Pennsbury and Central Bucks West advanced to Thursday’s District One AAA final match. To view photos of both of Tuesday’s semifinal matches, please visit the Photo Gallery.
To view video highlights by video journalist Jen Wielgus, please click on the following PhillyBurbs.com link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/cb-west-pennsbury-to-meet-in-district-volleyball-championship/html_266e1d6f-67d2-5e7f-a89a-ba3a2699e570.html
#2 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, #3 PENNRIDGE 1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-18)
No one could confirm whether or not West had ever played for a district title, but past history aside, the Bucks will be playing for a coveted district crown on Thursday night when they take on top-seeded Pennsbury.
“Wow, they keep setting those goals,” West coach Todd Miller said. “They want it.”
Tuesday’s win avenged a loss to the Rams in the final league match for both teams. The difference on Tuesday night, according to Miller, was very simple.
“This match counted for a whole lot more,” said the Bucks’ coach, whose team had already clinched a conference title when the two teams met in that late season match. “There was a lot more at stake in this match.
“The guys realized that. They realized they wanted a shot at the district title. They worked hard for it and did a great job. It’s taken a team effort to make things work and just click on all cylinders.”
The Bucks were led by the brilliant 25-kill effort of senior Mike Fehrs, who was slamming home kills from all over the court.
“The fact that Mike Fehrs was killing it out of the back row just opens up your hitters and keeps (the Rams) unstable because they have to read that,” Miller said. “They tried blocking, and he was hitting around the blocks. He did a great job.”
“He played really well,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said of Fehrs. “He plays smart. He’s not the biggest guy, but he makes up for it by being intelligent player. He had a really nice match.”
Christian Rupert added 12 kills and Joe Klapper, 11 kills. Jeff Strasburg led the defense with 12 digs Setter Matt Hennigan had 52 assists to go along with eight digs while Dan Atkins had seven digs.
For the Rams, Mike Bollinger led the way with 10 kills and six blocks. Alex Vellner had nine kills and five blocks, and Devon Rice added seven kills, eight digs and four aces. Henry Savage had seven kills and four blocks. Christian Lizana led the defense with 22 digs.
“We weren’t passing,” Childs said. “They were serving away from Christian Lizana intentionally, and we weren’t able to handle their serving.
“When you’re out of system, you can’t beat a team like that. We never got in a rhythm. It starts with passing, and they controlled the ball better than us. That was the difference in the game. We weren’t able to run our offense the way we like to do it. You have to give them a lot of credit. They played really well, and they deserve to be there.”
The Rams won the first set 25-23, but the Bucks rallied to even the match with a win in the second set. The two teams were deadlocked 9-9 in the third set. A tip by Fehrs for a winner gave West an 11-9 lead, and they stretched that lead to four (14-10) after back-to-back kills by Fehrs.
“The whole entire game - I felt great,” Fehrs said. “I felt loose. I felt like I was in a groove, and thanks to Matt (Hennigan) and all of our passers, we were able to keep the ball up and just keep the ball rolling.”
The Bucks opened up an 18-12 lead after another Fehrs kill, and they closed out the set with back-to-back kills by Fehrs and Rupert.
In the third set, the Rams opened up a 7-4 lead after an Evan Jacoby kill, prompting Miller to call a quick timeout. The Bucks responded by reeling off five straight points, a run that was capped by a Fran Poeske block and a Ram hitting error.
West led 14-10 after a Jackson Cox kill, and they went on to take an 18-12 lead after a Rupert kill. The Rams would get no close than four points the rest of the way as the Bucks closed out the game and the match.
“It was very, very awesome to see the team play as well as we did,” Fehrs said. “Going into that second game, we just knew we could lose focus. We had to keep the energy up and keep them off their game.
“We have a great rivalry with them. Every single game we play against them is so exciting. This helps keep the momentum going. Going into the game, we knew either way if we won or lost we were going to play on Thursday, so why not win? We just kept putting pressure on them, and that’s what really caused them to lose their focus.”
While the Bucks will face the Falcons in Thursday’s title match, the Rams will face North Penn in Thursday’s third place game. It’s an unfamiliar spot for the defending district champs.
“Everything you do is a learning experience, win or lose,” Childs said. “There’s a lot to learn from this game tonight. We have to learn quick and come back on Thursday. We have a real important game for seeding purposes on Thursday. We can bounce back.”
#1 PENNSBURY 3, #5 NORTH PENN 1 (25-11, 25-10, 23-25, 25-15)
The Falcons are officially back.
