Check out the strong showings of several SOL teams in this weekend’s volleyball tournaments.
CR North Advances to the Semifinals of Bobcat Invitational
The Indians fell to Chambersburg 2-0 in the semifinals of Saturday’s tournament at Northeastern High School (17-21, 12-21). Chambersburg, ranked ninth in the latest Class AAA state poll, is led by Mitch Stahl, a member of the U.S. National team who has received a full scholarship to UCLA.
Earlier in the day, the Indians compiled a 3-1 mark in their opening pool, defeating Redland (30-17), Bethlehem Catholic (30-25) and Governor Mifflin (30-20) and falling to Central York (18-30). As a result of their showing, the Indians advanced to the play-in round where they defeated State College 2-0 (15-10, 15-10) to move into the GOLD Championship Bracket.
Rock North defeated Exeter 2-0 in the first round (15-13, 15-13) and went on to defeat Saegertown 2-0 in the quarterfinals (15-6, 15-7), setting the stage for its match against Chambersburg in the semifinals.
Leading the Indians were:
Chris Richards – 23 kills, 19 digs, 4 aces, 2 blocks
Jeremy Higgins – 19 kills, 17 blocks, 15 digs, 2 aces
Dan Rafalovitch – 75 assists, 27 digs, 5 blocks, 2 aces, 1 kill
Josh Hinton – 26 digs, 17 kills, 5 aces, 2 blocks
Tyler Burns – 26 kills, 4 digs, 5 blocks
Andy Van Thuyne – 63 digs, 5 assists, 1 ace
Doug Devitt – 24 digs, 3 aces.
Pennsbury Advances to Quarterfinals of Bobcat Invitational:
The Falcons also saw their stay in the Bobcat Invitational come to an end at the hands of ninth-ranked Chambersburg, falling in the quarterfinals 2-0. The Falcons rolled to a 4-0 record in pool play, downing Dover (30-16), Garden Spot (30-12), State College (30-24) and Ambridge (32-30). Ambridge is the top-ranked team in Class AA.
In the opening round of the playoffs, the Falcons defeated Warwick 2-1 (12-15, 15-11, 15-8). They defeated McDowell 2-0 in the second round (16-14, 15-6) before falling to Chambersburg.
The Falcons were led by:
Chris Spano – 31 kills (.324 hitting percentage), 23 digs
Pat Merrick -31 kills, 21 digs
Spencer McCullough – 22 kills (.568 hitting percentage), 5 blocks
Sean Kropp – 18 kills, 17 digs, 2 blocks
Neil Helsel – 12 kills, 6 digs, 3 blocks
Jeff Yasalonis – 96 assists, 4 blocks
Troy Pereira – 15 digs
Pennridge Wins Silver Bracket at Bobcat Invitational
The Rams finished third in pool play at the Bobcat Invitational, compiling a 2-2 record with wins over Dallastown (30-27) and Warwick (34-32) but falling to Parkland (18-30) and Northeastern (25-30). Parkland is the seventh-ranked team in Class AAA and Northeastern is the second-ranked team in Class AA. As a result of its third place finish, Pennridge faced Ambridge, which finished second in its pool, to determine the Rams’ bracket in the playoffs. The Rams fell to Ambridge, Class AA’s top-ranked team, 2-0 (8-15, 13-15). In the silver bracket playoffs, the Rams defeated Susquehannock (25-17), Red Land (25-21) and Red Lion (25-13).
Pennridge statistics for the tournament were as follows:
Devon Rice – 34 kills, 18 digs
Mike Bollinger – 22 kills, 8 blocks
Evan Jacoby – 20 kills, 14 digs
Alex Vellner – 12 kills, 6 blocks
Henry Savage – 12 kills, 6 blocks
Christian Lizana – 42 digs
Matt Ziegler – 95 assists
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