Council Rock North defeated Emmaus in the title match of the Quakertown Tournament.
There’s no such thing as a last chance tournament in the sport of volleyball, but for the seven seniors who provide the nucleus of this year’s Council Rock North squad, Saturday’s Quakertown Tournament was their final opportunity to capture a tournament title.
The Indians seized the moment, edging Emmaus 2-1 in a riveting title match (24-26, 25-22, 16-14). The celebration when a Green Hornet kill attempt sailed out of play for match point told the story.
“This is great,” senior co-captain Eric Van Thuyne said. “You always want to look back on your season thinking you pushed to the last point, and winning this tournament shows we pushed to the last point here.
“Our whole roster got in. It was a great experience for everyone, and to win it, it’s even better.”
“It feels amazing,” added senior co-captain Jason Yakimiv. “Every single point was filled with emotion.
“We learned a lot from this tournament, and we also got a lot of experience with the younger kids, which was the main goal of this whole tournament.”
After dropping the first set of the title match, the Indians rallied to close out the second. A Will Desautelle kill knotted the score 17-17, the final tie of the tightly contested match. A block by Logan Fuglestad put the Indians on top 19-17, and that lead grew to three points after an Emmaus hitting error. A Yakimiv winner gave the Indians a 21-17 lead, and they still led by four (23-19) after a Van Thuyne kill. A Fuglestad winner made it a 24-20 game, and the Indians won it when Fuglestad’s serve hit the tape and fell over for set point.
“They’re a very good offense, and what you have to do is play some defense, pick up their hits and just put it right back – play every point out,” Van Thuyne said.
“You also need to serve aggressively,” said Yakimiv. “When we do make errors, we have to come together as a team and just focus on the next play because it doesn’t matter if you mess up – it’s what happens afterwards.”
The third set was a nail biter. Emmaus led 5-3, but the Indians rallied to knot the score 6-6. The two teams were deadlocked at seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 and 13. The Green Hornets took a 14-13 after coming up with a block at the net, and with the Green Hornets serving for match point, Yakimiv delivered a first contact kill to knot the score. With Desautelle serving, Harry Wyatt rose above the net for a block that put the Indians on top 15-14, setting the stage for match point.
“The goal is to play our best volleyball at the end of the day,” coach Greg Marchetti said. “I don’t think we started the match against Emmaus playing our best volleyball – we were a little hesitant at times.
“We talked about trying to be more aggressive, trying to take them a little bit out of system. About halfway through game two and into game three, we started playing some pretty solid volleyball.”
The championship of the Quakertown Tournament, according to Marchetti, was the program’s first since 2001.
“That was when it was Council Rock, so Council Rock North has never won this tournament,” the Indians’ coach said. “They haven’t had it since 2013 when we were in the semis. Other years when we had stronger teams we made it to the finals.
“At this point of the season, you’re trying to compete against the best teams possible. It’s a very long season. There are some matches you look forward to and some you don’t. In a tournament like this, it’s not a guarantee you’ll always play the best teams. Your goal is to play the best teams, and coming into this, Emmaus was one of the teams that we looked at that we were really hoping to have an opportunity to play.
“I think we learned a lot about ourselves. Since the Pennsbury loss early in the season, we’ve been on a pretty good win streak, and we’re looking to use this to build momentum heading into the six games left in the last two weeks of the season.”
Everyone in uniform on Saturday saw playing time. Fuglestad, the team’s setter, had a busy day, finishing with 62 assists, 12 digs, five kills, five aces and three blocks. Desautelle finished with a team-high 27 kills to go along with 20 digs, four blocks and one ace. Yakimiv had 22 kills, 15 digs and a team-high 12 blocks. Van Thuyne had 15 kills, 21 digs and one block. Wyatt added 16 kills, eight digs, six aces and four blocks. Alex Saraceno led the defense with 24 digs while Aaron Knotts had 18. Robby Ward added 23 assists, eight digs, four aces and two kills.
Also making contributions were Sean Helmlinger (seven kills, two aces), Tommy Angelina (six kills, three blocks), Keven D’Arcy (6.5 blocks, one kill), Will Hewitt (seven blocks, two kills), Brad Haggerty (5.5 blocks, one kill), Jack Gunshenan (three kills, two aces, two blocks, one dig), Nick Baniewicz (12 assists, two kills, one ace), Justin Walton (four digs, two blocks, one kill, one ace) and Sean D’Arcy (four kills).
“All in all, it was a team effort,” Marchetti said. “If you look at our stats, our varsity starting team did not play every one of our games. They played about half of them.
“Specifically during pool play, a lot of our younger players got a lot of time, and that allowed our older players to rest. I think that provided an advantage toward the end of the day.”
The Indians rolled through the day without a loss, finishing first in their pool with a 9-0 record that included wins over Bethlehem Catholic, Brandywine Heights and North Pocono. The Indians received a bye in the opening round of playoffs and then defeated archrival Council Rock South in straight sets in the semifinals (25-20, 29-27).
“We have a crazy home stretch with a lot of home games and a big out of league match against Liberty,” Van Thuyne said. “This emotion should definitely drive us.
“From here on out at every practice and every game, we’re going to push harder, wanting this feeling back.”
“These last couple of points – we have to carry that (intensity) through the whole season,” Yakimiv said. “If we play like that, we can go far.”
Rock North will return to action on Monday against Christopher Dock in a non-league match.
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