Seven SOL volleyball teams advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the District One Tournament. To view photos of the North Penn/William Tennent match, please visit the Photo Gallery.
#1 PENNRIDGE 3, #16 CHELTENHAM 0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-18)
Erik Moyer led a balanced Ram attack, contributing 10 kills and two blocks. Kalin Nelson added six kills and six digs while Henry Savage had five kills and Evan Jacoby, four kills and four aces. Setter Austin McVaugh had 28 assists for the Rams, who improved to 17-0.
The Rams will face William Tennent in a second round game on Thursday.
#2 PENNSBURY 3, AVON GROVE 0 (25-13, 25-4, 25-12)
Avon Grove proved to be no match for the second-seeded Falcons, who rolled to the sweep. Sean Kropp led a balanced attack with seven kills (.462 hitting efficiency), and Chris Spano added six kills, one ace, two digs and one block. Neil Heisel had four kills and a perfect 1.000 hitting efficiency. Senior Dalton Zimmerman had three kills, four aces, one dig and three blocks.
Sophomore setter Jeff Yasalonis had 23 assists, one kill, six aces and five digs. Troy Pereira had four digs. John Killoran added three kills (.750 hitting efficiency). Pat Merrick added four kills, five aces, one dig and one block. Spencer McCullough had one kill and one block.
The Falcons (14-1) will host Central Bucks East in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
#3 SOUDERTON 3, #14 HAVERFORD 0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-19)
The Fords, who dressed just six players, didn’t have the horses to play with the third-seeded Indians but turned in a gutsy effort.
“I was impressed by Haverford,” coach Brad Garrett said. “They only have six players on their whole jayvee and varsity. Most of them are underclassmen, and they played pretty well. For only having six players, I thought they were competitive.
“We didn’t really show up. You try and talk them up – it’s a big district game, but there’s a reason why the seeding is what it is. They knew they were the better team going in, and sometimes it’s hard to get motivated.”
Souderton (15-4) was led by the 12-kill effort of Andrew Diesel. Gabe Clemmer had nine serving aces.
The Indians will host league rival Central Bucks West on Thursday.
“We weren’t sharp,” Garrett said. “We’ll definitely have to play better to beat Central Bucks West.”
#4 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, #13 ABINGTON 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-11)
The Indians swept the Ghosts in three straight to earn a date with Christopher Dock in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
“We actually started off a little flat tonight, but we came back in the third game and beat them 25-11,” coach Susan Kim said. “All season long we’ve come out pretty strong at the beginning of the matches, and we kind of topple off a little bit towards the end.
“Tonight was the opposite, and it was nice to finish strong.”
Dan Ford had a big night for the Indians, contributing 15 assists, seven kills and 12 digs. Dan Rafalovitch added 11 assists. Senior Eric Stettner led the defense with 23 digs. Chris Richards (seven kills), Christian Kiselica (six kills) and Jeremy Higgins (five kills, three blocks) also made important contributions. Devin McIntyre filled in at middle hitter and had five kills.
“He did a great job,” Kim said.
#5 CHRISTOPHER DOCK 3, #12 QUAKERTOWN 2 (23-25, 25-22, 26-24, 18-25, 15-9)
The Panthers hung tough against the fifth-seeded Pioneers, winning the first game and extending Dock to five games before falling. Ryan Mease had a big night for Quakertown, contributing 16 kills and 15 digs. Also making important contributions were Mike Whittington (10 kills, one block, one ace), Josh Morgan (eight kills), Nick Grossov (seven kills, three blocks), Casey Fosbenner (five kills, 17 digs), Alex Palmer (10 digs) and Nate Stout (36 assists, two kills, three digs).
The Panthers closed out the season with a 6-11 record.
#6 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, #11 UNIONVILLE 1 (25-12, 25-17, 23-25, 25-10)
Coach Todd Miller isn’t exactly sure when the Bucks last won a district playoff game, but his best guess was that it could be close to a decade. The Bucks created history when they won Tuesday night’s opening round game.
“It’s a great stepping stone,” Miller said. “It’s a point where hopefully it builds their confidence, and we get another opportunity to go after Souderton.
