Pennridge defeated CR North in a hard fought District One AAA title match on Thursday night, and North Penn defeated Tennent to clinch the final state berth. To view photos of both matches, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Six points.
That’s all that separated Pennridge and Council Rock North in Thursday night’s riveting District One AAA title match at Upper Dublin, and it was the top-seeded Rams finding a way to finish out all three tightly contested sets to earn a sweep that was a whole lot closer than the 3-0 score would suggest (27-25, 25-23, 26-24).
The Rams trailed late in the first two sets but battled back for the wins.
“It just shows that we can battle every game and keep our composure and get back in every game,” Devon Rice said. “We never hang our heads, we always have our heads up, and we pulled through the match, helping each other out.
“Every game could have gone either way. We just battled through and kept our composure.”
It was Rice – a four-year varsity veteran – stepping to the fore in the third and final set.
“I’m a captain – we have younger players on the team, and I just picked them up and just go for it when I get a chance,” he said.
With the Rams trailing 18-17 late, a Rice kill knotted score, and another one of his kills put the Rams on top 22-21. A Will Desautelle kill knotted the score, but Rice’s crosscourt kill gave the Rams a 23-22 lead. An errant Indian pass upped the Rams’ lead to two, but back-to-back Ram hitting errors allowed the Indians to knot the score 24-24.
Rice stemmed the tide with a kill that gave the Rams a lead they would not lose as teammate Ben Chinnici closed it out with a kill for match point, giving the Rams their first district title since 2012.
“Ever since my brother started playing volleyball and introduced me to it, I have always looked forward to this – coming into high school and winning a district championship,” said Chinnici, whose brother Ryan was part of the 2012 distric championship squad. “It’s a big win for me.
“This was our starting goal at the beginning of the year to win a district championship. Now we need to set a new goal, which is to get to the state finals.”
The difference between winning and losing, according to the players, was not the highlight reel plays but rather the team’s get-down-and-dirty defense.
“Defense and blocking and playing smart at the end,” Rice said. “Getting our serves in, swinging smart, swinging hard and going for it.”
“Definitely our passing and defense was the key,” senior setter Bradley Nase said. “We played really good defense today, and that’s really what got us the victory.”
“It was definitely defense,” Chinnici added. “We played amazing defense today. We got the ups that other teams wouldn’t, and that saved us. That was huge.
“We got some good defense, and that helped with our offense.“
Leading the defense was libero Max McVaugh with 18 digs while Chinnici had 15 digs to go along with a match high 15 kills. Rice added 11 digs to go along with 14 kills and two aces, and Nase, who was credited with 40 assists, had 10 digs. Henry Savage had eight kills and four blocks, and Aaron Nelson added five kills.
“We have great options at every position, and that really helps keep defenses on their toes,” said Nase. “It keeps us hitting really high percentages.”
On the other side of the court, the Indians knew they had done everything but close out the three games.
“We knew they were a good team – I think they’ve been ranked in the state all year, and we just tried to come out and match them,” senior Josh Hinton said. “A couple serves go in, a couple of blocks find the floor – we were in every game.
“It was disappointing to come this far and have the outcome that happened, but I’m pleased with how the team played. No one played poorly. Everyone played consistently for the most part, and I think we’re going to go into practice and get ready for Wednesday.”
Hinton led the Indians with 10 kills to go along with five digs and one block. Will Stollsteimer (eight kills, three digs, two aces), Desautelle (seven kills, three digs, one block), Nick Reich (four kills, one block, one dig, one ace) and Jason Yakimiv (two kills, five blocks) also contributed at the net. Logan Fuglestad (18 assists, nine digs) and Dalton Abrahamsen (10 assists) split setting duties. Eric Van Thuyne led the defense with 18 digs to go along with two assists. Aaron Knotts and Alex Saraceno both had two digs.
“They’re a very good team,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said. “I thought they played great defensively and offensively. They blocked great. They’re a complete team.
“Both their setters (Fuglestad and Abrahamsen) played great. Whether we sweep them or not, just to get a win is all we really care about. Especially against a good team like that, they’re going to get their points.”
From the outset, Thursday’s match was a war. In the first set, the Rams opened up a 22-16 lead after a Rice service ace, and they still led 23-17 after a Chinnici kill, but a tip for a winner by Stollsteimer ignited an 8-1 run that was capped by a Hinton kill to put the Indians on top 25-24.
A Rock North hit out of play was followed by a Chinnici kill as the Rams regrouped to earn a 27-25 win.
“We never got too down – I think that was important,” Childs said. “They would rattle off a couple of points to close the gap or they would take the lead. We remained calm and moved on to the next point pretty well.
“I think we served tough in those spots. We know we can serve tough and rattle off points from the service line, and I think that’s why we can stay in it mentally a little bit. We did it every way – we blocked well, we got the kills when we needed to from every position.”
