The Upper Merion volleyball team recuperated from Saturday’s upset at the hands of Downingtown East to defeat Strath Haven in Monday’s PIAA Class AAA third place game.
#2 UPPER MERION 3, #4 STRATH HAVEN 1 (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19
Senior Casey Griffith and junior Mel Ingram – Tony Funsten’s own version of Batman and Robin – were at their dominating best in Monday’s consolation game win in the District One AAA Tournament. Both players finished the night with 16 kills while Griffith had 24 digs and Ingram had 21.
“Mel made some plays – I don’t know how she made them,” Funsten said. “She was diving and with one arm popped the ball up in the middle of the court.
“This was Casey’s high game in digs. I’m trying to get her more touches, and I think she was more aggressive today.”
Sophomore Emily Sullivan contributed eight kills and 20 digs.
“She really did not play well against Downingtown East, but she played really, really well tonight,” Funsten said. “Natalie (O’Neil) play well and had 38 assists.
“It was a real team effort. We gave Mimi Daniels a start, and she had a couple of blocks and made her presence felt. Our servers came off the bench and did well, especially our freshman Carlye Odorisio. She had some good serving runs.”
Strath Haven rallied to win the third game after the Vikings won the first two, but Funsten liked his team’s response to that loss.
“I was a little concerned after they took the third game, but we came out strong in the fourth game and went up 6-1 and then 17-9,” Funsten said. “We had a fairly comfortable lead. They made a push, but we gutted it out.
“We were pretty solid all the way through to the end of the game.”
Monday’s win avenged a regular season 3-1 loss to Strath Haven.
“We had a lot of motivation to beat them,” Funsten said.
The Vikings will face District Three champion Cumberland Valley in an opening round PIAA Tournament match at Wilson West Lawn on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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