Central Bucks South 3, Souderton 0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-18)
The Titans improved to 3-0 on the young season as a result of their sweep of the Indians, and coach Ulana Keer admits she’s having a love affair with this squad.
“I love my team,” the Titans’ coach said. “I appreciate every one of them. It’s just the most knowledgeable kids ever in CB South history.
“Number one – they are volleyball kids, so it’s a big difference when you’re coaching kids who are volleyball players and not something else. Most of them are all into volleyball and take the time to play for club teams in the surrounding area.
“We haven’t had a team like this since 2004 when we had a qualifying team the year the school was opened up, and I was a jayvee coach. We still have a young team – it’s all juniors and sophomores.”
The team’s lone seniors – Nicole Mummert and Haley Uzelac – are both injured. Mummert tore her ACL and is out for the season.
“She’s the team manager, the team mom, the team supporter,” Keer said of Mummert. “She could have walked away and not been part of the team at all, but she said, ‘I’ve been with this team for three years, I’m not walking away,’ so she’s helping.
“Haley Uzelac suffered an injury last year when she broke her ankle, and we’re trying to figure out where she stands, but she’s been out the whole preseason.”
Junior setter Jenn Smith was credited with 15 assists as well as an ace in Tuesday’s win over Souderton. Right side hitter Jill Danyluk had two block assists, and she was backed up by Melissa Adamson and Catherine Fayer. Fayer had an ace in Tuesday’s match.
Keer rotates middle hitters Abby Mummert (three kills, two solo blocks), Kim Lorditch (one kill, one block) and Megan Kaminski (six kills, two solo blocks, two aces). Kaminski has the distinction of also playing for the girls’ soccer team.
“She’s a mammoth player for our team – that’s the only way I can describe her,” Keer said. “She does everything for our team. She wants to be involved in every play, she loves volleyball.”
Outside hitter Giuli Frendak leads the Titans in aces and kills. She had five kills and three aces on Tuesday.
“She’s just ferocious,” Keer said. “She is the most pleasant, hard working, happy-go-lucky, loves volleyball type of kid.
“She’s spirited, powerful and just a great all-around kid.”
Jayne Mulhern, the team’s libero, had 40 digs.
“She’s the passer on the team,” Keer said. “She’s by far the most accurate, and she’s a great ball handler.”
Sophomore Ally Horvath plays in a back-up role for a young Titan squad.
“She’s one of those types of kids I can put in the game, and she steps in, no problem,” Keer said. “I have a very small team. I don’t have a lot of extra kids. I do not have a deep bench.
“They carry the weight of wins and losses on their shoulders, and they like it that way.”
For Souderton, Bri Michaels contributed nine digs and two aces while Jenna Hayes had eight kills.
William Tennent 3, Council Rock South 0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-22)
The Panthers made history on Tuesday night when they defeated Rock South for the very first time.
“It’s been about seven years since they opened the school and we started playing them, and four or five of those years, we played them twice a year, so they had our number, that’s for sure,” coach Brian Bassler said. “This was pretty big because we have had a tough time because of the construction going on at the high school.
“We played the whole preseason in the middle school on one court, so for the 25 kids in the program to all be on one court, not being able to spread out and get the touches we wanted – we knew we were a little sloppy and got off to a slow start.”
The Panthers made some adjustments and turned in a gem on Tuesday night – they had just three hitting errors total in three games.
“For us, that’s amazing,” Bassler said. “We played in a tournament on Saturday, and in a game to 21, we had 14 hitting errors in one game.
“To have only three hitting errors was fantastic. We scored a lot off the serve and had nine aces and 11 blocks as a team, so we scored a lot of points that way and we did it together, which was really good to see.”
Melissa Wasserleben led the Panthers with six kills and five blocks. Dana Ballentine and Karin Lydon led a standout defensive effort.
“They really anchored the back tonight and got the passes where we needed them to, which helps the hitters,” Bassler said. “Michelle Felix just got switched into the middle from the outside, and she played extremely well – she played error free with no hitting mistakes and had some blocks up front.”
Harry S. Truman 3, Bensalem 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-19)
Jackie Fidler led the Tigers with eight kills while teammate Priscilla Agyemang added three kills. Setter Stevie Van Schaick had 15 assists. Deanne Lovina led the defense with four digs in the Tigers win.
“This win was really nice, especially after a tough loss in five games to Norristown yesterday,” Truman coach Suzie Antolini said. “It was a tough battle.
“One of our starting middle hitters was home sick with a strep throat, so it was a nice win, especially with a jayvee player coming up and playing.
“We had a lot of teamwork, a lot of talking and communicating and just executing.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3, Upper Dublin 0 (25-10, 25-13, 26-24)
Devon Maugle led the Colonials with 12 kills while teammate Alex Griffin added eight kills. Setter Sally Kijak had 17 assists. Other players making important contributions for the Colonials were Meghan Lawrence (six kills), Dana Wisniewski (five kills) and Gigi Jenkins (three kills).
For the Flying Cardinals, Taylor Kahny led the way with 16 digs, four kills and three blocks.
Pennsbury 3, Neshaminy 0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-14)
Lauren Pisauro contributed five kills and four aces to lead the Falcons. Kelsey Moulton and Jae Jackson each contributed three kills. Jackson also had a pair of blocks for Pennsbury.
Brooke Diegel and Jess O’Donnell led the Redskins with solid defense and serve receive, combining for 24 digs.
“Offensively, it was a rough night for us,” Redskin coach Kate Livingstone said. “We have a lot of room for growth. We are just going to have to figure out how to be a little more mentally tough.”
The Redskins saw their record drop to 2-2 over (0-1 SOL).
Cheltenham 3, Wissahickon 2
In game one, Wissahickon’s Tara Rodgers served for 15 consecutive points, followed by Alev Erhan with seven points. Rachel Philbin and Deana Bianchini had big days as outside hitters while the Anderson sisters, Brooke and Ashley, complimented each other for the Trojans with outside hitting and diving saves. Alev Erhan and Alysha Roberts added some excitement with some big blocks in what coach Marsi Fluehr-Trainor called, ‘a great team effort.”
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