Central Bucks East, Pennsbury, North Penn & Pennridge were winners in Thursday's District 1 3A quarterfinals.
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#1-1 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, #1-8 BENSALEM 0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-17)
The top-seeded Patriots earned a sweep of the Owls, who were coming off their program’s first postseason win.
The Patriots were led by Dylan Colbert, but he had plenty of support. Colbert accounted for 14 kills, seven digs, and two blocks. Right there with Colbert was Jacob LaBouliere, who added 11 kills, six digs, and one block. The ball was distributed by Steve Storm, who dished 28 assists to go along with two kills two aces, five blocks, and five digs. The Patriots received a strong middle attack from Christian Wolf (two kills, six blocks, two digs, and one ace) and Thomas Gallagher-Reske (four kills, three blocks, and one dig). Jack Miller had a strong match, contributing one kill, two digs, one block, and two aces, and CJ Dalby contributed a block and an assist. Two players stood out defensively for the Patriots. Jack Zapf passed a 3.0 while Ryan Figus led the team with 15 digs.
For the Owls, outside hitters Ethan Fan (seven kills) and Shiv Patel (six kills, two aces), played well. Setter Basheer Ghafary (19 assists) set up middle hitters Paul Leible (four kills, five blocks) and Kyle McVicar (two kills). Brad Rosenberg had a strong serving game with three aces.
Central Bucks East (20-0, 14-0 SOL) will take on Pennridge in Tuesday’s semifinal round at Bensalem. Bensalem (8-6 SOL) closed its successful season with a 12-9 record.
#1-2 PENNSBURY 3, #1-7 NESHAMINY 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-13)
The Falcons squared off with their neighboring rival in Thursday’s second round, and they defeated the Redskins for the third time in as many matches this season.
Justin Sadley (13 kills, .417, two aces, three digs, three blocks) and Sebastian Kloda (seven kills, .429, one block) turned in impressive performances at the net. Nathan Sadley added four kills and five blocks while Luke Bucksar had seven kills, four aces, six digs and one block. Jacob Loerch contributed eight kills, one ace, four digs and one block. Setter Andy Delworth had 35 assists, eight digs and one kill. Matt Caissie added eight digs and two assists, and Will Bednarz had one dig.
For the Redskins, Tony Camillo had seven kills, two aces, seven digs and two blocks. Matt Schwab had two kills and five digs while Jesse Marshall added five kills, one dig and one block. Paul Allen had three kills and one block. Setter Nick Storz had 13 assists, two kills and two digs. Ben Clendening (one dig, one block) and Stephen Fario (one assist, three digs) also contributed.
Pennsbury (14-2, 13-1 SOL) will face North Penn in a semifinal match Tuesday. Neshaminy (8-6 SOL) closed its season with a 12-8 record.
#1-6 NORTH PENN 3, #1-3 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2 (15-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-18, 18-16)
If the rest of the PIAA District One Class 3A tournament is anything like the show that North Penn and host Council Rock North put on Thursday night, boys volleyball fans will be in for a treat.
“That was just a great match between two teams giving everything they had,” Council Rock North first-year coach Dan Bartleson said. “We knew that North Penn was really good and we’ve been playing well, too. And both teams played excellent volleyball tonight.”
That they did and it took five sets to decide a winner before the Knights walked off with the 3-2 victory in a quarterfinal matchup. (It actually took a little more than five sets as North Penn won the clinching set, which is supposed to be the first team to 15, by an 18-16 score).
"All we talked about in practice was that we haven't done very well in fifth games," North Penn senior Isaac Lambert said. "And that we better be ready for them because it's the playoffs and it happened tonight.”
The victory moved the sixth-seeded Knights (13-6) into Tuesday’s semifinals against No. 2 Pennsbury at Bensalem High (5:30 p.m.). The Falcons blanked Neshaminy 3-0 in another quarterfinal Thursday. The top three finishers will qualify for the upcoming PIAA state tournament.
The loss ended the seasons for the Indians, who won the district championship a season ago.
"Our guys put everything on the line and gave everything they had on every point,” Bartleson said."We saw North Penn play the other night and we knew they had a very strong team. They have a lot of seniors on their team and we have a lot of seniors on ours. We're losing nine seniors from this team and I told them that I really wish that I could have worked with them longer.”
This one was back and forth from the start as the hosts took the first set (25-15) only to see the Knights bounce back and even things up with a 25-20 win in the second set.
Then it was back to the Indians in the third set as they cruised to a 25-18 win before the Knights snagged the fourth set by the same 25-18 count, forcing the decisive fifth set.
All told, the Indians scored 104 total points while the Knights had 101.
"We knew it was going to be a really, really tough match," North Penn senior Kevin Abraham, said. "Both teams were really playing great and it was exciting.”
There were four lead changes alone in the fifth set and only twice did one side lead by more than one point (North Penn both times at 12-10 and 14-12).
“That was just high level volleyball from both teams,” North Penn coach Ryan Genova said. “Both teams really went after it and it was a great match.”
Junior Evan Rothmann had 14 kills for the Knights and senior Michael Wang had 13 kills and 16 digs. Abraham finished with nine kills and 11 digs while Lambert had 10 kills and a pair of aces.
Council Rock North (12-2 SOL) closed out its season with a 14-4 record.
#1-12 PENNRIDGE 3, #1-4 UPPER DUBLIN 1 (27-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-22)
Forget the Rams’ number 12 seed. They’re starting to play like a team that belongs in the final four for the 11th consecutive year, sending home fourth-seeded Upper Dublin just two days after stunning fifth-seeded Central Bucks West.
Of the program’s 11 trips to the district semifinals, this is by far the most unlikely.
“We lost seven of our last eight regular season games this year,” coach Dave Childs said. “This literally came out of nowhere. We didn’t deserve to make it, and that’s what I was saying after the season, but we did, and they decided to turn it on.”
Thursday’s win avenged a regular season loss to the Cardinals, and Childs admits he has no explanation.
“We had a terrible practice yesterday – there’s no rhyme or reason,” the Rams’ coach said. “I knew we were talented, but we just hadn’t put anything together all year until now – we’re playing as a team.”
The Rams won a tightly contested opening set and then coasted to a win in the second set before dropping the third. They rebounded to win the fourth set.
“I think we were able to jump on them early, and I think that made a big difference,” Childs said. “We have some guys in our lineup that have played in big games before, played in these pressure situations. I think they were able to step up and perform at a high level and that made a difference.
“This is Danny Rutter’s third year as our libero. We tried him hitting in different places, but he’s such a good libero. Since we moved him to that spot, he’s taken his game up a notch, and he’s playing phenomenal right now. He’s the leader of the defense.”
Ethan Lionetti is another three-year starter for the Rams.
“He does whatever we need,” Childs said. “He’s been an outside, and he’s now a middle for us. He understands what it takes to be in a big game.
“He’s a water polo player, and he’s just an athlete. He’s been in these moments and understands what it takes to win.”
Rutter led the defense with 26 digs and four aces. Leading the Rams at the net were Austin Jalosinski (14 kills) and Ryan Benscoter (12 kills, six blocks). Chris McKinney added five kills and 10 digs, and Lionetti had three kills and four blocks. Matt McCreary was a force at the net with six blocks. Setter Tommy Cassel had 28 assists and six digs. Bryce Muller had two aces.
Pennridge (8-10, 6-8 SOL) will take on top-seeded Central Bucks East in a semifinal match Tuesday at Bensalem. Upper Dublin (11-3 SOL) closed out its season with a 13-4 record.
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