Check out the results for SOL boys’ volleyball teams in action in Tuesday’s opening round of districts.
#5 NORTH PENN 3, #12 CHELTENHAM 0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-15)
The Knights rolled to a sweep of the Panthers in opening round play Tuesday.
“We went in pretty organized,” coach Tim Moyer said. “We have been working hard on basically that the past two weeks. We’re still working on our serving. It’s not quite as big a weapon as it should be, but we’re hoping to change that a little bit.
“Passing and defense has kind of been the focus. Offensively, we’ve been strong all season. It really hasn’t been a matter of offense. It’s been other things.”
Kyle Sucro (13 kills, one assist, two blocks, three aces) and Gabe Stoler (12 kills, one block) led the Knights at the net. Eric Mellman (five kills, one block, one ace) and Jake Walters (three kills, three blocks) also made their presence felt at the net.
“Jake has been awesome for us in the middle,” Moyer said. “Hitting percentage-wise, Jake is probably hitting around .700 or higher. He’s a kill machine, and when he and Mark are connecting, no one can stop him.
“Cheltenham has a big middle, but I think Jake not only controlled him as far as blocking but also came right back at him. Our middles did a good job of establishing themselves early.”
Setter Mark Elias had 34 assists and one kill. Nate Malecky (one kill, one dig), Darsh Bhalodia (one kill), Pat Dallas (one ace) and Connor Sloan (two kills) also contributed.
“Connor had a big night,” Moyer said. “He gets overshadowed a lot because we have so many seniors. He’s a very good player.
“He comes off the bench, hits right side for us and has really done a good job and is coming along with his blocking.
“Pat Dallas came in tonight – he’s been a guy that is used sparingly, but he’s a serving specialist, and every time I put him in he seems to get four or five points for us.”
Moyer credited his team’s serving in Tuesday’s win.
“Not jump serving, but we had had some key guys come off the bench and slow things down a little bit for us,” he said. “Maybe we were being a little aggressive early.
“Once we got things rolling – we’re a steam roller. When we get it rolling in the right direction, it’s hard to stop us. Hopefully, it’s starting to come together at the right time. We’ll see.”
The Knights will face top-seeded Central Bucks West on Friday night.
#6 SOUDERTON 3, #11 ABINGTON 1 (24-26, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22)
The Ghosts eked out a win in the first set of Tuesday’s opening round district match, but the Indians regrouped to win the next three.
“We did not play well,” coach Brad Garrett said. “I was very disappointed. I didn’t think we executed some of the stuff we worked on, and I think some of our inexperience in the postseason showed.
“Sometimes when you’re the higher-seeded team, you come out and you just expect to win. You don’t necessarily play with the focus that you need to. I think that in the first game, we didn’t play with a lot of focus. As the night went on, we improved, but it wasn’t where we want to be at this point of the season, but at this stage of the season, it’s all about winning and advancing.”
Alex Androkites led the Indians with 19 kills and nine digs. Evan Miller, in his return after an injury, had 14 kills and three blocks.
“I wasn’t going to use Evan at all,” Garrett said. “He’s definitely not 100 percent, but he’s getting back to where we’ll use him Thursday against Neshaminy.
“He played well. He came in and was very efficient. He didn’t play the first game, and he didn’t start the second game, but we weren’t playing well, and we needed something to spark us. He came in and did a really nice job for us.”
Micah Godshall added nine kills and four aces, and Mitch Yerk had seven kills and three blocks.
“Mitch Yerk played really well,” Garrett said. “He was very efficient. He had seven kills and no errors. He didn’t get the ball as much as some of the other guys, but he did a very good job.
“We’re getting there, and hopefully, we will play better against Neshaminy.”
The Indians will travel to Neshaminy for a quarterfinal match against the third-seeded Redskins on Thursday.
#7 WILLIAM TENNENT 3, #10 QUAKERTOWN 0 (27-25, 25-18, 25-17)
Tennent found itself staring at a major hole in the first set, trailing the visiting Panthers 20-8, and they were still on the short end of a 22-12 score before staging a remarkable comeback to earn the hard-fought win.
“It was kind of a major comeback for us to win that first game,” coach Jim Creighton said. “We actually subbed some guys out because quite honestly I thought we were going to lose that game, so I was trying to rest a couple of our guys.
“Dillon (Cooney) went back and served a bunch in a row, and before I looked up it was 22-22, and I thought, ‘We are actually back in this game.’ They started out really strong. They were up 8-2. I give them a ton of credit. They have some good guys.”
Brian Ebert (15 kills, two aces) and Jake Milnazik (12 kills, three blocks) led the Panthers at the net. Nick Mackell had three kills and one ace. Setter Kyle Lewicki had 29 assists and one ace. Cooney once again led the defense with 22 digs to go along with one ace.
“Obviously, Dillon is usually our leader on defense and racking up a bunch of digs,” Creighton said. “His serving as well has been outstanding, and I think that’s something that goes unnoticed.
“He’s played outstanding. On serve receive, he’s one of our primary passers. He’s fantastic in that regard. Great serving and defensively – we wouldn’t be anywhere without him. Liberos and setters don’t get as much notice, but to have really steady guys, it makes your ball control so much better.”
For the Panthers, Josh Morgan had 12 kills and Lucas Schan, seven kills. Setter Xavier Villanueva had 29 assists.
The Panthers will travel to Pennridge to take on the second-seeded Rams Thursday.
#8 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, #9 CHRISTOPHER DOCK 0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-23)
Five days after sweeping Dock, the Indians found themselves facing that same Pioneer squad in the must-win opening round of districts. They swept the Pioneers for the second time in as many outings.
“We played this team on Thursday, and sometimes when you play teams back-to-back, you get caught up in what happened the game before,” coach Greg Marchetti said. “We were just trying to get focused and treat this like we’d never played this team. It was a playoff game and we had to focus one point at a time instead of trying to look ahead or try to look down the road to another team in the second round.
“I think the boys did a good job with that. We came in and we were balanced. We played one of our best defensive games of the year, and that really kind of set the tone for us.”
Josh Hinton (six kills, eight digs), Austin Fuglestad (six kills, one block, one dig), Nick Reich (five kills, three blocks, one dig), Will Stollsteimer (five kills, six digs, one block), Aiden LeClair (four kills, one block) and Will Desautelle (three kills, one block) all made contributions at the net.
Andy Van Thuyne led the defense with 15 digs to go along with three assists. Setters Dalton Abrahamsen (12 assists, nine digs, two aces) and Logan Fuglestad (nine assists, five digs, three aces) spread the ball around. Rick DePaola (two digs), Eric Van Thuyne (two digs) and Matt Pine (two digs) also contributed defensively.
“We’re pretty balanced offensively, and if we can play defense and block the ball well and keep our errors down, we have a good chance to stay in a lot of games,” Marchetti said.
The Indians will face top-seeded Central Bucks West in a quarterfinal game on Friday at 7 p.m.
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