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FAIRLESS HILLS – Sarah Kiely and Sarah Morrison couldn’t help but wonder what might have been.
What would have happened if their Council Rock North squad – which had game point - could have won the first game of Tuesday night’s SOL opener against Pennsbury.
“We would have gotten momentum for the second game, and it would have given us that much more energy,” Kiely said.
“It definitely would have given us more confidence,” Morrison added. “That’s what we were lacking the second game.”
The Falcons eked out a 26-24 win in the pivotal first game and went on to sweep the visiting Indians 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-16).
“Winning the first game was extremely important,” Falcon captain Kaitlin Wylie said. “We know from prior tournaments if you don’t come out with energy – you’ll just go down from there, and we wanted this so bad.
“It seemed like we wanted it more. We came out with fire, and we just kept going from there.”
Eve Pellitteri led a balanced Falcon attack with seven kills and Emily Merrick had five. Wylie had 19 assists. Kiely led the Indians with 10 kills and three blocks.
A large and spirited crowd turned out for the first of what promises to be an interesting rivalry between the new National Conference foes.
“It’s great,” Pennsbury coach Tim Paulson said of Rock North’s move from the Continental to National Conference. “I love it.
“We had a lot of years of rolling through the league, but I tell you what – I was really, really nervous. They’re a good team, a well-coached team.”
As for the theory that the Falcons wanted it more, Kiely and teammate Sarah Morrison weren’t buying into it.
“I don’t think so,” Kiely said. “I missed the first game against Pennsbury, so I came into this game not playing against them the entire year, and I wanted this game so bad. Every single hit – I wanted it to be a kill, I wanted it to get to the floor.”
“We wanted it bad,” Morrison said.
The difference in this one was Rock North’s problems receiving serves – a problem that was underscored on the opening sequence of the game that saw Pennsbury reel off five straight points – four on Pellitteri service aces.
“We need to work on our serve receive because our passing was really off,” Kiely said. “We kept giving them over pass, and they just kept slamming it in our face. We’re definitely going to work on our passing, getting better pass targets so we can kill it in their face.”
“That were it all starts,” Morrison said. “If we don’t get that, we don’t have a good foundation for the rest of the play.”
The Indians’ serve receive woes prevented them from playing their game at the net.
“In order for us to come back and play aggressive against them, we have to pass,” Rock North coach Kinsey Lynch said. “We have to pass the target, and we weren’t consistent in that element of the game.
“Pennsbury served really well. They served aggressively, and they served to the passers who were making mistakes. It rattled the girls a little bit, and they had to work that much harder to come back. There were moments where they came back. However, at that time it was almost too late to win the game.”
The Indians, after trailing by as many as seven, rallied to seize late control of game one. It began with a Kiely kill that knotted the score 20-20, prompting Paulson to call a quick timeout. Caroline Anderson delivered a service ace to put the Indians on top by one, and a Kiely block was followed by another Anderson ace, giving the Indians a 23-20 lead.
A Rock North service error gave the Falcons life. Pellitteri and Shelby Aleksejczyk delivered back-to-back kills to knot the score. A Falcon hitting miscue put the Indians on top 24-23, but the Falcons rallied to knot the score and took a 25-24 lead after an Indian hit sailed out of play. They won it on a Pellitteri kill.
Rock North opened up a quick 3-0 lead in game two only to watch the Falcons answer with a 12-1 run. The Indians made it a 19-14 game after a Falcon net serve, but Pellitteri broke that run with a kill.
“She’s not the biggest girl out there staturewise, but she plays with a lot of heart and a lot of effort,” Paulson said of his senior outside hitter.
Wylie followed with a dump over the net as the Falcons opened up a 23-14 lead on their way to a 25-19 win.
In game three, the two teams were deadlocked 11-11 before the Falcons closed it out with a 14-5 tear.
“Our ability to serve well was huge,” Paulson said of the key to the match. “Coming back in that first game and winning it was big, but even if we lost that, we figured out what to do to beat them – serving to the right people at the right time. It’s all about serving.”
The dust had not settled on Tuesday’s loss when the Indians were already pointing to the rematch in their house.
“We’re going to work really, really hard, so we can beat them when they come to our place,” Morrison said. “We’re going to work on becoming more mentally tough because we need to pick ourselves up instead of having someone else do it for us.”
The Falcons, meanwhile, hope to build on their strong start.
“This is huge because they’re our toughest competition in our league,” Wylie said. “I think we worked well together.”
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