The Indians appeared to be in command in the second set, turning a 16-15 deficit into a 21-18 lead. The run began with a Nick Reich service ace and was capped by a Ram mishit.
Again, the Rams had an answer, knotting the score 22-22. A Hinton kill put the Indians on top by one, but back-to-back Rice kills and a double hit call against the Indians gave the Rams the 25-23 win.
“If you weren’t looking at the score, there were a lot of times where you would be thinking we were ahead,” Marchetti said. “I think we controlled game two. At one point, it was 21-18.
“Their playoff experience kind of showed. It showed when we got really, really close to the end. They have seniors on that team that have been in states the last three years, and that really carries you.
“Volleyball is the kind of game if you let a little, little bit of doubt creep into your mind, it’s really hard to overcome that as a team.”
The third set was another war with the Rams once again finding a way to win.
“I was thrilled with the way we came out,” Marchetti said. “That’s a very good team, and we took them completely out of system.
“I think they were a little more efficient than us. I was not disappointed. What I would like is to have more matches like this. They would be great for the sport of volleyball.”
While the Indians came up short in their bid for a district title, they showed they could play with the best.
“One of our goals was to put a banner on the wall,” Hinton said. “Council Rock split into Council Rock North and Council Rock South, and the first banner that was put up was in 2011.
“It was sitting there for four years, and when I got there, we said, ‘Let’s do our best to get a banner.’ If we do get a banner, it says runner-up, but it’s still fulfilling that we got a medal and we worked hard all year to get to this game. Unfortunately, there was that hump of finishing a game.”
Pennridge will face District 3’s third place team – the winner of the Hempfield/Central Dauphin match – in an opening round PIAA Class AAA Tournament game next Wednesday while Rock North will play District 11 champion Parkland.
“It was great to win this, but we’re on to states now, and that’s our next goal – to win states,” Nase said. “It’s definitely great that we can face such great competition before states starts. It will really help us when we face some of the best teams in the state.”
#5 North Penn 3, #3 William Tennent 1 (25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-23)
Connor Sloan’s right shoulder was wrapped in ice after Thursday night’s hard fought win over the Panthers. It was easy to understand why. The North Penn senior had spent the night slamming home kills, finishing the match with 22 kills, six assists and 10 digs.
“He had an amazing match tonight,” coach Tim Moyer said. “He definitely led the way. He was hot tonight. He was big blocking.”
Sloan was one of several players to come up big on a night that saw the Knights clinch a coveted berth in states.
“This was probably the biggest match of my coaching career,” Moyer said. “We have been a tough team all year – 13-3 with two losses against Pennridge. We redeemed that one (loss) to Quakertown when Quakertown was hot early in the season.
“We fought hard down the stretch here, for sure. We were kind of under-seeded with the five seed against Avon Grove, so we had something to prove there. Our seniors stepped up. We played our best match of the season against Pennridge, who hasn’t been pushed that hard all year. That was arguably ours for the taking.
“When we came out of that match, playing the one seed and running with them, I think our guys finally decided that we were probably the number two overall here. Our seniors just decided they wanted to keep going. A lot of heart out there tonight.”
Senior Mark Elias orchestrated the Knights’ win, finishing with 43 assists, 11 digs and five kills. Jake Walters came up big in the middle, delivering 14 kills and two blocks. Tim Dickenson added nine digs and libero Manan Patel had 10 digs.
“We had a lot of energy and put forth a ton of effort,” Elias said. “I think the seniors really stepped up tonight, especially Connor Sloan. He played really well.
“Us seniors needed to lead the team and prove that we belonged to be there.”
The two teams split the first two sets, and in the third set, it was the Knights turning a 17-17 tie into a 25-22 win, thanks to back-to-back kills by Walters that were followed by a Sloan kill to give the Knights a 20-17 lead on their way to the win.
“As a setter, I have to spread it around to make sure that the block doesn’t start cheating on one person,” Elias said. “Saying that, you definitely want to feed the hot hand because they’re getting a lot of kills, but you also want to make sure you’re not setting them every single time because the block will start camping on them.
“You have to give it to other people and rely on them to get a few points here and there.”
In the fourth set, the Knights led 19-13 only to watch the Panthers rally to knot the score with a 6-0 run. The Knights took a 21-19 lead, but again, the Panthers tied things up. A kill by Harsh Boghara gave the Knights a 22-21 lead, but a Jake Milnazik kill made it a 22-22 game. Kills by Sloan and Elias gave the Knights a 24-22 lead on their way to the 25-23 win.
“It was getting a little interesting,” Elias said. “I really wanted to get out of there in four.
“Going into a fifth game – if they had won that fourth game, they would have had all the momentum. It could have been a whole other story.”
“It was a great match, back and forth,” Moyer added. “Our team just stayed positive and really stayed together.
“It’s been a fun ride so far.”
The Knights will face the winner of Friday's Penn Manor-Central York District 3 champioinship game in Wednesday’s opening round PIAA Class AAA match.
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