Neshaminy 3, Council Rock South 2 (25-19, 25-27, 19-25, 31-29, 15-10)
In arguably one of the best matches of the SOL season, the Golden Hawks clawed out a 3-2 win over visiting Neshaminy in five hotly-contested games on Monday.
“This was huge,” Rock South coach Scott Hibbs said. “It was something we really needed, especially because we got embarrassed against (Council Rock) North last Monday.
“It was a very intense battle tonight. Both teams are pretty evenly matched, and it all came down to who made less errors at critical times.
“Ever since Monday’s loss at North, we’ve really pushed them hard at practice. They have been working hard all week, and I thought they really deserved to win tonight.”
In the opening match of the season against the Redskins, the Golden Hawks prevailed in five games as well, but the Golden Hawks knew that the Redskins were riding high after a big win over Rock North last Thursday.
“That was a good win for them as well,” Hibbs said. “This SOL (conference) is pretty tight. Pennsbury is a league above the rest, but North, South and Neshaminy are all pretty tight and evenly matched.”
Dave Wilkes led South with 23 kills while Cody Nowlin had 14 kills and Connor Shields, 10 kills. Ben Krouse led the defense with 30 digs.
For the Redskins, Vladimir Flys had 21 kills, five blocks and six digs. Teammate Anthony Kirk added 13 kills and five digs. Kyle O’Donnell had 10 kills and 12 digs. Ryan Roedel had three kills and four blocks. Setter Brent Jamison had 47 assists, three aces and five digs while Drew Keeling led the defense with 17 digs.
“This is a big momentum changer for us,” Hibbs said. “It helps us get over the loss we had and helps us get back on the winning track, and hopefully it will carry over the rest of the week.”
Pennridge 3, Quakertown 1 (25-16, 26-24, 19-25, 25-23)
Will Jager has a ton of options at the net, and he spent Monday night’s match against the Panthers making sure everyone got their swings, most notably his middles.
Mike Shenk (eight kills, four blocks), Erik Moyer (seven kills, two blocks) and Derek Polito (five kills, two blocks) split time at the middle of the net. All three were productive.
“It’s not always Zech (States) and Austin (Jacoby) that get the kills,” Jager said. “When teams see that, they’ll put a double block out there every time.
“We have to get Erik, Mike and Derek – get all of them started early, so they respect the middle and keep a person over there.”
The Panthers didn’t have enough blocking to stop all of the Rams’ weapons. States led the Rams with 18 kills to go along with nine digs and three blocks while Jacoby added 11 kills, seven digs and two aces – this despite the fact that both sat out a game.
“I thought Will set a really nice game,” Ram coach Dave Childs said. “He spread the ball around, and he got the middles going. That was a huge difference maker for us. That really helped us. He had a strong game."
Mike Stover, Ian Jones and Brent Landis led Quakertown's attack with eight kills each. Donnie Thomas had five kills and 30 assists while Spencer Gysi and Chris Long both had four kills.
Pennridge controlled play in game one, rolling to a 25-16 win, and with several starters – including States – watching from the bench, the Rams rallied from a 15-7 deficit to earn a 26-24 win in game two.
Game three was another story. With several starters – including Jacoby – on the bench, the Rams opened up an early 8-6 lead only to watch the Panthers rally to go on top. The Panthers held a slim 18-17 lead but closed it out with a 7-2 run for the win.
In game four, the Panthers found themselves facing the Rams’ regulars, but they were unfazed, opening up an 8-2 lead after an Adam Spinieo service ace. Childs called a timeout, but not a whole lot changed as the Panthers went on top 14-5 after three consecutive Ram miscues.
This timeout worked like magic.
“Mark was pretty much saying we needed to pick our heads up,” Shenk said of assistant coach Mark Ulmer. “Once we get down in a ditch like that – it’s kind of hard for us as a team to pull ourselves back up, but we can’t let that happen.
“We’re a good hitting team, a good defensive team, and we’re getting better with blocking. We just need to work on coming together and staying positive the whole game, no matter what happens. We can get out of any ditch – we just need to have confidence.”
Jacoby delivered a monster kill out of the timeout, and just like that, the Rams were back on track.
“We were hitting balls out, getting blocked, and we were letting a lot of easy balls hit the floor,” Jager said. “In that fourth game, it took us two timeouts to get back on track.
“I guess we finally just realized it was time to step up and play. We made a few big plays, and that’s what got us back in the game and got our confidence back up.”
A Moyer kill was followed by a Jacoby service ace to make it a 15-9 game. A States kill was followed by a Panther hitting error, and then Pennridge’s Cory Chinnici delivered a kill. States followed his lead, delivering a kill, and after another Panther hitting error, the Rams trailed by just one. The Rams led 20-19 after a Chinnici ace.
A Donnie Thomas dump knotted the score, but Shenk responded with a kill for the Rams. After a Brent Landis kill, the teams were deadlocked 21-21, but Jacoby delivered a kill that sparked a 4-2 Ram run. Moyer closed it out with a kill for match point.
“Will did an amazing job,” Shenk said. “He was spreading the ball around, and he was running the quick ones with the middles, and we were using them a lot.
“It was nice to be able to spread the ball around and keep Quakertown guessing.”
The Rams improved to 10-0 in the SOL.
Pennsbury 3, Bensalem 0 (25-5, 25-11, 25-14)
The Falcons received contributions from a lot of players – including some new faces – in Monday’s match against Bensalem.
A familiar face – Joe Yasalonis - led the attack with 16 kills, four digs and three blocks. Dom Tricoche added seven kills to go along with two digs. Dan Salinas had five kills and two digs while Nate Hall had three kills and three blocks. Mike Mamzic had five digs to lead the defense.
With setter Ryan Burns and middle hitter Jim Zaluski sitting out the match, sophomore Dalton Zimmerman got his first taste of varsity action, and Chris Evans started as setter.
Souderton 3, Cheltenham 0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-17)
The Indians (7-2) used a balanced team effort to defeat the Panthers. Jeff Bishop (seven kills, two blocks, two aces), Cody Leatherman (six kills, two blocks) and Trevor Bishop (six kills, two aces) led the Indians, who will host Central Bucks West on Tuesday night.
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