Central Bucks East won a five-set thriller over Pennsbury in a District One 3A semifinal match, and CR North swept Pennridge. The two teams will meet in Thursday’s title game at Bensalem High School.
#1-2 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, #1-3 PENNSBURY 2 (23-25, 26-28, 25-14, 26-24, 19-17)
It was a moment Andrew Bennett says he’ll never forget.
The moment Dylan Colbert delivered a kill for match point that vaulted the never-say-die Patriots into Thursday’s District One 3A title game, setting off a celebration that was as much relief as it was jubilation after the grueling two-plus-hour district semifinal match.
“It was surreal to me – I thought I was dreaming,” Bennett said. ”It’s something I will never forget.
“This is a big deal for us. We were determined to win from the start. I knew coming in this would be a special season, but I didn’t know it would be this special. It definitely means a lot to me because it’s my senior year, and I want to make the most out of everything. I want to make it an enjoyable season for the underclassmen too, something they can remember.”
The Patriots made it memorable for not just the underclassmen but for everyone who rode the emotional roller coaster that was Tuesday’s district semifinal match. The Patriots were without middle hitter Thomas Gallagher-Teske (injury) and then – with the match hanging in the balance in the winner-take-all fifth set - saw senior captain Carter Haban helped off the court with leg cramps.
Still, they refused to lose.
“They really worked hard – I have to give them credit,” East coach Rob Minschwaner said. “We’re down a middle (Gallagher-Teske), and we’re making adjustments there.
“The whole game I thought was going to be making adjustments to take away any advantage they had there, and then Carter had to go out at the end. I’m real proud of these guys. The way they fought – it was great. They really worked hard.”
The Falcons won the first two sets, although the Patriots gave early indications they wouldn’t go down quietly. East trailed 24-21 but made it a 24-23 game before Luke Bucksar closed it out with a kill.
In the second set, the Falcons turned a 2-0 deficit into a 12-5 lead and still led 21-15, but the Patriots rallied to knot the score 24-24. The Falcons broke a 26-26 tie with a Brett Garretson kill and then won it when the Patriots were whistled for a ball handling violation.
Momentum began to swing firmly in East’s favor in the third set. The Patriots – after a Colbert kill - led 11-9 when sophomore libero Jacob LaBouliere stepped to the service line. By the time the Falcons forced a sideout with a Kyle Faulcon kill, the Patriots led 23-9 as LaBouliere reeled off 12 straight points, a tear that was capped with a first-contact kill by sophomore setter Steve Storm. The Falcons pulled to within 10, but a Haban kill closed out the set.
“I think we really got ourselves together,” Bennett said. “We started to focus more on passing. When we can pass, we can finish with the ball, and I think passing had a lot to do with it. We started focusing a lot more, we were definitely in tune with the game more and not worried about the crowd or anything like that.”
Pennsbury coach Justin Fee did not like what he was seeing.
“We made a lot of mistakes, unforced mistakes,” the Falcons’ coach said. “A lot of hitting the ball out, hitting the ball in the net, passing poorly, and we served horrendous all night.
“The second set alone we barely won and had seven service errors. It’s not like we’re pounding the ball. We’re hitting spots, so I was very disappointed in that.”
With the win, the Patriots gained some much-needed momentum.
“That’s a very big deal,” Bennett said. “At the end of the third set when we beat them by (11) points, we knew something was going to happen.
“We were determined to win. I think we woke ourselves up a little bit and said, ‘Oh, we can beat these guys. We are a good team.’”
The Falcons looked as though they might be on the verge of closing out the match when they opened up a 14-11 lead in the fourth set, but the Patriots rallied to go on top 15-14 after a Bennett kill. The Falcons led 20-19 after a Justin Sadley kill, but Erik Coombs came up with a block in the middle to knot the score.
“How about Erik coming in the middle and doing a nice job,” Minschwaner said. “He just started playing this year – he’s been playing for three months. He stepped up and gave us what we needed and had that one real critical block in the fourth set.”
The Patriots led 25-24 after a Colbert kill, and they won it when a Falcon hit sailed out of play.
In the deciding fifth set, The Falcons opened up an 8-5 lead after a Garretson kill, but back-to-back winners by Haban were followed by a Falcon hitting miscue, knotting the score 8-8. A Bucksar kill was followed by another Sadley kill, and the Falcons led 10-8. The Falcons still led 12-9 and appeared to be in command, but Colbert delivered a kill and block to pull the Patriots to within one. Another Falcon hitting miscue knotted the score.
Twice the Falcons had match points – both after Garretson kills. A Colbert kill evened the score after the first and the Falcons hurt themselves with a serving miscue on the second. That trend continued, and after fighting off an East match point, the Falcons had their third match point after an East hit out of play. This time it was a Bennett kill that evened the score and kept the Patriots alive.
