Upper Dublin rallied to defeat Council Rock North 3-2 in the District One 3A third place match to earn the third and final berth in the state tournament. Photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for BOYS' VOLLEYBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
District One 3A third place
#5 UPPER DUBLIN 3, #6 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2 (23-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-20, 16-14)
The dust had not settled on the Flying Cardinals inspired come-from-behind win in a grueling five-set match when David Levin – in the middle of a postgame interview – spotted teammate Ben Dorsey.
“I want him in here too – that’s my co-captain,” Levin said, pulling his teammate into the interview. “I just want him in here. He deserves it, he’s worked so hard.”
Hard work and teamwork might well define a Cardinal squad that graduated eight seniors from last year’s District One 3A runner-up squad. Levin was a key member of last year’s successful squad, Dorsey was not.
In Thursday’s third place match that saw the winner earn the final coveted state berth, Levin and Dorsey shared the spotlight.
Dorsey had a team-high 25 kills to go along with 17 digs while Levin had 20 kills, 32 digs, one ace, one assist and two blocks.
“This means a lot,” Dorsey said. “We went to states last year – it was a big moment, but I was on the bench. One thing I wanted to do this year was making it back on the team on the court, so to come here with all these guys – all the juniors and Dom (Plaku), a sophomore – meant a lot.”
Listening to Levin tell it, the Cardinals never lost faith even when they trailed two sets to none.
“We played them earlier in the season – we went up 2-0, and they took us down 3-0, reverse sweep,” Levin said. “We knew that there was an opportunity, we knew we’d taken sets off of them before. We just tried to come out as hard as possible with the most energy and prove to them that we wanted to win.
“At the beginning of the fifth set, I looked at the team, and I said, ‘Listen, runs happen. Whatever happens, get the next point. Don’t worry about the previous point.’ All of our guys trust in each other. We’ve been playing together as a team. We know we’re not the most skilled team out there, but we know if everyone’s got each other’s back, there’s nothing that we can’t do.”
UD coach Paul Choi made several lineup changes that also helped turn the tide.
“Terrell (Turner) usually plays middle, and he started out on the right side,” Dorsey said. “Everyone felt a lot more comfortable, everyone was in a position they were in before.
“David’s been playing outside all of last year and half of this year. Cole Brown’s been setting the whole time, and everyone felt comfortable. We all settled in. We had been up 2-0 against CR North before, and to come back down from down 2-0, it felt good.”
Choi also gave his team some words of encouragement.
“We just told them to never give up, never give up faith in each other and their team,” the UD coach said. “We said we got this far as a team, this is how we finish – to just believe in each other.
“I have to give a lot of credit to my seniors, my captains. They’re the leaders of this team. If they’re up and they’re positive and they’re together, everyone kind of follows suit with them. I give them a lot of credit because they do a lot of the charge on the court as well as off the court.”
Setter Cole Brown also had a big night for the Cardinals, finishing with 45 assists and 22 digs. Plaku had 11 digs and two assists, and Terrell Turner contributed seven kills, two aces, one assist, nine digs and one block.”
“No one ever thought we’d be in this position, especially at the beginning of the season losing eight seniors from last year,” Choi said. “I don’t think anyone on the team knew that we could get this far, but once the season started, things started to click. We started having bigger aspirations for the team.”
And on Thursday night, the Cardinals realized those aspirations.
“This feels great,” Levin said. “It feels great to show everybody what we’re made of.”
“We really had to earn it at the end,” Dorsey added. “We fought for every point.”
“Yes, we did,” Levin said. “We’re a team.”
Upper Dublin (16-5, 13-1 SOL) will open state tournament play on Tuesday against an opponent to be determined. Council Rock North closed out its season with a 17-8 record overall, 10-4 in the SOL.
“Much respect to Council Rock North led by James Koodathil, who always does a great job with the team,” Choi said. “I’m very proud of UD staying composed and being resilient all night. It’s a great accomplishment being able to make states for the second year in a row.”
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