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ABINGTON – Coach Chad Gough wasn’t particularly interested in talking about moral victories after his Harry S. Truman squad extended Abington to five games before falling in SOL action on Monday.“I don’t believe in moral victories,” the Truman coach said after the Ghosts’ eked out a 3-2 win (25-13, 25-11, 20-25, 20-25, 15-9). “I feel as though the guys worked hard and deserved that fifth game.”
No one will argue that point, but for the Truman players, it was hard to keep the Tigers’ first five-game match of the season out of the moral victory column even though it ended in a loss.
“I think we definitely take something positive from this,” Truman senior John Vittorio said. “We have been struggling to go five games, and that’s an accomplishment in itself.”
“It’s a step in the right direction,” senior Jordan Thayres added. “It’s disappointing we lost, but it was a good game. We played well.”
The Tigers played well enough to turn what looked like it was going to be a short afternoon into a match that pushed the Ghosts to the limit.
“I was pretty frustrated because I know we are a lot better team,” Abington senior Marco Paparo said. “We could have beaten them in three games easily.”
The win was the first of the season for the Ghosts after dropping their first six matches.
“It feels good to win,” Paparo said. “We should have won games before. We were really close, but getting a win is still good for the morale.”The Ghosts certainly made it look easy enough as they cruised to convincing wins in the first two games.
Then came a third game that saw coach Jaeson Han give some of his back-ups playing time, and suddenly, the Ghosts lost their swagger as the Tigers roared back to steal the win.
“In the first two games, we got into a rhythm,” said Paparo, who led the Ghosts with 20 kills to go along with two aces and two blocks. “When we went to our new rotation, we had players who don’t usually play on the floor, and it was a little rough for them. They’re not used to the experience, and we started to decline, and we lost our rhythm.”
Once they lost their rhythm, the Ghosts never really got it back, and the Tigers seized the moment. Even with the Ghost starters back on the court for game four, the Tigers had momentum and – more importantly – confidence as they won that game as well.
“We started to get a little more aggressive – not let anything slide by, play every point,” Vittorio said.
Truman was led by the 20-kill effort of junior Mike Kasperski. He also had two blocks and two aces. Vittorio had 10 kills in a supporting role. Sophomore setter Jay Patel had eight assists for the Tigers, who have just seven players on their roster.
“We try to work off every single match,” Gough said. “We played Cheltenham tough. We were in the 20s against them in three games.
“We took a lot out of that match and brought it here. (Losing the first two games) 25-13, 25-11, you’d think we would be on the bus an hour ago. I told these guys, ‘It can’t be us.’ It has to be the guys on the court, and that’s what happened. Guys stepped up today and played their hearts out.”In game one, the Ghosts turned an 8-7 lead into a 17-8 lead. The 9-1 run began with a Paparo kill and ended with an Adam Bender block. The Tigers were never heard from again as the Ghosts rolled to the decisive win.
Game two was more of the same as the Ghosts opened up a quick 9-2 lead and upped that lead to 16-5 after a Roscoe dump for a winner. A Bender winner for game point put the finishing touches on the 25-11 win.
“We had something good going,” Paparo said. “We had our hitting going, our blocks were there, and we were definitely dominating the first couple of games.”
But then came the game that turned the tide.
Truman went on top 9-7 in game three after a Kasperski kill, and when Abington was whistled for two hits, the Tigers led by three. Abington rallied to go on top 18-14 after a Paparo kill, and a sweep seemed all but assured.
The Tigers had other ideas.A Thayres service ace pulled the Tigers to within one (18-17), and they knotted the score 19-19 after an Abington passing error. Paparo delivered a kill to put the Ghosts on top 20-19, but Vittorio answered with a kill for the Tigers to knot the score.
The Tigers – benefitting from several Abington hitting errors – reeled off the next five points for the big win.
“Our biggest problem is we’re not keeping our intensity,” Paparo said. “We’re thinking, ‘This team isn’t good enough. We can take it easy,’ and we can’t take it easy.’
“It’s tough, but we just have to focus and try harder.”
The Ghosts opened up a quick 7-3 lead in game four and upped that lead to 10-5 after a Michael Murray kill. Abington still led 16-10 after a Marcello Llanos service winner, but Vittorio delivered a winner that sparked a 7-1 Truman run that included a Kasperski tip as well as a Vittorio service winner and several Abington miscues.
“It totally was frustrating,” Han said. “The key thing was we fell out of rhythm, and Truman started to get in rhythm. They play really scrappy ball.
“I was a little scared at times. I felt like they were going to take over.”
Truman led 20-18 after a Kasperski kill, and they went on to earn a 25-20 win.
“We played as a team,” Gough said. “Nobody gave up, everybody did what they were supposed to do and stayed aggressive. It paid off those two games.”
In game five, the two teams were deadlocked 3-3, but Abington went on a 7-1 tear to effectively put the game and match out of reach.
“We knew we couldn’t get down early,” Gough said. “We gave up that run in the middle, and unfortunately, that got us.”
Paparo slammed home a kill for match point, bringing to an end the 95-minute match.
“The first six games, we have faced a lot of tough teams,” Han said of his team’s 0-6 start. “By the third or fourth game, guys started getting really discouraged, so we had some talks.
“I tried to get these guys mentally on track and prepared, keeping them motivated and having fun regardless of whether we’re winning or losing.
“It was great to have a win. It’s bittersweet because it came in five games, but at the same time, Truman is really working hard. They only have seven kids over there. It’s great what they have done.”
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