It’s been three years since Pennsbury played for a district title, but the Falcons, thanks to their impressive win over the Knights, will face Central Bucks West in Thursday’s district title game.
“We played great defense the entire night, in particular Pat (Merrick) and Jeff (Yasalonis),” coach Justin Fee said. “I’m on the bench thinking, ‘My goodness, they’ve got a lot of digs,’ and that was a really, really bright spot.
“We have been preaching, especially to Jeff, that you’ve got to play defense first - make sure you stay home to play defense and setting is second. Overall, we had a very high hitting efficiency, which usually means a win for us. That’s been the trend. Passing was the key to that.”
While Merrick (19 digs) and Yasalonis (nine digs) led a standout defensive effort, Sean Kropp led the Falcons at the net with 15 kills and a dazzling .419 hitting efficiency. Chris Spano had 12 kills (.400 hitting efficiency), and Merrick added 11 kills (.400 hitting efficiency).
“The setter is really important, but it’s more passing,” Kropp said. “We trust Jeff. We played with Jeff all last year.
“If we get the ball to Jeff well, he will give us a good set, but if we start to stumble like we did in the third game, our sets are kind of off, and it’s a lot harder.”
Yasalonis also had 40 assists, three blocks, two aces and one kill, and Merrick had three aces, three assists and two blocks. Kropp added seven digs. Neil Helsel (four kills, one ace, three blocks), Troy Pereira (seven digs) and Spencer McCullough (four kills, two blocks) also contributed.
“That’s a tough team,” North Penn coach Tim Moyer said. “They were coming at us from all angles, all sides.
“They have five guys that can put away the ball. Their setter (Yasalonis) does a great job of mixing it up. Hats off to Pennsbury. They’re a strong team. I wish them luck along the way.”
The Knights were led by the 10-kill efforts of Kyle Sucro and Andy Willits. Yash Boghara had six kills on six attempts, and he also had six blocks.
“He’s really been coming along,” Moyer said of Boghara. “He’s a co-captain, so he’s kind of stepped it up and taken it on his shoulders. He did a great job helping us down the stretch.”
The Falcons served early notice that they meant business, turning a 5-5 tie in the opening set into a 10-6 lead. A Sucro kill pulled the Knights within two, but Kropp answered with a kill for the Falcons. The Knights trailed by five (14-9) after another Sucro kill, but Kropp answered with a kill that brought Yasalonis to the service line. The Falcons’ junior setter reeled off six straight points to put the Falcons on top 21-9, all but sealing the Knights’ fate. The Falcons closed out the decisive win with a Spano kill.
“We had a lot of time to rest,” Kropp said. “We were all rested up, and we came out all fired up. We really wanted to win. We wanted to show it to them.
“We have been playing together since our freshman year. All of us are pretty much like a family. We’re not going to lose now, we’re going to keep going and get as far as we can – play our hearts out.”
The second set was more of the same. The Falcons sprinted to a 15-5 lead and never looked back, rolling to the 25-10 win.
“Credit to them – they put a lot of pressure on us with their serving and kind of took us out of system,” Moyer said. “I really liked our effort early. I think we were pushing a little bit too hard, and I think it cost us a lot of errors early.
“When you’re playing a team like Pennsbury, you can’t afford to give up too many errors or you see what happens.”
The Knights made some waves in the third set, rallying from an early 4-0 deficit to knot the scored 7-7 after a Sucro kill. A block by Eric Mellman gave the Knights their first lead (8-7), and they led 14-10 after a Boghara kill. The Knights still led 20-17 after a Willits service ace, but the Falcons knotted the score 21-21 after a Kropp kill. Willits answered with a kill for the Knights, but a Spano kill knotted the score. The Knights led 23-22 after a Sucro kill and won it when a Falcon hit sailed over the end line.
“We settled in a little bit game three,” Moyer said. “That was the only one I felt we played our game. We did some adjustments, moved our block in and did some thing defensively that helped us. Some guys started stepping up and making a few plays. I really was happy with our effort. I really felt like guys were laying it all out there.”
The Falcons seized early control of the third set, opening up a 10-4 lead after a Merrick kill. The Knights pulled to within three (12-9) after a Boghara block, but the Falcons opened up a 20-12 lead after a Kropp kill. Another Kropp kill for match point put an exclamation point on the big win.
The Falcons will face CB West in the district title game on Thursday at William Tennent at 7:30 p.m. The Knights will face Pennridge in the third place match at 6 p.m.
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