. Joe’s (Metuchen) sophomore setter Saizo Takenaga, whose team was defeated by Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Red Division rival Monroe, 2-0 (25-14, 25-17) in the Falcons’ season opener just under 24 hours before their quad match. “Even after we lost the first set, we came out strong in the second set and ended up taking the win, so bouncing back from yesterday was a really cool moment for us.”
“It’s really great going 3-0 in our first quad, because it creates a nice tone for us in later games.”
Most importantly, Bridgewater-Raritan and St. Joe’s (Metuchen) not only met again under the direction of former high school teammates and lifelong friends.
This time, it was Ethan Romanak’s turn to play at his dad’s Alma Mater.
“Playing here was honestly pretty cool, and I’m pretty sure a word my dad likes to use is ‘stoicism’,” said afterwards by Ethan Romanak, who is a junior at Bridgewater-Raritan and is now in his second season as the Panthers’ starting libero.
“That’s his mantra and how I feel I’ve positively grown under him.”
A mantra that involves controlling what you can control, which Ethan Romanak and his dad’s program continues to do on an annual basis.
Even despite the obstacles they may face along the way.
While his role does not involve directly scoring points, Ethan Romanak’s primary objective of preventing the other team from scoring by keeping the ball from hitting the floor is equally important. That is also a key statistic in volleyball known as a ‘dig’, and in his varsity debut season last year as a sophomore, he tallied 361 digs to break Bridgewater-Raritan’s previous single-season digs record (340) set in 2012 by Drew Ungerleider.
Just four matches into the Panthers’ season, Ethan Romanak already has 53 total digs after combining for two aces, one kill, three assists, and 45 digs across Wednesday evening’s three matches.
As digs lead to assists while assists lead to points (via kills, blocks, or aces), by the transitive property, digs lead to points. Not only is this something that Corey Romanak’s brother: Nick, likely appreciates as a math teacher at St. Joe’s (Metuchen), a 1998 alumnus of this same school, and someone who has also coached against his brother in Corey Romanak.
It contributes to a total team effort on the volleyball court: something that all coaches can appreciate.
“It wasn’t in this gym years ago, but in our original gym, we played together and were [beach volleyball] partners together,” continued Cabrita, who has amassed five of his school’s six state championships as the Falcons’ head coach (2006, 2008, 2023-25), including the last three Group 2 titles since the NJSIAA began crowning champions in four groups in 2023. “We went off to different places for college and beyond and have been in the same coaching circles. Now, I am seeing Corey’s son come on to the court, and I am coaching against both of them. Corey’s brother: Nick, is a teacher at our school and is another volleyball guy involved in our program, so it’s kind of neat to see it all come full circle. It’s always fun and is always great competition, and we always have mutual respect for one another. One good thing about Corey is that he always produces great programs and is an excellent coach – both girls’ and boys’ sides.”
“I expect that for many years to come.”
Even when leading their separate powerhouse programs, it usually is not very long in between when their paths inevitably converge.
Cabrita graduated from St. Joe’s (Metuchen) in 1991, went on to play at Rutgers University, and became head coach at his Alma Mater in 2005 after serving as the Falcons’ assistant coach from 1994-2004.
Poetically, Cabrita’s first state championship as head coach of St. Joe’s (Metuchen) came in 2-1 fashion against Corey Romanak’s Bridgewater-Raritan squad in the 2006 state finals.
“Our school creates a nice brotherhood,” further explained of this connection by Takenaga: the lone sophomore or freshman on the Falcons’ squad, after he collected 16 kills, five blocks, three aces, 14 digs, and 53 assists across his three matches for St. Joe’s (Metuchen) – ironically with the No. 9 on his jersey that Corey Romanak once wore as a player. “[Nick] Romanak is a math teacher here, but I saw him in the stands supporting both sides, and seeing both families come together to take a group photo at the end was a great moment.”
“It is a community that this school builds, and we bring back people after years and years who continue to love this game, play it, and coach it.”
