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STATE COLLEGE – The scene was a study in contrasts.
While teams all around them were fighting for their lives, Pennsbury’s varsity players watched from the bench – laughing and cheering - as their junior varsity played the final game of Friday’s pool play match against State College in the PIAA Class AAA Tournament.
The Falcons had already clinched the coveted top spot in Pool A, avoiding a semifinal match against North Allegheny - the state’s top ranked team and first place finisher in Pool B - and earning instead a rematch with rival Pennridge..
“I’m so thrilled,” coach Justin Fee said. “We have been here the past two years, and our goal was always to make the second day, and when we make it to the second day, we have to re-establish new goals.
“Our philosophy going into this year was win one game at a time.”
Twice in their program’s history – in 2004 and 2007 – the Falcons advanced to the state final. Both times they finished second.
“This means just about the world,” senior co-captain Dom Tricoche said. “To know you’re one of the top four teams in the whole state is an awesome feeling.
“Thinking of all the teams in all the high schools, it’s almost mind blowing to be in the top four. It means we’re at the same level as those guys in ’07 and ’04.”
Playing with the resolve of a champion, the Falcons battled their way through a minefield of the state’s best teams to earn the top spot in their pool – defeating the second (Central York), fourth (State College) and sixth (Fox Chapel) ranked squads.
Nothing came easily on this day, but nothing could stand in the way of a Falcon squad on a mission.
“We played with a lot of energy,” senior Jeremy Rhoads said. “We knew every single team in this pool could beat anybody.
“We knew going into this we had to beat three really good teams. We were focused, and we came in and played the best we played all year.”
The tone for the day was set in the opening match when the Falcons downed District 3 champion Central York in three straight games (25-22, 25-19, 25-22).
Joe Yasalonis – who was unstoppable all day – dominated play at the net with 21 kills. Setter Ryan Burns had 30 assists. Jim Zaluski had six blocks while Dan Salinas had a pair of service aces.
If there was a defining moment in the day, it came in the Falcons’ second match – a war with a Fox Chapel Academy squad that is led by Stanford-bound Daniel Tubin.
The Falcons won game one 25-16 but fell 18-25 in the second game, setting up a classic showdown in the third game.
Win and the Falcons would advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Lose and it would set up a must-win match with a State College team that had won its first two matches against Fox Chapel and Central York by identical 3-0 scores.
Seven times in game three the Falcons had match point, seven times Fox Chapel fought it off.
Kills by Rhoads put the Falcons on top twice, first at 24-23 and then 25-24. Each time, Fox Chapel had an answer. A kill by Zaluski put the Falcons on top 26-25, but Tubin responded with a kill for the Foxes to knot the score.
“Not a single person took a break,” Yasalonis said. “Every single point, everyone was up as high as they could be.
“It’s games like that where the other guys on the court are the most important people on the court. If not for them stepping up, nobody wins.”
“It was doing the little things,” Burns added. “It was getting the ball up and giving me a chance to set the ball and do what I’m supposed to do.”
A Tricoche kill put the Falcons on top 27-26, but a Falcon serve out of bounds knotted things up yet again. The Falcons led 28-27 after an unforced Fox hitting error, but a kill by Fox Chapel’s Mike Lucas knotted the score.
The Foxes had their first match point after a Tubin kill, but a Yasalonis tip knotted things up. A Fox Chapel net violation put the Falcons on top 30-29, but Tubin answered the call once more, delivering a kill.
Rhoads responded with a kill for the Falcons, and a win to the marathon game was in the books after Burns delivered a clutch service ace.
“I knew right when I was serving,” Burns said. “I was going to serve where that kid was weak – the same spot, and he shanked it.
“I dropped to my knees, a weight just dropped off my back. It’s so much fun going after it and having a game like that.”
“Those are the best games,” Yasalonis added. “Every time we got a kill – it’s the most exciting feeling ever.”
In another huge performance, Yasalonis had 20 kills and only five errors for a .484 hitting percentage. Rhoads had 12 kills and just two errors for a hitting percentage of .500.
“I did a lot of screaming and yell, not because I was angry but because I wanted to show them I wanted it so badly,” Fee said. “I know they wanted it, but they were starting to get lazy on some of the fine details.
“When you fire them up, it gets them over the hump.”
Assured a spot in Saturday’s semifinals, the Falcons weren’t satisfied, silencing the partisan State College crowd by winning the first two games 25-20 and 25-19 to win the match and capture first place in their pool. With regulars from both sides resting, State College won the third game 25-21.
“That’s what we were trying to do going into this game,” Fee said. “I thought North Allegheny would come out first in the other pool, and I don’t want to play them until the final.
“The semifinal is no cakewalk either.”
Yasalonis had 16 kills and just three errors, this time hitting at a .591 clip.
“He’s playing like a champ,” Fee said of his senior outside hitter. “It was Joe again. He singlehandedly won the game for us.”
The Falcons’ strong showing on Saturday erased memories of early exits at the state tournament the past two years.
“The last two years, the only problem we have had was not making it out of pool play,” Burns said. “The fact that we made it out of pool play…”
The Falcons’ senior setter never finished his sentence before Yasalonis pointed out that the team’s goals include more than just advancing out of pool play.
“That’s not enough,” the senior outside hitter said. “That’s not enough.
“We have come here for nothing but a state championship.”
On Saturday, the Falcons will have a chance to vie for a state title. Pennridge will be their first obstacle.
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