Central Bucks West and North Penn boys’ volleyball teams advanced to Tuesday’s District One AAAA semifinals.
#5 NORTH PENN 3, #4 PENNSBURY 2 (25-22, 25-21, 14-25, 21-25, 18-16)
The Knights didn’t bring a whole lot of fan support when they came into the hostile environment that was Charles Boehm Middle School while the Falcons had a vocal student section.
“This one was far away, and we had a school dance,” senior Kyle Sucro said. “We were not expecting anyone to come.”
The Knights were clearly unfazed by their surroundings, effectively silencing the home crowd by winning the first two sets before the Falcons rallied to knot things up. In the end, the Knights simply would not be denied, eking out a win in a riveting fifth set.
“I think it came down to the seniors wanting it,” coach Tim Moyer said. “We have seven seniors out of 10 guys on this roster, and it’s time to put up or shut up for those guys.
“It’s been a long road for those guys. We had a good run last year. I think we were a little bit of an underdog last year, an overachiever, so to speak. This year I think there’s a lot of pressure on them because they know we have a solid squad. We’ve been doing some good things all year. It would have been heartbreaking, for sure, for them to drop this one tonight.”
The match ended with a Sucro kill – his 21st of the night – deflecting out of play off a would-be blocker. The win propelled the Knights into the district semifinals.
“Personally, I was overjoyed,” Sucro said. “We finally did it.
“I’ve been on varsity since my sophomore year. The first year we got knocked out in the first round of districts, and it was rough.
“Last year, we were three points away from (advancing to the state quarterfinals). This is our year.”
“Last year we almost made it to the state (quarterfinal) round, and this year is our year,” senior Gabe Stoler added. “We can take on any team if we play like that.”
The Knights set the early tone in the opening set when junior Mark Elias served for three straight points that included kills by Eric Mellman and Sucro. The Falcons knotted the score, but the Knights took a lead they would not lose on a Falcon net serve (4-3). They opened up a 7-3 lead on a Sucro service ace. The Falcons pulled to within one (8-7) after a Drew Ettlinger ace, but they would get no closer.
“I felt we started very, very flat as a team,” Pennsbury coach Justin Fee said. “If you’re going to rely on just playing good defense, I don’t think you can do that. You have to be physically ready and mentally ready, and that means all the little, fine details we’ve been coaching all season.
“They didn’t come off a bench and go from zero to a thousand like you always hope your team will be able to do. Being flat definitely hurt us.”
In the second set, the Knights once again went on top 3-0. The Falcons led 4-3 after a David Leavey kill, but the Knights knotted the score on a Falcon mishit. It was the first of six ties with the final at 18-18 after a Mellman kill. A Sucro kill put the Knights on top for good with Stoler delivering a back row kill for game point.
“We didn’t score a lot of points off defense in the sets we lost,” Fee said. “What I mean by that – we had some blocks, but we didn’t have a ton of blocks for kills.
“More importantly, we’ve been a pretty good floor defensive team where we would dig the ball and win that point somehow, whether it be a long rally or we would dig it and put it away right away. That was kind of disappointing. They were winning the defensive points – we weren’t.”
The Falcons found their stride in the third set, opening an early 5-2 lead after an Ettlinger kill. They led 7-3 after a Jeff Yasalonis dump. The Falcons still led 13-9 after a John Killoran kill. Yasalonis stepped to the service line and reeled off five straight points that included a Killoran kill, a block by Ettlinger and a point that included a remarkable pancake dig by Daniel Gonzalez de la rosa.
By the time the service run was through, the Falcons led 18-9. The Knights never threatened as the Falcons rolled to a 25-14 win.
“The first two games we played well,” Sucro said. “That third game I guess we got a little cocky, and we started playing a little sloppy and not covering, expecting to win, I guess.”
The Falcons seized early control of the fourth set, opening up a quick 5-2 lead. They led 14-11 when Levey served for five points to put the Falcons on top 19-11. They still led by eight (24-16) after a Killoran kill before the Knights battled back, making it a 24-21 game before Ettlinger’s tip fell in for a winner and game point.
“We came out really slow,” Stoler added. “They had the momentum, for sure, and we had to battle back.
“We were making hitting errors and had some serving errors. The block was just being lazy, and they were getting some good touches. They definitely played harder the third and fourth games.”
The fifth set was a war.
“It’s crazy,” Elias said. “It’s crazy, to say the least.
“Everything you have left in the tank, you put it all out there.”
“You put everything on the court,” Stoler said. “No ball hit the floor without getting a touch. That’s basically what happened.”
And that effectively summed up a match that had fans on the edge of their seats. Neither team had more than a one-point lead until a Falcon hit in the net gave the Knights a 7-5 advantage. A Killoran kill pulled the Falcons to within one, and they knotted the score 9-9 after a Knight net violation. It was 10-10 after a Levey first contact kill. The Knights went on to open up a 14-11 lead after a Stoler kill. The Falcons fought off five match points before Sucro delivered back-to-back kills for the dramatic win.
