Check out Monday and Tuesday night’s SOL boys volleyball results.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, PENNRIDGE 1 (26-24, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16)
The Bucks did what no team had been able to do in 75 SOL matches before them on Tuesday night when they handed the defending district and conference champion Rams their first league loss in five years.
“It was quite amazing,” assistant coach Rick Fehrs said. “It was very exciting.
“We played with a lot of intensity, and even at the beginning of the year, we knew we had a lot of very good players, but the difference has always been how well we play defense.
“We always felt we were out-defended by other teams, and tonight they played great defense. One of the things we talked about at the beginning of the year is that if these guys just sold out on defense we’d have a very good year because we have plenty of offense. We have a lot of weapons.”
Topping the list of West’s weapons are Mike Fehrs (19 kills, 12 digs), Christian Rupert (19 kills, 4.5 blocks) and Joel Klapper (14 kills, 14 digs). Defensively, libero Jeff Strasburg led the way with 30 digs. Setter Matt Hennigan had a busy night, handing out 52 assists.
“We came in with a mindset that we could definitely beat them,” Mike Fehrs said. “We tried to go into the match with an awesome amount of energy to try and sweep them as fast as possible.
“We tried to just keep our heads straight and not get nervous and think, ‘Oh, they’re undefeated for five seasons.’ We came in thinking, ‘Oh, we can beat them.’”
Eking out a win in the first set was key, according to Mike Fehrs.
“That definitely brought us up a lot,” he said. “We were beating them 24-21, and they came back, but we picked up our heads and said, ‘We can do this. We just have to finish it.’”
The Bucks went on to win the second set in convincing fashion only to watch the Rams battle back to win the third.
“We started to get a little lackadaisical,” Mke Fehrs said. “We weren’t playing to our best ability. We started making mistakes we shouldn’t have made, but going into that fourth game, we picked up the energy. We tried to stay focused on our goal to finish it. We forgot about the third game completely and just moved on.”
The Bucks’ response to their loss in the third set was to win the fourth set in convincing fashion.
“I was just very happy – after we lost the third game and it was close, I knew Pennridge was not going to go down without a fight,” coach Fehrs said. “To come back and win the fourth by nine points, that was nice.”
Mike Fehrs acknowledged that defense was key.
“We’re definitely trying to stay on our toes more, move to everything and just work hard at not letting the ball touch the floor at all,” he said. “We have trouble staying on our heels and not getting the balls we should be able to get to, but tonight we picked it up. We got balls up we shouldn’t have gotten, and I think that’s what helped us win the fourth game.
“When we won, it was like a breath of fresh air. We knew we would be able to do it. This definitely puts the target on us now. We have to take that and beat the teams that in the past we couldn’t.”
Christian Lizana led the Rams with 22 digs. Mike Bollinger had 10 kills and three blocks, and Evan Jacoby added 11 kills. Devon Rice (nine kills, 14 digs, three aces) and Henry Savage (nine kills, two blocks) also made important contributions for the Rams, who are now 7-1 on the season.
Both teams return to action Wednesday. The Rams will travel to Central Bucks East while the Bucks will face North Penn.
PENNSBURY 3, NESHAMINY 1
The Falcons take over sole possession of first place in the National Conference standings with their win over previously undefeated Neshaminy.
Leading the Falcons was Pat Merrick with 13 kills, one assist, two aces and six digs. Sean Kropp had 10 kills, three aces, six digs and two blocks. Spencer McCullough added eight kills (.500 hitting percentage), one dig and three blocks, and Neil Helsel had seven kills (.357), one ace and one block. Chris Spano chipped in with three kills, one ace and four digs, and setter Jeff Yasalonis had four kills, 37 assists and four digs. Troy Pereira had 11 digs and two assists.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-18)
Chris Richards led a balanced Rock North attack with 11 kills and seven digs. Tyler Burns added seven kills. Jeremy Higgins (five kills, seven digs) and Austin Fuglestad (five kills, five digs, two aces) also made important contributions. Setter Dan Rafalovitch had 23 assists to go along with 10 digs.
For the Golden Hawks, Christian Zastavny had 12 kills and four blocks, and Tyler Hondros had three aces.
Monday, April 15, 2013
NORTH PENN 3, SOUDERTON 2 (25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 20-25, 15-8)
In a spirited battle between the neighboring rivals, the Knights eked out the important win.
For the Indians, Tim Jones led the attack with 15 kills to go along with eight digs. Evan Miller added eight kills and eight blocks, and Ryan Davison had 10 kills and four blocks. Micah Godshall and Alex Androkites both had six kills.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18)
The Patriots were led by Nick Bennett with 14 kills, six digs, two aces and two and one-half blocks. Kyle Dolf added 11 assists, nine kills, five digs, three aces and a block. Steve Caucci posted four kills, one dig and one block while Trevor Clemens had 18 assists, three digs and one kills.
NESHAMINY 3, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 (25-11, 26-24, 25-19
Christian Zastavy led the Golden Hawks with seven kills.
AVON GROVE 3, WILLIAM TENNENT 2 (25-23, 18-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-10)
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