To view photos of the Pennridge/Cumberland Valley match, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
A pair of SOL squads earned a trip to the elite eight of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament at Penn State University.
Pennridge, the recently-crowned District One champions, will be the new kids on the block at State College while Pennsbury will be making a return trip.
The Rams upended Cumberland Valley, the third place team from District 3, 3-1 in an opening round contest on Tuesday. The Falcons defeated District 11 champion Whitehall by a 3-1 score as well.
Pennridge 3, Cumberland Valley 1 (23-25, 25-12, 29-27, 25-17)
Cumberland Valley spent the season ranked in the state’s top 10. Pennridge has been part of that elite group for two weeks.
On Tuesday night, Cumberland Valley went home for the season. Pennridge did not.
This is the time of year you can throw rankings out the window. Now it’s time to prove it on the court, and the Rams are doing just that, earning respect at every turn with one big win after another.
Seniors Austin Jacoby and Zech States – the cornerstone of the Rams’ turnaround under coach Dave Childs – found themselves giving one interview after another after Tuesday’s big win at Council Rock South. “It’s amazing,” Jacoby said. “If you would have told us two-three years ago we would be in this position, quite honestly we would have laughed because we never thought we’d be this good.
“Coming into this year, if you had told us we were going to Penn State, we would have probably expected it because we set our goals real high, and that’s one of the most important things. Last year, it was our goal to go to the state tournament and be in the final three in the district, and we did that, and I think we were in over our heads when we got there.
“This year we had so much confidence, and we wanted it so bad.”
The Rams were once again led by the all-state duo of States and Jacoby with 14 kills each. States also had four aces while Jacoby had 11 digs. Setter Will Jager had another huge night with 46 assists, and libero Jake Braun had 19 digs. Not to be forgotten was the standout effort of middles Mike Shenk (five kills, four blocks) and Erik Moyer (eight kills, four blocks).
“The end of the third game was the key to the whole match,” Ram coach Dave Childs said. “Erik (Moyer) and Mike (Shenk) – I didn’t look at their numbers, but we made them swing three times to get the ball over the net and get a kill, and that was a key, especially to that sequence at the end.
“We blocked them real well. We knew they had good middles – they gave us trouble in the tournaments.”
Another key to the match was the ability of the Rams to make some adjustments after falling to the Eagles in game one. In game two, they took away the Eagles’ primary hitter who was hurting the Rams with kills down the line in the first game.
“In the first game, we were kind of lackadaisical at the net,” States said. “We weren’t getting our blocks up, and we weren’t doing the things we should be doing.
“Going into that second game, we said in the huddle, ‘We have to be bigger at the net,’ and that’s what we did.”
“We even talked to Cory (Chinnici) and Will (Jager), the guys blocking out there,” Jacoby added. “We said, ‘You don’t have to hit a block straight down. As long as you’re getting touches and getting hands up – four hands are really important because even if you’re not getting the block, you’re going to make him change his swing.’
“He started hitting balls out because he started getting blocked, and I think it’s really important to just get hands up there.”
The Rams’ desire to win was never more apparent than in a grueling third game after the teams had split the first two games of the match.
It was a one or two-point game most of the way until the Eagles reeled off five straight points to turn an 18-16 deficit into a 21-18 lead. An Eagles’ serving error was followed by a States kill, and when Jager delivered a service ace, the two teams were deadlocked 21-21.
An Eagle hit out of play was followed by a States winner, putting the Rams on top 23-21. They still led 24-22 after a Chinnici block, but the Eagles refused to go down quietly, fighting off four game points. The Rams escaped with a 29-27 win after Jacoby delivered a kill for game point.
“That was big,” States said. “Just getting the momentum back on our side was great.
“Fans were kind of down at that point, and getting those last two points gave us the big momentum boost.”
The fourth game was little more than a formality as the Rams opened up a 14-5 lead on their way to the big win. States put the finishing touches on the game when he delivered a kill into the corner for match point.
Pennsbury 3, Whitehall 1 (25-13, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15)
The Falcons showed no ill effects from their district title match loss to Pennridge, rolling to a convincing win over the District 11 champs. The only blip in an otherwise standout effort came in game two.
“In the second game, we didn’t pass the ball real well,” coach Justin Fee said. “We dropped our level of play, and we were forcing things a little bit and were a little predictable who we were going to set.
“They had a nice big middle that was doing a really good job of blocking us in that game.”
The Falcons hit .172 in game two but above .300 the rest of the match.
“That was definitely the story,” Fee said. “We had tons of blocks tonight, and that made a world of difference.”
Joe Yasalonis put his name in the record books as he became the all-time leader in kills and blocks in a career at Pennsbury. The senior standout had 22 kills and seven blocks which gave him 562 career kills and 182 career blocks.
The match also marked the return to the lineup of senior middle hitter Jim Zaluski, who delivered seven kills and seven blocks. Jeremy Rhoads and Dom Tricoche each had eight kills. Rhoads also had two blocks and seven digs. Tricoche, who had a team-high .462 hitting efficiency, also had one block and five digs. Adam Flick chipped in with six kills and four blocks.
Defensive libero Mike Mamzic had seven digs while setter Ryan Burns had 49 assists to go along with five digs and one block.
The tone for the match was set early on.
“We started out real big,” Fee said. “Jim (Zaluski) and Joe (Yasalonis), our two biggest blockers, were next to one another, and we made sure we put them against their best hitter.
“The first swings of the game he had – we blocked him two or three times straight for points, and that kind of set the tone.”
Fee acknowledged that Zaluski’s return is significant.
“Our back row defense behind him has to cover less court because he takes up so much space, and he takes away the angle good hitters can hit, and that makes it a little easier on us to get digs,” Fee said. “That’s huge for us.
“Offensively, he gets more sets because he’s more of a force, and it lessens the burden on Dom (Tricoche), Joe (Yasalonis) and Jeremy (Rhoads). It’s one more weapon we can get the ball too.”
A return trip to Penn State was high on the list of the team’s goals this season.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Fee said. “We’re not looking at a state championship.
“The state rankings can mess with you for a while – when you’re number one for so long, that’s kind of what you expect, and when you get down, you think ‘It shouldn’t be like this,’ and you start putting too much pressure on yourself.
“I’m trying to break these guys of that. You have to have fun out there. I think we lost a little bit of that. I don’t think we were having fun against Pennridge. I don’t think we were having a lot of fun against Council Rock North in the game before that. I’m hoping that we’ll go back to being the team that has fun on the court but at the same time is totally focused and trying their best to do everything they need to do.”
Central York 3, Souderton 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-18)
Souderton saw its season come to an end at the hands of the District Three champions.
Luke Pinto led the Indians with six kills and three service aces while Jeff Bishop had five kills and three blocks. A.J. Androkites had four kills while Christian Benner led the defense with 12 digs.
The Indians closed out the season with a 17-5 overall record.
- Log in to post comments
0
