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HOLLAND – Blame it on some early-season nerves. Or inexperience. Or a combination of both.That’s what Neshaminy’s Greg Schumann attributed his team’s sometimes inconsistent performance to in Thursday night’s SOL match against Council Rock South.
“At the beginning of the game, we were not playing smart,” Schumann said. “We weren’t covering the ball. We were still tight, and we weren’t really ready, but by the last game, we knew what was going on, and we knew what we had to do.”
One minute it looked as though the Redskins were on their way to a sweep, the next it looked as though they might be extended to five games.
In the end, Neshaminy survived a tenacious Rock South comeback to earn a hard-fought 3-1 win (25-23, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21).
“They have all the talent in the world to do well,” Neshaminy coach Craig Schneider said of his players. “They can be right up there behind Pennsbury and Tennent.
“Mentally we just have to work on being a little bit tougher and able to finish games. We’re still trying to find each other as a team rather than individuals. We’ll keep working hard, and we can’t have distractions during either practices or games. We have to be very focused.”
When the Redskins – after winning the first two games - went up 11-4 in game three, a sweep appeared to be a very real possibility, but the nerves came into play yet again as the Golden Hawks rallied for the come-from-behind win. “A lot of kids were getting scared – a little bit of nerves,” Schumann said. “But we know they can do it. We see them do it at practice, and we saw them do it last year and in club.
“We just have to get over the fear of the game. We can’t put our heads down after one bad play. We have some kids on the team who are new to playing varsity, and if they make one bad play, they put their heads down the rest of the time.”
Schumann led the Redskins’ defense with 22 digs while offensively the Redskins were propelled by the standout 16-kill performance of Ethan Mawhinney. Nathan Keating and Ethan Chase each had seven kills. Setter Ryan Vaccaro had 35 assists.
On the other side of the court, senior Ramy Elshenawy was a presence at the middle, contributing seven kills and seven blocks. He also had two aces and three digs. Ryan Mayer had six kills. Defensive libero Ben Krouse led the Golden Hawks with 19 digs. Tim Beger handed out 20 assists.
Rock South assistant coach Mike Collins, who was filling in for coach Scott Hibbs, was pleased to see his team battle back in game three.
“We settled down a little bit,” he said. “We were down 11-4, and in rally scoring, that’s almost out of reach because everyone is going to go on a one- or two-point run, and if that continues, then we’re not going to be able to catch up.
“They fought back. They started taking care of the volleyball.”
South used a five-point Dave Wilkes service run that included a pair of aces to make it an 11-10 game, but the Redskins responded with a four-point run of their own that was capped by an Ethan Chase kill. Neshaminy still led 22-17 after an errant South pass, but the Indians refused to go away.Elshenawy delivered a kill and then stepped to the service line where he served for four straight points to make it a 22-22 game. Included in that pivotal run were two aces, including an ace just inside the end line to knot the score.
A South hit out of play put the Redskins on top 23-22, but the Indians answered with a kill to knot the score. A Kirk kill gave the Indians a 24-23 lead, and a Redskin passing miscue gave Rock South the big win.
“During the break between games, we step back and realize we’re not playing as well as we can,” Elshenawy said. “We started playing at the level we can play at.”
Game five was another war.
An Elshenawy block at the net that made it 9-9 was the eighth tie of the game. The Redskins opened up a 16-11 lead after back-to-back kills by Mawhinney. They still led 20-15 after a well-placed winner in the back corner by Greg Korhonen and upped that advantage to six.
Again, the Indians refused to go down quietly.
An Elshenawy winner made it a 22-18 game, and after kills by Wilkes and Mayer, the Hawks had trimmed the deficit to two. A Keating kill gave the Redskins a 23-20 edge, and the Golden Hawks would get no closer the rest of the way.
According to Schumann, the Redskins (2-0) needed to avoid a fifth game at all cost.
“Our momentum would have been completely gone,” he said. “I don’t know if anybody would have wanted to be there.”
Schneider, meanwhile, is hoping his team can develop the consistency it will need to beat the top teams.
“They play well when they can,” the Redskins’ coach said. “Right now it’s hard for them to fight back. I think they’ll get it. They have been together for three or four years.
“It’s there. They’re a good bunch of kids. They just have to keep working at it.”
Early on, the Golden Hawks extended the Golden Hawks to the limit in game one before falling 25-23 in a contest that featured 17 ties.
“The thing with volleyball is it’s a five-game match,” Collins said. “As much as you want to win the first game and have the momentum it carries over into the next game, you still have to realize that’s why they play five.
“There’s always a chance like there was tonight. We were down 2-0, and we almost forced it to five. Momentum is constantly switching, and everyone wants to jump out to a quick start because it makes your road a little bit easier in the end, and that’s why you play five.”The Redskins opened up a 12-4 lead in game two and rolled to a 25-16 win.
“Going into the second game, I think the problem was that some of the energy we went into the first game with sort of dissipated,” Elshenawy said. “We sort of lost the intensity we had.
“After their run started, we started to lose focus, and our passing was a little off.”
Despite the Golden Hawks’ comeback, Elshenawy was disappointed with the outcome.
“It’s a loss,” he said. “But we’re still optimistic because it’s still the beginning of the season. We’re just going to take what we can from this.”
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