Pennridge advanced to Saturday’s PIAA Class AAAA semifinals while Souderton saw its season end in pool play on Friday at the state tournament.
Early Friday matches have not been especially kind to the Pennridge volleyball team, and this year was no exception. For the third time in three years, the Rams dropped their first match in pool play at the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament at Penn State University.
Undeterred, they came back to win their next two matches to earn a spot in Saturday’s state semifinals.
“That was my personal goal because I wanted a medal,” senior Mike Bollinger said. “Erik Moyer was here twice before, and he got a medal, so it was different for him, but this is my last chance to get a medal, and I wanted that so bad. I’m so happy we got this far.
“Now that we’re here I want a gold or silver medal. I don’t want a bronze medal.”
Erik Moyer led the Rams with 36 kills and nine blocks, and Kalin Nelson had 29 kills, 35 digs and six aces. Ryan Chinnici had 10 kills, 20 digs and six blocks while Bollinger had 16 kills and seven blocks. Setter Austin McVaugh had 94 assists and Christian Lizana had 37 digs.
“Mike was huge for us all day in the middle,” coach Dave Childs said of Bollinger. “He really had his best day by far. You need people to step up, and he did that all day.
“Erik ended up having a good day after a slow start and the same with Kalin. He was huge.”
Stepping into the lineup and making important contributions after senior Derek Rush left after the first match to go to the prom were Evan Jacoby (seven kills, three blocks) and Ian Kehs (13 digs).
“They haven’t played meaningful volleyball in two to three weeks, and they stepped in and did a really good job,” Childs said. “That was key.
“Today was a totally team effort, which makes it that much nicer.”
In their opening match of the day, the Rams fell to Chambersburg, the state’s second-rated team, in three straight games (25-14, 25-18, 25-23).
“It was tough because if you lose the first match, you’re going into the rest of the day down,” Bollinger said. “But if you play them at the end, you go into the next day down.
“It’s really hard. We didn’t really see a lot of stuff they were running. They ran their middles really weird, and that threw us off right in the beginning.”
The loss to Chambersburg meant that the Rams final two matches were must-wins.
“It was tough because if we lost to Emmaus, the rest of the day didn’t matter too much,” Bollinger said. “We really had to take it game by game. That sounds cliché, but it was really exciting.”
Things didn’t look promising when the Rams dropped the first game of their match to third-ranked Emmaus 25-23, but they rallied for a come-from-behind 26-24 win in game two after trailing 22-19. That turned the tide as the Rams went on to win the third game 25-18.
“On paper, Emmaus is just like us,” Bollinger said. “They have a short setter, a really good middle and two good outsides, so they were really, really similar to us and the way we play. We knew that was going to be a really good game.”
In their third match of pool play, the Indians swept a Lower Dauphin squad that was ranked sixth in the state (25-18, 26-24, 25-19).
“There was a lot of pressure off because the way we beat Emmaus was pretty convincing, and that gave us a lot of confidence going into Lower Dauphin,” Bollinger said.
And what was the difference between the Rams’ play in the first match and their performance in the next two?
“We definitely picked up our passing and blocking, and that’s what saved us,” Bollinger said. “Our serving was better, but I really think we were probably the weakest serving team there, but when our serve receive defense and blocking is up, we can play with anyone. Especially our blocking because that sets up the defense.”
“We definitely picked up our blocking and serve receive in the second and third games,” Childs agreed. “We played really lousy in the first match. We have done that every year for the last three years, but we bounced back and won the next two, which was huge for us. We didn’t have to do a playoff for the first time as well.”
The Rams face a daunting task when they will take on the state’s top-ranked team, Central Dauphin, in a semifinal match at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
“The key is just coming out and playing our game,” Childs said. “At this point, if you’re on, you’re on, and if you’re not, you’re going to go home.
“I think if we go out and play like we did the second half of the day today we’ll be all right.
“This was the goal here – to get to the second day. Anything can happen then. It’s whoever gets hot.”
Indians’ season ends – The Indians dropped their first two matches of the day but rallied to defeat Parkland in their final match. It wasn’t enough for the Indians to escape pool play as they saw their season come to an end.
“Every team that was out there was a legitimate contender,” coach Brad Garrett said. “To be in that mix and to not feel overwhelmed playing a team like Central Dauphin shows a lot of progress for us this year because I don’t think some people would have placed us there when they made predictions at the beginning of the year.
The day started off with a 3-0 loss at the hands of Norwin.
“Our defense and passing were really out of sync,” Garrett said. “We just didn’t wake up early enough for this one, but the guys that were hitting did a great job.”
In their second match of the day, the Indians hung tough against top-ranked Central Dauphin – which went on to win the pool – but fell 2-1.
“That was actually a pretty good match,” Garrett said. “I thought everyone played pretty well. There were just crucial errors at crucial times against a really good opponent.”
With their fate already decided, the Indians finished the day strong, defeating Parkland 2-1.
“Everyone played loose, and everyone played well,” Garrett said.
The Indians were ranked 10th in the latest coaches poll.
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