Washington Township had the most successful season in the program's history. The Minutemaids went 12-8 overall while making it to the quarterfinals of the Group 4 state tournament.

"Our team had an outstanding season. I'm very proud of our players," Washington Township coach Barbara McBrearty said. "It's the first time that we made it to the quarterfinals of the state tournament."

Washington Township, seeded No. 10 in the Group 4 tournament, defeated No. 23 Cherry Hill West 2-0 (25-12, 25-23) in the opening round. Then, the Minutemaids defeated No. 26 Irvington 2-0 (25-9, 25-8).

Against Irvington, junior Jessica Thoden had 10 service points and two kills, and junior outside hitter Karen Martin had 10 service points, five kills and two blocks. Also, senior hitter Alexis Louie had seven service points, eight kills and two digs, and senior setter Emily Bill had six service points and 13 assists.

Senior Nikki Cosico, juniors Rachel Merrick and Ally Mucci and sophomore Molly Duvall also made big contributions to Washington Township's playoff run.

On Tuesday, the Minutemaids' best season ever ended in a 2-0 (25-14, 25-13) loss to No. 2 Southern Regional.

"We came out a little tight against Southern," McBrearty said. "I had to call an early timeout so I could tell them to relax."

Against the Rams, Bill had 12 assists and three service points, Louie had five kills and two digs, and Martin had five kills, three digs and three service points.

"It's a shame how the brackets worked out this year," McBrearty said. "A lot of Olympic Conference teams ended up knocking each other out." Best of ?

This season's change from best-of-five matches to best-of-three didn't give last year's comeback kids a chance to duplicate their feat.

During last season's Group 4 state tournament, Cherry Hill East was down to Southern 2-1 in the quarterfinals before rebounding to win.

In the semifinals, the Cougars dropped the first two games to Newark Eastside before winning the match 3-2.

This season, No. 5 Cherry Hill East was eliminated in Tuesday's quarterfinals at No. 4 Hunterdon Central 2-0 (25-18, 25-18).

"There was no way to make a comeback like last year," Cherry Hill coach Karl Moehlmann said. "We took an early lead, but didn't have one of our best days. On that day and in that gym, they were the better team."

Cherry Hill East ended the season 16-4 overall and 8-2, behind 10-0 Southern, in the American Division.

"It was pretty emotional after the match. But everyone took the loss realistically," Moehlmann said. "I was just sad that the season was over for the seniors."

The Cougars lose senior starters in setter Sam Foss, last season's Courier-Post Player of the Year, middle Heather Leonhardt and defensive specialist Angela Miller. Historic win

Even though No. 6 Williamstown lost Thursday's Group 3 semifinal match to No. 2 Old Tappen, the Braves will go down in history as the team that ended a dynasty.

When the Braves defeated No. 3 Demarest 2-1 (25-23, 20-25, 26-24) on Tuesday, they didn't just knock off the four-time defending Group 3 champion. During the past two seasons, Demarest won the first two state Tournament of Champions.

Against Demarest, sophomore outside hitter Nina Camaioni had 25 kills and five blocks, senior hitter Rachel Williams had 10 kills, senior setter Jill Lawlor had 34 assists and senior middle Natalie Powell had three blocks and 12 digs. Also, senior Caitlin Wright had 12 digs and junior Kim Lull had four aces. Senior Lori Zott also contributed to the win.

Against Old Tappan, the Braves received 18 kills and 21 digs from Camaioni, three aces and 16 digs from Powell, nine kills from Williams, 25 assists from Lawlor and five kills from Wright.