“I think ultimately with the way we played against Souderton on Senior Night (a 3-2 loss), I think we want that shot. It will be in a different style gym, so it will be a little quieter, but at the same time, I’m hoping we come out with the excitement and also with the enthusiasm and the readiness to play and to come out with the intensity and drive and desire to win.”
Mike Fehrs had a big night for the Bucks, contributing 14 kills, six aces and seven digs. Also coming up big at the net were Christian Rupert (12 kills), Connor Logan (10 kills) and Ryan Keller (six kills). Setter Matt Hennigan had 39 assists.
Miller was most pleased with his team’s response after falling to Unionville in the third game of the match.
“After dropping our third game, we came back and played the way we should have played,” he said. “We did not bend to the pressure or bend to the energy level of the other team. We kept our heads up, we kept working, and we won the fourth game the way we ultimately should have won the third game.
“I think these guys not having the playoff experience – it’s a little bit overwhelming. They were a little shaky, but they learned about what it was, and they took care of what they needed to take care of.”
The Bucks (13-4) will travel to Souderton for a second round game on Thursday. The Indians won both meetings but had to rally from behind to earn a win in the regular season finale.
#10 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, #7 NESHAMINY 1 (25-18, 20-25, 25-17, 25-18)
The Patriots welcomed senior Anthony Cupo’s return to the lineup by pulling off one of two first round upsets, defeating the seventh-seeded Redskins in four games.
“We have a real good solid core of players on our team,” coach Robert Minschwamer said. “We’re a very good defensive team. We’re not a big team, so we have to be good defensively, and today what really helped was we got Cupo back.”
Cupo went down early in the season in the Easton Tournament and was sidelined until Tuesday’ district opener.
“I thought the kids did a phenomenal job rally around the fact that he was gone for the season,” Minschwamer said. “They all knew he was gone for the season, and I think the kids’ attitude was – all we have to do is get to the postseason, we’ll get Cupo back and we’ll be great.
“Cupo has only practiced twice. I wasn’t 100 percent sure he would play today until after practice last night when he said he felt fine.”
Cupo wasted little time making his presence felt, delivering 14 kills with a .382 hitting percentage. He wasn’t the only player to come up big. Nick Bennet led the Patriots at the net with 18 kills (.325 hitting percentage) and 6.5 blocks. He also had five digs. Kyle Dolf added 14 kills (.402 hitting percentage), three aces, five digs and 21 assists. Trevor Clemens added 22 assists and four digs.
“The kids worked hard,” Minschwamer said. “We had seen Neshaminy in the preseason, and we sort of knew what to expect from them.
“They have a young sophomore (Ryan Jamison) who is very good, and we decided we were going to try and contain him. Their whole team is good – they’re a very solid offensive team, but I felt like our strength is defense, and I thought by putting our strength against their strength we could win. I thought we could pick up a lot of their balls, and we did. Most of the long rallies went our way, so that was beneficial.”
Mike Donovan, Colby Tallia and Trevor Clemens each added four digs.
“Our defense was really, really spectacular,” Minschwamer said. “Mike Donovan, Colby Tallia, Trevor Clemens and Anthony Cupo – so many balls that I thought were down, they just kept bringing them up.
“That’s the one thing about the kids on this team maybe more so than any team I have coached – they don’t die, they don’t quit,” Minschwamer said. “They just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. They love to play, and they love to win, and they really work their tails off. More than anything else, I just think they’re very persistent, and they work very hard on defense to get balls up that should be falling.
“Neshaminy made some great plays. (Jamison) was killing us from all over the court, but we were picking up a lot of balls.”
Tallia, according to Minschwamer, delivered a pair of highlight reel digs in game four.
“He made two of the most spectacular digs you will ever see,” the Patriots’ coach said. “(Jamison) just crushed the ball, and it looked like it was down, and he got a perfect pass off of it.
“A couple of rotations later, it was the same thing, and he got the ball up with another perfect pass. They were two of the most beautiful digs you will ever see.”
Last year was the Patriots’ first trip to districts in more than a decade, and Tuesday’s win was the program’s first in at least that long. East will take on second-seeded Pennsbury in Thursday’s second round, but for one night, they were enjoying their historical win.
“Neshaminy is a very good team, but for whatever reason, we matched up well against their strengths tonight, and we played very well,” Minschwamer said.
