SOL Girls’ Volleyball District Wrap (10-21-14)

Check out the results from SOL girls’ volleyball teams competing in Tuesday’s District One AAA opening round. To view photos of the Hatboro/Mount and CR South/Downingtown West match, please visit the Photo Gallery.

Check back this weekend for a feature story about Hatboro-Horsham senior Samantha Jones’ 1000-kill milestone.

#10 PENNSBURY 3, #23 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST (25-16, 25-17, 25-20)
Lauren Bransfield has been conspicuously absent from the Falcons’ lineup for the second half of the season, recuperating from injuries sustained in a serious car accident. In addition to losing the senior middle hitter’s skills on the court, the Falcons are also minus her leadership.
“She’s the vocal leader of this team,” coach Michael Falter said. “The rest of seniors are great players, but they’re kind of quiet.
“Lauren’s the one that gets in the girls’ faces when it’s the appropriate time, kind of ‘Follow me, I’ll lead you.’”
In Bransfield’s absence, Brandi Steiner stepped to the fore.
“She’s the leader on the court now,” Falter said. “She just does it differently from the way Lauren did it.”
One way Steiner has led is by her team-first attitude.
“She’s played so many positions for us this year,” Falter said. “She started for us in the middle last year, and we moved her outside.
“She was doing so well outside and then we moved her to opposite, and when Lauren got hurt, we had to move her back to the middle. She played phenomenal tonight. She had nine kills and only one error. She probably had the match of the season personally for her.”
Steiner finished the night with a dazzling .533 hitting percentage.
Elle Patterson added a double-double, finishing the night with 11 kills and 14 digs to go along with three service aces. Ava Patterson had seven kills, four digs and two aces while Dagny Gould had six digs and one ace.
“You extend your season, and that’s a big win regardless of who you play or what the score was,” Falter said. “If you live to play another day, it’s a big win.”
The Falcons will travel to Downingtown East for Thursday’s second round match. Pennsbury saw the seventh-seeded Cougars earlier this in the Southern Lehigh Tournament. The Falcons split with the Cougars in pool play.

#12 HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, #21 MOUNT ST. JOSEPH 1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 25-23)
There’s a different look and feel to matches when district tournament time rolls around. In addition to the usual jitters, there’s also an intensity and urgency that regular season matches often lack.
The Hatters spent the better part of Tuesday’s district opener battling back from deficits, but when it mattered most, they would not be denied, scratching and clawing their way to the hard-fought win.
In the fourth set, the Hatters were staring at an early 11-4 deficit, but they battled back, knotting the score on a Sam Jones service ace (20-20) and taking a 21-20 lead on a back row kill by Jones, who had 34 kills in an overpowering performance.
The Magic knotted the score on a Sarah Thomas kill, but senior Alexa Kennedy answered with a kill of her own. Another Jones kill put the Hatters on top 23-21. The Magic pulled to within one (24-23), but a Kennedy kill put the finishing touches on the set and the match.
“All I have to keep reminding them is feel the pain of losing a five-game match, and it comes back to them – ‘I don’t want to be there again,’” Tanner said. “You just never want that pain again.”
The Hatters were feeling no pain after Tuesday’s win, and while they made their share of mistakes, it was their willingness to continue attacking with aggressive swings and serves instead of playing it safe that allowed them to repeatedly battle back.
“That’s our strategy,” Tanner said. “I said, ‘Make serving mistakes – I want you to serve aggressively.’
“That’s how you’re going to win. You’re going to beat teams like this by serving aggressively. Fortunately, we have some really aggressive servers, so that really worked to our advantage tonight. We definitely did not post a very good serving percentage, but it was good enough to get us there.”
A key to the Hatters’ serving game was freshman Katerina Yankanich, who served for six straight points in the fourth set – a run that included a pair of aces. She finished the night with four aces and 20 service points.
Kennedy finished with nine kills, junior Jaimee Stoczko had seven while junior Cassidy Quattro had six. Senior Candyce Riley dished out 46 assists and served five aces. Sophomore Allison Laucella had three aces and served 18 total points. Freshman Madelyn Kallmeyer added two aces. The defense was led by Jones, Laucella and Riley with 29, 27 and 22 digs respectively.
“This was amazing,” Riley said. “I was so excited that we won. It went back and forth a lot, and at times we came down, but we knew we could come out with a win.
“When we were down, we knew we could come back. In the fourth set, we just said, ‘Let’s work hard now because we don’t want to go to a fifth set.’ It’s a mentality. If we have a bad pass, we just say, ‘Move on.’ We’ve been really practicing that.”
In addition to winning the match, the Hatters also celebrated a milestone for senior outside hitter Sam Jones. With the Hatters leading 15-12 in the third set, Jones rose above the net and slammed home a kill that was number 1,000 of a stellar career.
“That’s a big number,” Tanner said. “For her to hit it when she did, I was really happy to see that.
“I was so excited – I was going to go out and buy flowers, and then I said, ‘Oh, if I do that, I’ll totally jinx her, and I’ll jinx the team, and I can’t do that,’ so I wanted to make it a bigger event than I could have, but it was all about not being superstitious.”
The Hatters will travel to fifth-seeded Bishop Shanahan for Thursday’s second round game. The Vikings – with a win over second-seeded Upper Merion on the Vikings’ home court – have proven they can win on the road. It also doesn’t hurt, according to Tanner, that the team has good chemistry.
“My team gets along really, really well,” the Hatters’ coach said. “They’re all really tight, and it’s so much easier to coach a team that has great synergy.
“That’s definitely our advantage that we have great synergy on the team. They’re wonderful kids, they get along really well, and they really respect one another. I think it’s going to help us in the next few steps.”

