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WARMINSTER – Early in the second game of Thursday night’s SOL war against William Tennent, Pennsbury’s Jeremy Rhoads delivered a resounding block at the net, prompting a Panther coach to shout a piece of advice from the bench.“You have to see where their blocks are,” he said. “Go around their blocks.”
Good advice indeed.
For the better part of two games, the Falcons blocked one big Tennent hit after another en route to a 2-0 lead, but in the third game, the Panthers temporarily solved the mystery of the Falcons’ defense and stole a win. The Falcons, however, came back to win game three, earning a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Panthers (25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-14).
“It’s always a little frustrating when things go bad for a little bit, but it’s very important that we face good competition during the season,” Falcon junior Jeremy Rhoads said. “We consider ourselves a team that can win the state championship, and we’re going to face teams like this where we have to pick up our play.
“Give them all the credit. They played a great game offensively.”
For the Panthers, winning one game against the defending district champs was a victory in itself.
“I came into this thinking they would sweep us,” Tennent libero Shane Cooney said. “I think everyone else did too.
“The next time we face them our game is going to be that much better because we’re going to have that much more practice. I’m very proud of our performance tonight. We learned a lot, and we know what we have to do the next time.”
Junior Joe Yasalonis led the Falcons with 14 kills while Rhoads added seven kills and Ryan Burns, five kills. Burns and Flick each had five blocks while teammate B.J. Cummings added four. Justin Mueller had a team-high 10 digs while Burns added seven and Rhoads, six.“We’re traditionally a strong blocking team,” said Pennsbury coach Justin Fee, who has made several changes in his lineup. “It’s something we spend a lot of time on at every single practice. When it fell apart, we kind of fell apart. We rely on that a lot.
“We’re going through some little, detail mistakes, like on defensive positioning and transition, and that will come as we practice more. William Tennent is a good team. They played well. They pushed us and exposed some of our weaknesses.”
For the Panthers, Mike Bowler had a monster night at the net with 20 kills. Kyle Sussman added 14 kills wile Matt Hartman and Chris Kazlauskas had six and four kills respectively. Cooney had eight digs, and setter Jeff Milnazik had 38 assists.
“Our middle hitters played very well,” Tennent coach Jim Creighton said of Hartman and Kazlauskas. “They’re two of our newer players, and they stepped up big time.
“We focused a lot on blocking the last couple of practices, and we still have some work, but they jumped a lot better.”
In game one, the Falcons turned a 16-12 lead into a 25-16 win with Rhoads delivering a kill for game point.
“In the first game, we were just trying to figure out what they were doing,” Cooney said. “Their defense is real scrappy, and we picked up our defense too.”
Game two was a dogfight.
The Falcons, who opened up a quick 6-2 lead, saw their lead trimmed to one after a Hartman block, but Noah Prickett answered with a kill for the Falcons. It was a pattern that would be repeated again and again, and it was clear that one run – even a small one – could win it.
The two teams were deadlocked 9-9 after the Falcons were whistled for a carry. There would be eight more ties before the Falcons took a lead they would not lose (18-17) after a Panther serving error.“If we had gotten serves in the whole entire game, it would have been totally different,” Cooney said. “Everyone had a serve out, but against a team like that, you have to jump serve.”
The Falcons led 20-17 after a Burns block, and once again it was Rhoads slamming down a kill for game point.
While it looked as though the Falcons might be on their way to another sweep, the Panthers had other ideas. They took a quick 3-1 lead in game four after a Sussman tip and led 6-3 after the Falcons were whistled for four hits.
It was still a three-point game (9-6) after a Bowler kill. The Falcons knotted the score 11-11 after back-to-back big plays by Yasalonis – the first a kill and then a block, but Hartman answered with a kill from the middle for the Panthers.
The Panthers led 19-16 after a Falcon net serve only to see that lead trimmed to one on five occasions before the Falcons finally knotted the score 23-23 after a Panther hit out of play. The Falcons returned the favor, hitting a ball out of play to put the Panthers on top 24-23. Tennent won it on a Ruvim Volosevich block.
The loss, according to Prickett, may have served a useful purpose.
“It kind of levels us out a little bit,” the senior outside hitter said. “It lets us know what we have to work on.”
In game four, the Falcons used a B.J. Cummings winner and a Tennent hitting error to go on top 12-8. Then it was Prickett’s turn to deliver back-to-back points – the first on a block and the next on a kill to put the Falcons on top 16-9.
“I think one of the big reasons that our blocks are doing so well right now is because of practice,” Prickett said. “That’s the thing we’re constantly drilled in.
“Defense is really crucial, which allows us to get a free ball so we can set up our offense. It’s a credit to Fee because we’re constantly working on it.”The Falcons never looked back, rolling to a 25-14 win with Rhoads once again finishing it off with a kill.
“We had a few position changes, and this is a good test to have at the beginning of the season,” said Prickett, who has moved from opposite to the outside. “They played great tonight, and it was a great opportunity to play against them.”
While the Falcons improved to 4-0, the Panthers fell to 2-2, but Creighton had no complaints about his team’s performance.
“Our program is on the way up, and it’s a good start to our season,” the Panthers’ coach said. “Even though it’s a loss, we take some positives away from it.
“We didn’t get to play them last year, which we wanted to. Maybe this will be a new rivalry.”
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