Pennsbury was the SOL’s lone survivor in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA 3A Tournament. Pennsbury/La Salle and CB East/Northeastern photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-3 Pennsbury 3, #12-1 La Salle (19-25, 25-20, 21-25, 26-24, 18-16)
It wasn’t easy, but it was a win, and the Falcons were more than happy to take it over a La Salle squad that extended Pennsbury to the limit.
“Fifth sets are always crazy in any volleyball game,” senior setter Andy Delworth said. “I think we did a good job of staying positive, but there was definitely a sense of urgency.
“We’re a really tight-knit group and that helped us. No one got down on each other, so in the end, it worked out and we survived another day.”
The Falcons appeared to be in command when they opened up a 12-8 lead in the fifth set, but the Explorers reeled off four straight points out of a timeout to knot the score. A Justin Sadley kill broke La Salle’s run, but the Explorers evened the score 13-13. The Explorers were whistled for a double hit, giving the Falcons a 14-13 lead and match point, but the Explorers evened the score and had match point of their own when a Falcon hit sailed out of play.
A Sebastian Kloda kill knotted the score 15-15, and a kill by Jacob Loerch gave the Falcons a 16-15 lead. Again, the Explorers answered, this time with a kill of their own, but another Loerch kill put the Falcons on top 17-16, setting the stage for setter Delworth’s first contact kill for match point.
“What are the odds?” Delworth said of a setter getting the kill for match point. “It’s always fun. I’m just lucky that I was there and lucky that it ended up hitting the floor.”
Any thoughts that the Falcons would be in for a cakewalk were quickly put to rest when the Explorers – after dropping the first set – won the next two.
“I’ve seen us come out and play hot against teams we knew we could take care of, and other times I’ve seen us struggle,” Pennsbury coach Justin Fee said. “It probably gets back to us not serving tough.
“I keep saying that every time we’re here and we don’t play really well. If you’re not going to serve tough – you could see their middles were all of a sudden getting hot and getting kills on us. I don’t think we passed particularly well either against a team that wasn’t super strong at serving. What we pinpointed a long time ago as our Achilles heel is showing up. We’re continuing to work on it, and hopefully, it will come around.
“The whole serving thing is messing my game plans up. I know what we want to do at the net, and I have our guys doing it, but when we’re not serving tough enough and getting them out of system or even slightly out of system, it’s causing us to scramble a lot.”
Justin Sadley’s 26 kills led the Falcons at the net.
“He started out really slow – he might have swung and missed on the first few balls, so it’s nice to see him with some good numbers and still have a nice efficiency,” Fee said.
Kloda had 10 kills and a hitting percentage of .364. Nathan Sadley also had 10 kills with a hitting percentage of .389. Jacob Loerch had 14 kills and seven digs. Luke Bucksar also had 10 kills. Matt Caissie led the defense with nine digs. Delworth had 59 assists and seven digs.
“Andy was pretty steady and set the right people all night,” Fee said. “It was just that we were off at times when he was setting the right guys.”
Pennsbury (16-3, 13-1 SOL) will face District 3 champion Central York in a second round match on Saturday.
#3-2 Northeastern 3, #1-1 Central Bucks East (21-25, 25-15, 25-18, 16-25, 15-11)
The gym was rocking.
A block by Thomas Gallagher-Teske for set point had just evened Tuesday night’s riveting PIAA 3A opener against Northeastern at two games apiece, and chants of ‘Let’s go East, let’s go East’ filled Bensalem’s gym as the Patriot fans – certain their team had all the momentum after rallying from a 2-1 deficit – were on their feet.
But any momentum the Patriots may have had was lost in the winner-take-all-fifth set when the Bobcats opened up a 4-0 lead and led 7-2 when an East serve sailed out of play. Down but hardly out, the Patriots rallied, pulling to within one (8-7) after a service winner by Gallagher Teske. The Bobcats, however, would not be denied, opening up a 10-7 lead and going on to earn a 15-11 win.
