Check out the results for SOL volleyball teams that were in action on Monday and Tuesday. To view photos of Monday’s North Penn/Central Bucks West match, please visit the Photo Gallery.
PENNRIDGE 3, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 1 (24-26, 25-15, 25-16, 25-17)
The Patriots, fresh off a championship at the Red Rover Invitational, gave the defending district champion Rams a bit of a wake-up call, eking out a 26-24 win in the opening set of Tuesday’s match.
“They came out harder than we maybe were expecting, but I’m proud of the way we turned it on in that second set, and we finished it out pretty well,” Pennridge senior Christian Lizana said. “I think we were a little nervous actually with the home crowd. It was great to see everyone here, but we had to get out those jitters and really buckle down and communicate and cut out those errors that we had in the first set.”
The Rams found their rhythm in the second set, rolling to the 25-15 win. They never looked back.
“We knew we couldn’t take anything for granted against these guys,” Lizana said. “They’re a really scrappy team. I think they’re pretty similar to us in that respect, and we wanted a home win to start out the season pretty strong.”
Lizana led a standout defensive effort with 19 digs. A key to the Rams’ turnaround after losing the first set was their ability to get touches at the net on East’s big hits. Mike Bollinger had a team-high six blocks to go along with five kills while Alex Vellner had five blocks, and Henry Savage, three blocks and five kills.
Devon Rice led the Rams at the net with 16 kills and eight digs while Evan Jacoby had 15 kills. Setter Matt Ziegler had 35 assists and two aces.
“The guys were nervous,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said. “We’re young. We have two sophomores, a junior and a couple of seniors who didn’t see a whole lot of time last year and in new positions.
“Matt Ziegler never set before this year. It’s nerveracking, especially going up against a team – you know East is good. They have two of the best players around, and they’re just a good, solid defensive team, so we knew we had to come out and play well.”
Childs went on to acknowledge the performances of a pair of sophomores in their debut.
“Henry (Savage) and Devon (Rice) played well,” Childs said. “It’s a lot of responsibility for Devon. He’s playing all the way around. He’s one of our top serve receive guys. He does everything for us, and that’s a lot to put on somebody, but he does a great job with it.
“Henry gets better and better every day, which we need him to do.”
While the Rams lost three all-state players and five regulars from last year’s successful squad, they once again are making the transition to a new lineup look relatively simple.
“Dave does a great job of incorporating everyone in the practices and whenever we can during our season games,” Lizana said. “These guys know they have to step up. We have a long running tradition, and we definitely want to continue it. They’re all very proud of it, so they’re going to try their hardest to continue that.”
Childs credited his players for keeping the program’s winning tradition alive.
“When you get good kids out – they work hard in the offseason,” the Rams’ coach said. “They put the time in and make themselves good players. It’s a credit to them and the hard work they put in.”
East was led by Nick Bennett with 13 kills, two blocks and six digs. Kyle Dolf added 10 kills and 14 assists while Trevor Clemens had three kills and 13 assists. Colby Tallia had a team-high seven digs to lead East’s defense.
The Rams are 1-0 in the SOL while the Patriots are 0-1.
UPPER DUBLIN 3, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 30-28)
Despite the absence of senior outside hitter Dan Kodroff and junior opposite Zach Dennin, the Flying Cardinals fought off a gutsy Golden Hawk squad for the win in the tightly-contested match.
Leading the Cardinals were senior outside hitter Joe Retallick, senior libero Matt Jacobson and senior setter Jake Komins, and first-year coach Brendan Ledwith credited the experience of his veterans for pulling out the 30-28 win in a marathon fourth set. Also making important contributions were sophomore Louis Mayers at middle, senior middle Eddie Sim, junior setter Justin Lee and junior opposite Nick Perri. Junior middle Jack Yekel filled in for Kodroff.
Rock South was led defensively by Chad Lewis and Dan Zapotoczny with 10 digs each. Lewis also had two aces. Sam Stein had a team-high 12 kills while Jacob Sweed had 10 kills and four blocks. Kyle Moran had 35 assists.
NESHAMINY 3, BENSALEM 0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-22)
Zach McGowan led the Redskins with 16 kills (.636 hitting percentage). He also had four service aces. Scott Blickle added five kills (.444 hitting percentage), four blocks and five digs, and Mike Gulla had four kills and two blocks. Setter Chase Fullen had 23 assists. Wes Roy had three digs and one ace, Steve Strassman added two kills and four blocks, Steve Compton, one kill and three blocks, and Jake Murray, one kill.
The Redskins are 2-0 overall (1-0 SOL) while the Owls fell to 0-1 in league play.
Monday, March 25
NORTH PENN 3, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 2 (13-25, 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, 15-13)
Andy Willits led the Knights offensively with 17 kills, but according to coach Tim Moyer, Kyle Sucro was the difference maker on defense, delivering 22 digs and helping inspire the team to finish the match after rallying to win game four. The Knights coach went on to credit senior libero Lucas Chen.
“He took over the passing and contributed defensively to push us over the hump,” Moyer said. “Middle hitter Eric Mellan was fearless in the middle despite going up against a huge block and doing a great job of blocking himself, adding seven key blocks.”
The Bucks received big performances from Mike Fehrs (17 kills, 12 digs), Christian Rupert (13 kills, eight blocks) and Joel Klapper (12 kills, 10 digs). Jeff Strasburg had eight digs, and setter Matt Hennigan handed out 49 assists.
The Knights are 1-0 in SOL play while the Bucks are 0-1.
SOUDERTON 3, QUAKERTOWN 1 (25-9, 25-19, 24-26, 25-23)
Tim Jones led the Indians to their opening night win, delivering 13 kills and three aces. Alex Androkites had six kills and eight aces while Ryan Davison had five kills and seven blocks. Levi Schneck led the Indians defensively with 13 digs.
Mike Whittington led the Panthers at the net with 14 kills. Trysten McLaughlin led the defense with 16 digs, and Alex Palmer had 26 assists.
The Indians are 1-0 in the SOL while the Panthers are 0-1.
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