#9 WILLIAM TENNENT 3, #8 NORTH PENN 2 (18-25, 25-18, 25-11, 24-26, 15-12)
The Panthers had just dug their way out of an early 4-2 hole to knot the score 7-7 in the fifth and deciding game of Tuesday’s match when Jake McMahon delivered a no-doubt-about-it stuff block of a Knight kill attempt to put Tennent on top 8-7.
“That was great,” junior Nick Gross said. “It gave us the momentum. It just completely shifted, and it led us throughout that fifth game.”
The shift in momentum was a dramatic one because it appeared to be firmly on North Penn’s side after the Knights’ emotional 26-24 win in game four.
“Especially late in games, if you can win two crucial points, that pretty much can make or break a season right there,” Tennent coach Jim Creighton said. “At 7-7, Jake McMahon had a great block, and that got the momentum back on our side.
“We got our good run of servers back on the line, and we had some quality servers. We’ve been up and down all year, but we won the points that really mattered.”
A bad pass by the Knights gave the Panthers a 9-7 lead, but Andy Willits answered with a line kill for North Penn. A kill by Kenny Rauchut put the Panthers on top 10-8, but again, the Knights answered – this time with a Scott Dickenson kill. Another Rauchut kill was followed by a Knight hitting error, and the Panthers led 12-9.
They still led by three (13-10) after a Rauchut tip, and a Nick Gross kill made it a 14-11 game, setting the stage for match point by setter Mike Excell, whose well-timed dump fell in for a winner.
Excell admits it was a last-second decision, but it turned out to be a good one.
“It was not that bad of a pass,” the senior setter said. “I could have jump set it, but they were focused on Rauchut and Gross, so they’re not looking at me. They’re not expecting it.
“It reminds me of the (Council Rock) North game. It ended the same way – fifth game I dumped it for match point. It just feel great to win, especially coming to their home court and taking it.”
Rauchut (14 kills) and Gross (13 kills) led the Panthers at the net. Justin Keeny led a solid defensive effort with 25 digs while Mike Sweeney had 15. Excell was credited with 39 assists.
“The key was just coming out and playing our own game,” Gross said. “ We tried to prep for what we were going to see on the other side, but we really just wanted to come out and play our own game and see how far we could go.”
The Knights were led by the 18-kills effort of Dickenson. Matt Elias added 13 kills and 34 assists. Coach Tim Moyer lauded the effort of freshman Mark Elias as well as sophomore Gabe Stoler, who contributed five kills and three blocks.
“He did a good job stepping in and kept us in at least one of the games,” Moyer said.
The first-year coach lamented his team’s unforced errors.
“Unforced errors were the story,” Moyer said. “We had over 50 – that’s two games we gave away that they didn’t have to work for. Against a good, scrappy team like that, you can’t be giving away those points.
“We had 18 serving errors, and I think Tennent might have had four. The way we played we honestly should have never been in that match. I think it was only through our senior leadership – Scott Dickenson stepping up big and Matt Elias, Dave (Bisio), our other senior middle, showing heart and playing on one leg out there. I wanted to sit him down, but he wouldn’t let me. That’s what the seniors brought to the team. Unfortunately, the underclassmen just aren’t ready. Those are things we need to change.
“Our underclassmen were playing not to lose tonight. They were playing scared. They didn’t want the ball to come to them. They wanted to lean on the seniors.”
Moyer also pointed to his team’s inability to block as another key.
“Our strongest attribute all season has been our block and our block probably didn’t get going until game three or four,” he said. “We’ve been averaging eight to 10 blocks a game, and we were probably averaging one or two per game tonight.
“We knew what to expect, but we just never really stopped it. We really never got into a groove, and we never played well tonight.”
The Panthers will face top-seeded Pennridge in Thursday’s quarterfinal round.
“We have a chance to reach our goal, which is to get to the final four,” Creighton said. “At least we’re playing for that chance.
“There are a lot of good teams that are going to lose tonight. The district is so deep this year.”
Gross, for one, is looking forward to the challenge of facing the district’s top seed.
“We actually played them in the Dallastown Tournament,” he said. “They’re good. It will be a fun match.”
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