The Upper Merion girls’ volleyball team defeated West Chester Henderson to advance to Saturday’s District One AAA title game. To view game action photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Mary Jane Souder
NORRISTOWN – Never underestimate the importance of mixing things up on the volleyball court.
Upper Merion rode its outside hitters to a 2-0 lead over West Chester Henderson in Thursday’s best-of-five District One AAA semifinal match at Norristown High School, but in the third game, they paid the price for their predictability, and the Warriors stole the set, winning 26-24.
In the fourth set, junior middle Erin Brady collected five of her seven kills on the night, and that opened things up on the outside, allowing the top-seeded Vikings to earn a 3-1 win over the fifth-seeded Warriors (25-15, 25-19, 24-26, 25-18).
“We weren’t setting them,” coach Tony Funsten said of his middles. “It’s pretty hard for the middles to be effective when you’re not getting the ball.
“Sometimes it’s a function of what you’re receiving. We told them to get the middles the ball. It just balances your court. It balances the defense – it makes your outsides better hitters, it makes your defense better. You have to balance it, and we weren’t balancing it.
“Sometimes they just do what’s there, and it’s our job as coaches to remind them of what they should do. Once we balanced it again, they (the Warriors) were a little hesitant on defense, and that’s when you see defensive errors. If you do the same thing every time and you’re not being successful, then shame on you.”
Senior outside hitter Melanie Ingram led the Vikings with 14 kills and 17 digs. Emily Shannon added nine kills and nine digs while Ashley Shannon had six kills and 10 digs. In addition to seven kills, Brady also had five blocks.
“Obviously, Melanie (Ingram) is a fantastic player, but it’s really important to move the ball around, ” Brady said. “At the beginning of the year, I was on the right side, and that was really good because we could switch the offense from the other side of the court, and that would really throw teams off balance.
“Even with me in the middle, it helps because we are able to move the ball around. We have really strong outsides, but getting the ball into the middle throws teams off because you’re able to hit it in different spots, especially when they single block you, and you’re able to tip it.”
It certainly looked as though the Vikings were in for easy time when they sprinted to a 5-1 lead in the opening set and went on top open up a 13-7 lead. The Warriors pulled to within four but would get no closer as the Vikings rolled to a 25-15 win.
In the second set, the Vikings opened up a 6-2 lead, but the Warriors made it a 6-5 game after a Haley Butler kill. A Niki Carpenter service ace put the Vikings on top 12-7, and they stretched that lead to six after a Brady kill. An Ingram kill made it a 20-13 game. The Warriors went on to earn a 25-19 win.
The third set was a war from the outset. The Warriors opened up a 9-4 lead after a Gwyneth Perisse service ace, but the Vikings rallied to knot the score 11-11 after an Ashley Shannon ace. The Warriors went on to win it 26-24 with Adler delivering set point.
In the fourth game, the two teams were deadlocked 10-10, but the Vikings answered with a 7-3 run that was capped by an Emily Shannon kill to go on top 17-13. The Warriors refused to go down quietly, knotting the score 17-17 on a Sarah Tunnell ace. A Brady kill gave the Vikings a lead they would not lose as they went on to earn a 25-18 win.
“I think we came in here a little nervous because we haven’t played this team before,” Ingram said. “We had scrimmaged this team, but none of us really remembered it.
“I think we were more nervous about not being familiar with the team and not knowing what they had to offer.”
The Vikings, according to Ingram, had not forgotten last year’s district semifinal loss to Downingtown East.
“We weren’t looking to lose,” the Vikings’ senior outside hitter said. “I think in the third game we just lost our momentum and thought – I don’t want to say breeze, but we were able to get our rhythm. I feel like we don’t try as hard if we have those kinds of games.”
The Vikings will face second-seeded Downingtown East in Saturday’s district title match at Norristown High School (7:30 p.m.). Last year, the Cougars upset Upper Merion in the district semifinals. The Vikings came back to defeat Downingtown East in the state tournament.
“This means a lot,” Ingram said of advancing to the title game. “It means a lot to me, it means a lot to Mr. Funsten, it means a lot to the girls.”
The two teams split a pair of games in a tournament on August 31.
“It’s going to be two good teams playing against each other, two very good defensive teams,” Funsten said. “The team that plays better is going to win. Sometimes the team that plays better doesn’t always win, but in this case, it will be the case. We’re two equal teams.”
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