“The first two (sets) – we came out and did what we wanted to do game plan-wise,” Moyer said. “Obviously, the crowd was starting to get involved. They started to heat up and started to do a lot of good things. They made some great changes, serving short and a couple of other things that got us out of our game a little bit. It took us a full game or two to recover from that.
“We might have used a little bit too much energy the first two. The first game is obviously the most important. You want to get a good start. We might have ran out of gas a little bit by that third game. They did some nice stuff. They kept going to the opposite. We weren’t closing that block. They fought hard. Their defense was outstanding tonight. I don’t know how many clean kills we had in games three, four and five. They were touching everything.”
In addition to delivering 21 kills, Sucro had four blocks and one ace. Stoler added 11 kills, three blocks and one ace while Mellman had 10 kills. Jake Walter had four kills and two blocks and Connor Sloan had one kill and two blocks. Elias had 35 assists and two blocks.
“Kyle had the hot hand all night,” Elias said. “I was feeding him.”
Killoran led the Falcons with 22 kills (.321), 13 digs and two aces.
“He probably played his best match of the year,” Fee said. “We’ve never set him that much either.”
Levey also had a huge night, contributing 20 kills, nine digs and a big service run.
“He will be our only returner next year, so I’m glad he played well,” Fee said. “He had that awesome service run. I know it doesn’t show on service aces, but a lot of short serves he was dropping in, and we ran a whole bunch of points off of it.”
Yasalonis closed out a record-breaking career with two kills, 50 assists, 10 digs and four blocks. Gonzalez de la rosa led the defense with 17 digs and was the team’s top passer (.225).
Alex Reilley had seven kills, 12 digs and one block while Alec Foerster had seven kills, and Ettlinger had five kills, one ace, two blocks and five digs.
“We couldn’t get our middles going tonight, which is very uncharacteristic of us,” Fee said. “They usually are right up there in kills with the outsides.”
The Knights advance to Tuesday’s district semifinals at Upper Dublin High School where they will have a rematch with SOL Continental Conference champion Central Bucks West. The Falcons (11-3), who captured a share of the SOL National Conference crown, saw their season come to an end.
“I’m proud of their fight and effort,” Fee said. “These guys have never quit. That’s the first five-set loss we’ve had all season, and we’ve had quite a few.
“They have great hitters in a lot of areas. They’re a pretty balanced team. I don’t think they set the middle a lot, but they stretch you out pin to pin, and their setter is as good as our setter, and you don’t see that too often. I told these guys – their setter is a mini-Jeff (Yasalonis).”
#1 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, #8 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1 (25-13, 25-20, 23-25, 25-15)
The Indians – in their third meeting with the Bucks – did what no other team had done this season when they won the third set of Friday’s quarterfinal district game. It is the first time the Bucks have lost a set in match play.
“I think they definitely played better than what they had against us,” West coach Todd Miller said. “In the third game, they made some good decisions.
“They upped the tempo, and they moved things around a little bit better. They did a nice job. I think to some degree we lost our intensity because they gained some intensity. They challenged us well. I would much rather not be in an easy match. You always want the kids thinking – you know what, it’s not easy. We’re going to have to continue to work hard. The minute you win in three and the minute they start resting on their laurel – you don’t want that.
“Council Rock played the best they played against us. I think if we would have kept up the way we played game one and game two – in all honesty, it could have been a three-game match. We made mistakes that hopefully we’ll put a stop to at this point. We’ll learn from it and move on.”
The match stats for the Bucks looked pretty much the way they always do. Christian Rupert led the way with 19 kills, seven blocks and five digs. Setter Matt Hennigan had six aces, seven digs and 39 assists, and Joel Klapper had eight kills and nine digs. Jackson Cox had seven kills and six blocks, and Keith Saunders added five kills and three blocks. Ryan Alu led the defense with 15 digs while Jeff Strasburg added eight digs.
“It’s what you like to see,” Miller said of his team’s consistency. “Would you like to see it tighter than it was? Absolutely. As a coach, I think you absolutely want to continue challenging them because the moment you don’t is the moment they waver from it.
“You absolutely want to throw out higher and higher goals to challenge them. It’s not going to be easy. Everyone is playing the odds. Teams are saying – West beat us two times, but honestly, the third time to do that is the hardest thing.”
For the Indians, Austin Fuglestad (15 kills, three digs, one ace) and Andy Van Thuyne (18 digs, three aces) had big nights. Setter Dalton Abrahamsen had 29 assists, six digs and one kill. Also contributing were Aidan LeClair (five kills, one block, one dig), Josh Hinton (four kills, 12 digs), Nick Reich (three kills, two blocks, two digs), Will Stollsteimer (two kills, three digs, one block), Will Desautelle (two kills, two blocks) and Logan Fuglestad (five digs, two assists).
The Indians closed out their season with a 10-8 record (7-6 SOL) while the Bucks advance to Tuesday’s district semifinals at Upper Dublin High School where they will face North Penn.
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