“I think the whole match there was a lot of flipping back and forth between two teams who run different systems,” senior captain Dylan Colbert said. “Whenever we were playing at their pace, they had the edge, and whenever they were playing at ours, we were going on big runs.
“A lot of it came down to the passing and some disciplinary things that fall on every single guy we had out there. We had a couple of great plays in the fifth set also. It was back and forth.”
Tuesday’s match featured a pair of teams that have resided in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association top 10 – Northeastern was third in the most recent poll while the Patriots were sixth. It figured to be an intense match, and it didn’t disappoint. When the dust had settled, the Bobcats had handed the Patriots their first loss in 23 matches.
“It was a great season – 22-1,” coach Rob Minschwaner said. “Not exactly the way we expected it to end up.
“It’s unusual that the number one seed (from District 1) gets the number two seed from the strongest district in the state (District 3). I don’t know how they decide it, but you had to face them sooner or later.”
The Patriots served early notice that they were not the least bit intimidated by the Bobcats’ impressive resume, which included the last six PIAA 2A state titles. The Patriots from an early 6-1 hole to go on top 18-17 after a back row kill by Colbert. A cross-court kill by Colbert gave the Patriots a 23-20 lead on their way to a 25-21 win.
The Bobcats regrouped to win the next to sets, but the Patriots were far from finished, rallying from an early 3-1 deficit in the fourth set to knot the score 5-5 on a Christian Wolf kill. Back-to-back kills by Colbert and Jacob LaBouliere gave the Patriots a 7-5 lead. That lead grew to 13-9 after a CJ Dalby block, and a Colbert winner gave the Patriots a 15-10 advantage. The Bobcats would get no closer than four the rest of the way as the Patriots rolled to a 25-16 win, setting the stage for the fifth set.
“We knew they were a great team,” Colbert said. “There are certain things you can control and certain things you can’t, so regardless of who it was, we’re still prepping and watching film since Thursday.
“After all the prep, we just tried to come out and play our game. We just came up a little bit short.”
“It shows why they’ve been near the top of the state rankings all year,” Minschwaner said. “They’re a great program with a real proud long tradition of winning, and they know how to stay focused and get it done. They did a great job.”
Colbert once again led the Patriots, finishing a stellar career with 22 kills, six digs, one ace and one block.
“If he’s not the best player in the state, he’s got to be up there in the top couple because he means so much,” Minschwaner said of Colbert. “He’s a smart player, he’s an aggressive player, and he does everything really well.
“He’s been one of our leaders in kills, one of our leaders in digs every single match. He’s been great.”
Colbert admitted that it’s a tough to see it end.
“You just have to focus on what’s ahead,” he said. “I’ll still be playing beach (volleyball). Personally, I’m focused on getting a little better on beach and grass – play out there and just take it one step at a time.”
As for his career at East, Colbert leaves with nothing but fond memories.
“It’s been awesome,” Colbert said. “We had a team that were really friends and will remain friends after this.
“I’m sure I’ll be seeing them on the beach, on the grass this summer. It’s been a great year. I’m super happy about it.”
LaBouliere finished with eight kills 11 digs, one block assist and two aces. Gallagher-Teske had five kills, two digs, three block assists and one ace while Steve Storm had four kills, eight digs and one ace. Wolf had three kills, one block, one block assist and two aces. Defensively, the Patriots were led by libero Ryan Figus with 27 digs. Jack Miller added seven digs while Jack Zapf had two. Dalby had three blocks assists.
“They’re fighters,” Minschwaner said. “They’re fighters all year. They’ve been great. We’ve been down a lot.
“The first tournament of the season we were down eight points to Whitehall, and we came back to beat them. We had the same thing on Senior Night, we got down to Souderton and had to come back in the fifth set to win. They’re fighters, they’re all great players. This stuff hardens them. We have most of the kids back next year, so I think they’ll be a lot tougher next year. They did a nice job.”
Central Bucks East (14-0 SOL) closed out a remarkable season with a 22-1 record.
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