“We really throw ourselves out there when we play,” Bennett said. “We’re always told to be aggressive, no matter what. It doesn’t matter if there are three blockers – you’re going to swing at the ball unless you see something else, and occasionally, you can roll it.
“Everything needs to be aggressive – from the hit to the serve to the pass. We need to be aggressive out there.”
A Storm winner was followed by the Colbert kill for match point, and the Patriots’ comeback was complete.
“It wasn’t the coaches- they help us a ton, they tell us everything we need to know, but it’s our mentality as a team,” Haban said of the turnaround. “What do we want?
“We set goals at the beginning of the season. Our goal was to win the conference championship and evolve into states. We want another shot at Council Rock North. It’s pretty huge because it’s my last season. I want to leave something.
“I want to see the program grow and continue as I get older. When I leave, I want to come back and watch games like this or blowouts – I’m okay with both, but I want our school to be represented well.”
Colbert led the Patriots with 17 kills and 13 digs while Haban added 12 kills, two aces and three blocks. Bennett had six kills, two blocks and seven digs. Storm ran the offense, finishing with 35 assists, 13 digs and four kills. Defensively, LaBouliere led the way with 15 digs. Minschwaner pointed to the contributions of his middles as a key to the match. Christian Wolf had five blocks, four digs and four kills. Jack Miller and Coombs also contributed. Jack Zapf and Ryan Figus entered the match in the fifth set.
“They provided a much-needed lift,” Minschwaner said.
Figus entered the game with the Patriots trailing 12-10 and served for three straight points.
For the Falcons, Sadley led the way with 17 kills to go along with 12 digs, three solo blocks and two block assists, Garretson had eight and Daniel Quay had four. Charlie Bluestein had 12 digs. Bucksar had two solo blocks and three assists. Setter Andrew Delworth had 46 assists.
The Falcons’ hitting percentage for the match was .134.
“We had tons of errors,” Fee said. “We’ve never done that all year. This is our weakest performance by far, mentally, physically, everything.
“We’ve had spurts where we’ve given up three- or five-point runs, but it seemed to be a common theme the whole night. I’m not taking anything away from East. They’re an awesome, solid team . They’re a very good team, but it was not our best effort.”
Central Bucks East will meet Council Rock North in Thursday’s title game at Bensalem High School at 7:30 p.m. Pennsbury will host Pennridge in the third place game. The winner will earn a berth in the state tournament.
1-1 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, PENNRIDGE 0 (25-19, 25-15, 27-25)
Looking every bit the part of the district’s top seed, the Indians earned a sweep of the visiting Rams in Tuesday’s district semifinal.
“The team played very relaxed in big moments and executed our game plan well,” Rock North coach Greg Marchetti said. “Fortunately, the ball bounced our way at some critical points in games one and three. It was great to see the boys enjoying the moment and having a lot of fun in such a big match.”
File Tuesday’s win under the category of “we owed you one.” In each of the last three seasons, the Indians have lost to Pennridge – last year in the district semifinals and the two preceding years in the district title game.
“Pennridge has gotten the best of our program the past three years,” Marchetti said. “The team wanted an opportunity to play Pennridge at some point during this season.
“The way the SOL is set up it is difficult to arrange and usually does not happen until the district playoffs. Pennridge is a perennial top program in the State of Pennsylvania. We were fortunate to play one of our better matches this year at the right time and place.”
Setter Nick Baniewicz had 22 assists, five digs, one kill and one block. Leading the Indians at the net were Jack Gunshenan (13 kills, six digs, one ace), Harry Wyatt (seven kills, three digs, one ace) and Justin Burns (six kills, six assists, three digs, two aces). Eddie Mancinelli led the Indians defensively with nine digs and two assists. Also contributing were Keven D’Arcy (three kills, one block, one dig), Will Hewitt (two blocks, one kill), Sean D’Arcy (two kills, .5 blocks) and Justin Walton (two aces).
For the Rams, Zach Detweiler had a team-high eight kills, Chris McKinney had six, and Ryan Benscoter had four kills and three blocks. Cross Edwards (three kills, two aces) and Kevin Jones (three kills, two aces) also contributed. Setter Corey Quaste had 21 assists and nine digs. Danny Rutter had a team-high 10 digs while Jeremy Pruss (four digs) and Ethan Lionetti (three digs) also contributed.
Council Rock North (18-0) will face Central Bucks East in Thursday's District One 6A title game at Bensalem High School at 7:30 p.m.
“We are looking forward to building on this momentum in practice tomorrow while preparing for the District Championship," Marchetti said.
Pennridge will travel to Pennsbury for Thursday’s third place match.
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