Pennsbury and Central Bucks West advanced to Saturday’s PIAA Class AAA volleyball quarterfinals.
[1-1] PENNSBURY 3, [3-4] CHAMBERSBURG 1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-20)
Chris Spano was not happy with his performance in Pennsbury’s district title win over Central Bucks West last Thursday.
“My last game against West was probably the worst game of my career,” the Falcons’ senior outside hitter said. “I had a long weekend to think about it, to meditate on it.
“I made some slight corrections at practice, and I just came out and played the way I know how to play.”
Spano led the Falcons with 17 kills on 40 sets (.325 hitting efficiency) while teammate Sean Kropp added 12 kills (.429 hitting efficiency) to go along with seven digs.
“A couple days ago, I told (Spano) and Kropp that I thought they could win this game for us,” coach Justin Fee said. “I know I kind of put a little pressure on them, but it was nice to see both of them really step up and respond.”
The Falcons needed big performances from Spano and Kropp on a night when they faced the defending state champions, who are led by 6-8 Mitch Stahl. The senior middle hitter is bound for 19-time national champion UCLA on a full scholarship. He also is a member of the Junior National Olympic Development team.
Stahl pretty much had his way in Chambersburg’s opening set win, and although he was still a force, Stahl didn’t get quite as many swings in the second set, which – not coincidentally – resulted in a Falcon win.
What was the difference in the second set?
“Serving to the right spaces and trying to make it difficult for him to get an in-system set,” Fee said. “That’s what I’d seen on film and what I’d heard we needed to do, and we didn’t do that when we played them at Northeastern, and they beat us two games.
“In the first set, we didn’t get our middles going. I think we might have set them once or twice. I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to get the middles going,’ so they started sticking with them, and we started putting the ball away better.”
In the pivotal second set, the Falcons opened up a 6-4 lead after a Spano kill, and they still led 10-8 after a Kropp winner. The Trojans rallied to knot the score, but back-to-back Spencer McCullough winners put the Falcons on top 12-10. That lead grew to 16-11 after another Spano kill. A Pat Merrick service ace gave the Falcons a 20-12 lead, and they won it on a Merrick kill.
“The last time we played Chambersburg we hit 29.029 against them,” Spano said. “We played not our best game at all. We really turned it on this time and played the way we know how to play.”
Playing with renewed confidence, the Falcons seized control of the match, opening up a 14-9 lead in the third set after back-to-back Spano kills. That lead grew to 19-12 after a Neil Helsel kill in the middle, and Kropp delivered a kill to close out the set.
The fourth set was more of the same. The Falcons led 16-13 after a Spano kill and stretched that lead to 21-16 after a Kropp kill, putting an exclamation point on the win when McCullough delivered a kill for match point.
According to Spano, taking on a Chambersburg squad that is led by Stahl and ranked fourth in the state was no easy task.
“He’s a great player, but you can’t have a one-man team,” Spano said. “We have five, six, seven solid great players, and that’s why we won.”
Also making contributions for the Falcons were McCullough (eight kills, two blocks), Merrick (seven kills, 11 digs, two aces), Helsel (seven kills, two blocks), setter Jeff Yasalonis (41 assists, two kills, seven digs) and Troy Pereira (13 digs)
“I’m extremely pleased,” Fee said. “I keep telling these guys – we win as a team. We have five people that can put the ball away. As long as we pass the ball, I think people are going to have a hard time stopping us from siding out.”
The Falcons will face District 11 champion Emmaus in a state quarterfinal match on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
“We wanted to play the best teams as soon as possible just to get them out of the way,” Spano said. “Emmaus is another good team. We lost to them last year in the first round of states, so we’re looking for redemption.”
[1-2] CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, [12-2] NORTHEAST 0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-6)
The Bucks had little difficulty putting away a Northeast squad that was District 12’s runner-up. Christian Rupert led the Bucks with 13 kills and two aces while Michael Fehr added 10 kills and two aces. Joel Klapper contributed five kills and two aces. Setter Matt Hennigan had 29 assists to go along with three aces and four digs. Jeff Strasburg also had four digs.
The Bucks will face Hempfield in a state quarterfinal match on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.
[11-1] EMMAUS 3, [1-3] NORTH PENN (18-25, 25-12, 18-25, 25-17, 16-14)
The Knights lost a heartbreaker in Wednesday’s opening round match, rallying from a 14-11 deficit in the fifth set to knot the score 14-14 only to see the Green Hornets eke out the win.
Andy Willits turned in a standout performance in his final high school match, leading the Knights with 21 kills, six blocks and 12 digs. Kyle Sucro added 12 kills, two aces, six blocks and 14 digs. Setter Mark Elias had 46 assists to go along with 15 digs and four blocks in a huge performance. Gabe Stoller had 12 kills, seven blocks and seven digs.
“It was a great team effort and a hard-fought match,” coach Tim Moyer said.
The Knights closed out the year with a 17-5 record in match play.
[3-1] HEMPFIELD 3, [1-4] PENNRIDGE 1 (22-25, 28-26, 25-9, 25-18)
The Rams won the first set against the District 3 champions but then dropped a tightly contested second set. Things were never the same as Hempfield seized control of the match on its way to the 3-1 win.
Christian Lizana led the Rams defensively with 18 digs to go along with two aces. Senior setter Matt Ziegler was credited with 38 assists. The Rams received balanced contributions at the net from Mike Bollinger (nine kills, three blocks), Henry Savage (10 kills, four blocks), Devon Rice (10 kills, 12 digs, two aces), Evan Jacoby (six kills, three blocks) and Alex Vellner (six kills, three blocks).
The Rams closed out the season with a 15-6 record.
- Log in to post comments