Like Cabrita has done at St. Joe’s (Metuchen), Romanak has also built a championship program at Bridgewater-Raritan, including on the girls’ side.
Before handing the keys to Bridgewater-Raritan’s girls’ team after the 2022 season to longtime assistant Josh Everett: a state champion player and coach for the Panthers, Romanak led the Panthers to three girls’ state titles (2003-04, 2009) and the 2004 Tournament of Champions crown.
As boys’ head coach at Bridgewater-Raritan, Corey Romanak has won the most recent two of the Panthers’ seven state titles (1989-91, 1993-94, 2005, 2015). While the Panthers came up just short of the mountaintop in 2023-24 after losing in the state finals to fellow powerhouses Southern Regional High School and Old Bridge High School, that impressive two year run also consisted of back-to-back titles in both the Skyland Cup and North, Group 4 state sectional playoffs to go with a combined record of 43-12.
Heading into last year, while the NJSIAA threw the Panthers a curveball out of their control, Bridgewater-Raritan has embraced its new challenge.
The Panthers were moved to the South, Group 4 section, which now consists of top-ranked Old Bridge, third-ranked Southern, fifth-ranked Monroe, sixth-ranked and reigning Skyland Cup champion Hillsborough High School, 12th ranked Bridgewater-Raritan, 16th ranked Kingsway Regional High School, 17th ranked J.P. Stevens High School, and 19th ranked Hunterdon Central Regional High School alone to start the 2026 season.
In other words, with eight of New Jersey’s top-20 teams in this state tournament section, this could go down as arguably one of the Garden State’s toughest postseason fields amongst all of its sports of the 2025-26 school year – at minimum.
Fourth-ranked St. Joe’s (Metuchen) can also vouch for this.
In addition to the Falcons, who are in the South, Group 2 section, Old Bridge and Monroe are also in the GMC Red Division. This means that the Falcons’ division alone contains three of New Jersey’s top five boys’ volleyball teams heading into 2026, and its conference also contains J.P. Stevens (GMC White Division). While the Falcons have won three consecutive Group 2 state championships, they were the last team to knock off Old Bridge in the GMC Tournament, which was won by the Knights each of the last three seasons concurrently during the Falcons’ state championship three-peat run.
This includes a perfect 32-0 season for the buzzsaw that was the country’s 12th-ranked team in Old Bridge in 2024, when New Jersey’s top-ranked Knights held off a game-two surge by Bridgewater-Raritan to seal a straight-set victory, 2-0 (25-10, 25-20), in the Group 4 state finals. As a result, the Panthers concluded a successful 25-5 campaign with back-to-back Skyland Cup and North, Group 4 crowns.
While only one team can win a county championship in each of New Jersey’s territories, competition like this will prepare teams like St. Joe’s (Metuchen) and Bridgewater-Raritan, which will serve as host to both Monroe and Old Bridge in regular-season matches this month, for their paramount goals.
Being crowned champions yet again.
“We obviously want to get as far as we can in the GMC Tournament, but we know we have tough matchups,” previewed Takenaga of the Falcons’ path to winning a fourth consecutive state championship along with their first GMC Tournament crown since 2022. “There is actually a player on our team [in Carter Tarpley] who has won all three [of the previous] state championships, so it will be nice to see him win all four years here.”
“It would be really great for us if we can get a four-peat as state champs and would create a nice reputation for us.”
Even more, a ninth team amongst this lethal South, Group 4 section in Piscataway: a member of the GMC White Division, just went the distance with Bridgewater-Raritan to start the 2026 season. For this reason, with only a maximum of eight spots available for the South, Group 4 state sectional quarterfinals, one of these aforementioned nine teams is guaranteed to end their season without a postseason victory no matter what happens during the regular season.
Kingsway defeated Bridgewater-Raritan, 2-0 (25-20, 25-12) in the South, Group 4 state sectional quarterfinals to conclude last season’s 18-11 campaign for the Panthers.
