Cougars Keep Rolling: Volleyball Improves to 11-1, Boys Soccer Wins in Double Overtime
Nicholas Mistretta
MHS ’79 Cougar Sports Correspondent
MONTGOMERY, NJ — Montgomery High School’s girls volleyball team continued its impressive start to the season with back-to-back victories Monday and Tuesday, while the boys soccer team earned a dramatic double-overtime win. The field hockey team, meanwhile, ran into a strong Ridge squad and suffered a 7-0 setback.
Volleyball Sweeps Phillipsburg
The Cougars opened the week Monday with a tightly contested 2-0 victory over Phillipsburg, improving to 10-1.
Montgomery had to work for the opening set, edging the Stateliners 28-26, before completing the sweep with a 25-23 victory in the second.
Sidney Koslow led Montgomery’s attack with eight kills while adding nine digs. Anshika Verma contributed seven kills, three blocks and seven digs, while Ritisha Mungi finished with four kills and seven digs.
The Cougars also received strong defensive work throughout the lineup. Pooja Venkat recorded 14 digs and two aces, Carly Zissman added 10 digs and Anita Balashova contributed four digs and an ace.
Montgomery finished with 26 kills and 61 digs in the two-set victory.
Phillipsburg, which fell to 6-5, was led offensively by Alexa Megjugorac, who recorded 11 kills and five blocks.
Cougars Cruise Past Pingry
One day later, Montgomery made considerably quicker work of Pingry.
The Cougars controlled Tuesday’s match from the start, defeating the Big Blue 25-13, 25-9 for another straight-set victory and improving to 11-1.
Koslow once again paced the attack with eight kills, while Verma added seven kills and three blocks. Mungi provided four kills while directing the offense with 20 assists, along with seven digs and an ace.
Montgomery’s defense remained active as well, with the supplied box score crediting Venkat with 14 digs, Koslow with nine, Verma and Mungi with seven apiece and Zissman with 10.
The Cougars have now followed their lone loss of the season with another strong stretch of volleyball, pushing their record to 11 wins through their first 12 matches.
Ridge Jumps Out Early Against Field Hockey
Montgomery’s field hockey team had a more difficult afternoon against Ridge, which scored four times in the opening period on the way to a 7-0 victory.
Ridge added one goal in each of the final three quarters to improve to 7-3, while Montgomery dropped to 1-6.
The Red Devils generated 20 shots on goal compared with five for the Cougars and held a 7-4 advantage in penalty corners.
Despite the final margin, Montgomery goalkeeper Phoebe Rounds was kept busy and finished with 13 saves.
Sara Raustad led Ridge with two goals and three assists, while Megan Duran also scored twice. Emma Korte and Lola Marchelli each recorded a goal and an assist, and Cameron Hansen added a goal.
Boys Soccer Delivers in Double Overtime
The boys soccer team provided the late-game drama, pulling out a 2-1 double-overtime victory over College Achieve Central.
Montgomery took a 1-0 lead into halftime before College Achieve Central answered in the second half to force overtime.
Neither team broke through in the first extra period, but Montgomery found the deciding goal in the second overtime to improve to 4-3.
Ryan Spicer and Tomas Tanoue accounted for Montgomery’s two goals, while Macintyre Jerdonek recorded an assist. The box score does not specify which Montgomery goal was the double-overtime winner.
Goalkeeper Nischal Ande turned in another strong performance, making 11 saves as College Achieve Central put 13 shots on goal. Montgomery generated 16 shots and forced opposing goalkeeper Jeremy Herrera Martinez to make 14 saves.
For College Achieve Central, Anderson Arequipa scored the lone goal with an assist from Angel Cruz.
The victory brought Montgomery back above .500 and capped a productive stretch for Cougar athletics, highlighted by a volleyball team that continues to establish itself as one of Montgomery’s strongest early-season squads.
Photo Credit: Nick Mistretta/headlinenewsmontgomry.com