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HOLLAND – Austin Jacoby looked down at the gold medal draped around his neck. 
“This is probably the best weekend of our senior year,” the Pennridge senior said. “We have our prom tomorrow night. Tomorrow is our senior barbeque, and we’re wearing our medals to school.
“This is the epitome of our senior year. We talked about this since day one.”
The ‘this’ they’ve been talking about since day one was the coveted District One AAA title.
“Me and Zech (States) talk to each other all the time,” Jacoby said. “I sent him a text and said, ‘Dude, tonight is our night. We got this.’”
Jacoby’s text turned out to be prophetic.
The Rams put their names in the history books when they did the improbable – downing Pennsbury, the state’s top-ranked volleyball team, 3-1 with an inspired performance (25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19).
“This means so much,” States said. “Since my freshman year, I always wanted to be good in volleyball, and getting a district championship is awesome.
“I don’t even know how to explain it.”
Making the win even sweeter was the fact that while the Falcons were ranked number one in the latest state poll, the Rams were not even mentioned.
“You know what – we deserve this,” senior Cory Chinnici said. “We deserve the recognition.
“We have done well in tournaments. We have played our best and shown it, but we still haven’t gotten the respect for it. Now we finally did because we showed what we could do. 
“This just means the world. This is it. This is what we worked for. This is all that we came for, and we got it.”
The Rams turned in a performance that bordered on perfection.
Consider only that Jacoby had 20 kills and States 16 kills with only two hitting errors between them – one each. Throw in the fact that the Rams were getting touches on just about every Falcon hit, and it’s easy to understand why they were so successful.
Junior Mike Shenk had a game-high seven blocks to go along with three kills. Chinnici had four blocks and 11 digs. Erik Moyer had eight kills and three blocks. Libero Jake Braun had 19 digs while setter Will Jager had six digs to go along with 45 assists.
“Our defense was awesome,” States said. “That gave us the opportunity to get good passes and get good sets. It ended up giving our hitters better opportunities.
“Will being able to spread the ball helped a lot. Will set really well, and we all hit really well. I don’t know if they were keying on just one or two players, but Will spread the ball out, so they didn’t know what to expect because all of our hitters were getting good solid hits.”
While the Rams were getting whatever they wanted at the net, the Falcons were not. All told, they had 23 hitting errors and finished the night with a .200 hitting percentage.
“They outplayed us in a lot of areas,” Pennsbury coach Justin Fee said. “They outhit us, they outplayed us defensively.
“Our blocking was lousy tonight, our serving was lousy. There wasn’t a lot good, and the stats are going to back up what I’m saying.”
Joe Yasalonis (15 kills) and Jeremy Rhoads (14 kills) led the Falcons at the net. Adam Flick had nine kills and Nate Hall, five kills. Setter Ryan Burns had 41 assists while defensive libero Mike Mamzic had 18 digs.
“That was probably his best match of the year,” Fee said of his libero. “If you’re not blocking anybody at the net, you’re going to get a lot of digs.”
Fee went on to acknowledge that he hoped his team’s win in game three was an omen of things to come.
“I felt after we got that win – the weight is off our chest, it’s time to play now, and at the start of the next game, I thought, ‘Things are starting to look good,’” the Falcons’ coach said. “About a quarter of the way through the game, we went back to the old ways.
“We did not block them at all, and the big part of that is no Jim.”
Jim Zaluski – the Falcons’ dangerous 6-7 middle hitter – has been sidelined with an ankle injury since Pennsbury’s win over Northeastern. His absence was never more apparent than in Thursday’s title match that saw the Rams dominate play at the net.
Their dominance started early.
Jacoby slammed down a kill for the match’s first point, but Rhoads had an immediate answer for the Falcons. A Moyer winner was followed by a Chinnici kill, and when a Falcon hit sailed out of play, the Rams led 4-1.
The Falcons rallied to knot the score 6-6 after a Rhoads kill, and it was an 8-8 game after a Hall kill. Jacoby answered with a kill for the Rams, and a Falcon passing error gave the Rams a two-point edge.
Again, Rhoads delivered a kill to pull the Falcons to within one, but Moyer answered for the Rams. A Yasalonis kill made it an 11-10 game, and this time States answered with a kill. Back-to-back Falcon net violations put the Rams on top 14-10.
It was a 14-12 game after a Burns block, but a Falcon serving error gave the Rams a three-point lead. They stretch their lead to 21-13 after a Jacoby kill as they rolled to the convincing win.
In game two, the Rams led 4-1 after a huge stuff block by States. The Falcons pulled to within one (6-5) after a Dom Tricoche kill, but the Rams went on to open up a 15-10 lead after a Jacoby kill. A Shenk service ace stretched that lead to 18-12, and they never looked back, earning the 25-17 win with Jacoby and Shenk teaming for a block for game point.
“We weren’t blocking the ball straight down to the floor, but we did a great job getting touches and just getting hands up and slowing people down,” Jacoby said. “They have some of the best hitters in the state, and we did a really good job of slowing them down.”
In game three, the Falcons showed signs of regaining the form that made them the state’s top-ranked squad. They led 6-3 after a Rhoads kill only to watch the Rams rally to knot the score 6-6 after a Shenk block. The Rams went on top by one after a Jacoby block, but Flick answered with a kill for the Falcons.
A Yasalonis tip fell in for a winner, and when Rhoads followed that with a kill, the Falcons led 9-7. A Tricoche ace put the Falcons on top 11-7. It was still a four-point game (17-13) after a Yasalonis winner, and the Falcons were able to maintain their lead as they earned the 25-20 win.
“We lost that third game, and we got everybody aside right in the middle of the floor and said, ‘Hey, you know what – this is our night to win,’” Jacoby said. “Nobody thought we would even win a game tonight, but we knew it was our night.
“I said to everybody – ‘We have to keep our heads up. We know they’re going to put balls away, we have to rebound from it and we have to keep our emotions up.’ We were so intense tonight. Every point - whether we lost the point or not, we got together and said, ‘Next point. Next point.’”
The Falcons led 6-5 in game four after a cross-court Yasalonis kill, but a serving error knotted the score. A Rhoads kill put the Falcons on top 11-10, and a Yasalonis tip upped their lead to two. The Rams once again had an answer. This time it was States delivering a kill and following that with a block to knot the score.
The two teams were still deadlocked 16-16, but a Falcon hit out of play gave the Rams a lead they would not lose (17-16).
“We had a few big plays, and that’s what got our momentum back,” Jager said. “We carried on from there.”
It was Shenk delivering a kill for match point to put the finishing touches on the huge win.
“We just played our hearts out,” Jager said. “That’s the best we have played ever as a team. We got down a little bit in the third game, but we kept the intensity up.
“It was just all heart all four games.”
“I really think all of our hard work paid off,” Chinnici added. “We came in ready to play at the top of our game, the best we have ever played, and it just worked out for us.
“They were definitely the best team we ever played, but we just showed up. They were a great match, but we put so much heart in it and wanted it so much, and that’s what came out.”
For the Falcons, Thursday’s appearance in the district title game was their fifth in as many years. They were looking to win their third straight district crown.
Fee put the loss in perspective.
“I hate to say it because I love the district championships, and I don’t like being on the losing end of them, but this is the game to lose,” he said. “It’s only to decide who you play in the next round.
“That’s the one positive you can look at, and the other thing is – now they know – you can’t come and make errors. You have to be at the top of your game at this point in the season or all the goals you set are down the tubes.”
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