However, the continuity alone from an experienced Ethan Romanak – and his Hall-Of-Fame dad leading his team on the sidelines, will bode well for what looks to be another reloaded Bridgewater-Raritan squad in 2026.
The Panthers are already continuing their journey without their two leading scorers from last year in Class of 2025 graduates Harry Fromberg and Cam Williams, who were alone responsible for just under two thirds (552) of Bridgewater-Raritan’s 838 kills. On top of this, Bridgewater-Raritan unfortunately suffered a blow to its returning lineup in its 2-1 (20-25, 25-21, 27-25) season-opening victory at Piscataway back on March 25, when senior starting setter Andrew Zagula suffered an injury in the decisive third game.
While the return timetable is to be determined for Zagula, who led the Panthers with 546 assists last season, junior Ian Tai stepped in valiantly and got three key matches of reps under his belt as the Panthers’ starting setter on Wednesday evening.
A role his head coach in Corey Romanak can certainly appreciate, especially as a former opposite hitter.
“I was always ready to jump in,” revealed about his next-man-up mentality by Tai, who produced 181 assists in 43 sets played last season. “I don’t know how long Andrew is going to be out for, but I’ll be ready to play every day no matter what happens. Playing three matches makes it a lot easier, because we’re getting so many reps and connections with our hitters, especially with [senior Musa Ahmad] on my right side.”
“Our connection was a little shaky at first, but it has gotten a lot better over these past three matches.”
Bridgewater-Raritan junior Wesley Lin (11 kills, nine digs) led the Panthers in kills against the Falcons in a matchup where four different Panthers players tallied at least five points. Ahmad (two kills, one dig, five aces), senior Fisayo Ogunsulire (five kills, one block, four digs), and junior Daksh Bansal (five kills) were the remaining players meeting this criterion. Junior Gerard Kohutis (one block, five digs), junior Sam Galindo (one kill, eight digs), Tai (one block, 22 assists, six digs), and Ethan Romanak (one assist, 20 digs) rounded out Bridgewater-Raritan’s scoring in its three-set defeat.
The Falcons had three players reach at least five points, but all of them eclipsed double figures.
Senior Dominic Nycz (24 kills, three blocks, two aces, eight digs) led all players with a whopping 29 points, while Takenaga (10 kills, four blocks, nine digs, 20 assists) finished with a double double as the Falcons’ setter, and junior Matt Yacykewych (six kills, five blocks, one ace, four digs) finished with 12 points amongst St. Joe’s (Metuchen) players meeting this criterion.
Senior Ben Peter (three kills, four digs), junior Kelley Pearson (two kills, one assist, nine digs), junior Nicholas Masturzo (one kill, one block), senior Carter Tarpley (one block), senior Santino Oliveti (one block), junior Noah Cruz (16 assists, seven digs), and senior Jayden Dela Plaza (three assists, 22 digs) rounded out the Falcons’ scoring in their marquee victory.
“A lot of these guys know that great athletes are not built in three months in the spring season, but year-round,” Cabrita went on to say. “They play in the offseason and play [club volleyball], so they all know each other from the club circuit. You can see there is that mutual respect for each other, but also a competitive edge where they always want to play each other, beat each other, and whoever wins wins.”
“There is also a lot of hard work, and with guys who do the year-long training, and it shows up in their skill sets.”
Most importantly, even despite the competitive nature of this fierce rivalry on the volleyball court, players from all four teams all interacting with each other in between each of their three matches confirms one thing before their high-school regular seasons split their separate ways.
The volleyball brotherhood is not going away any time soon, especially with the great respect everyone has for each other on and off of the court.
“This is going to give us all of the confidence in the world, because we were able to hang with them,” concluded Coach Romanak of the Panthers’ successful day at St. Joe’s (Metuchen). “We learned a lot about what we need to improve, but also what we’re already doing well against a team like St. Joe’s. That’s the type of team you want to play against, because they expose some of the weaknesses that we saw. We’re going to work on that in practice, and our thing in practice is to win the moment.”
“Every opportunity that we have to improve, we are going to embrace it.”