#13 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, #20 GREAT VALLEY 20 (25-17, 25-12, 25-23)
The Patriots rolled to a sweep over visiting Great Valley in Tuesday’s opening round match.
“What an amazing start to the postseason,” coach Scott Geller said. “The girls clicked on all cylinders and really made a statement winning 3-0.”
Bridget Terrel led the attack with 12 kills to go along with seven digs while Natalie Arm (seven kills, four aces), Kelly Guillen (seven kills, two blocks), Julia Gallagher (five kills, three blocks) and Hannah LaMond (four kills) also made important contributions at the net.
Playing solid defense – according to Geller – were Krista Helveston (five digs) and Erin Lane (eight digs, three aces). Setter Lauren Helveston had 34 assists to go along with five digs and four aces, and Madie D’Angelo added four digs and four aces.
“The girls played amazing defense and were very aggressive at the net,” Geller said. “We served 14 aces, and on the ones that weren't aces, we forced them to come back with roll shots not your typical attacks.
“We had worked real hard during the week, tweaking our defense and blocking schemes to feed their hitters to our strong suit. The girls rose to the challenge and implemented the coaches’ game plan to perfection.”
The Patriots will hit the road for a second round match against fourth-seeded Strath Haven.
“I told the girls that winning doesn't come easy and for them to prepare mentally to lose a set so it’s easier to rebound from,” Geller said. “It was a real treat seeing them win 3-0 and move one step closer to our goal that we set in the beginning of the season – advancing one match further than we did last year.”
“Well, we have that chance again on Thursday against Strath Haven. It’s not going to be easy, but hey, that’s half the battle!”

#14 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 3, #19 HAVERFORD 1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-21, 25-18)
The Titans advanced to Thursday’s second round with their win over the Fords.
“It was awesome to win a first round match,” coach Ulana Keer said. “The girls looked great.
“Haverford was solid, and we worked well together.”
Taylor Danilowicz and Sarah Poli had big nights at the net, finishing with 15 kills each. Both served for three aces as well.
Eryn Cleary had 40 assists, three digs, four kills and three aces, and Megan Manderson led a strong serving game with five aces while taking the Fords out of system for 11 points in game one when she served for the final 11 points of the match.
“She helped her team through tough mental performance,” Keer said.
Larissa Keer had 13 digs and, according to Keer, held Haverford’s big gun to fewer kills. She also had five aces and two kills. Breanna Jackson and Meghan Dunn both had two blocks, and Briana Bannach had three digs and two assists.
The Titans will travel to Garnet Valley on Thursday night for a second round match against the third-seeded Jaguars.

#16 UPPER DUBLIN 3, #17 LOWER MERION 0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-19)
The Flying Cardinals rolled to a sweep of the visiting Aces in their first ever home district match. It is the first time the program has had a team advance beyond the first round.
"I really give credit to the whole team for supporting each other on and off the court," coach Paul Choi said. "We have been trying all season to really come together in both good and bad times to play selflessly and as one team.
"I cannot speak for the players, but I'm sure that they are as ecstatic as I am with the season thus far. We have been making history in our program and have accomplished much more than I expected. We have progressed into a very solid team from the beginning of the season, and I hope to continue this competitive type of playing for future years in this program. I am honored to have such an awesome group of girls in my first year as head coach."
Taylor Stek led the way at the net with 15 kills and five blocks to go along with one ace and four digs while Jenny McAneney (eight kills, one block, two digs) and Melanie Phifer (seven kills, three aces, one assist, eight digs) also came up big at the net.
Setter Bryn Stek had 31 assists to go along with two kills and five digs, and Gabbi Johnson led the defense with 10 digs to go along with two aces and two assists. Also contributing were Sarah Dennin (two aces, three kills, 1.5 blocks, 1 assist) and Maggie Weglos (three digs).
The Flying Cardinals have earned a date with top-seeded Pennridge in Thursday’s second round.

#7 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 3, #26 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1 (25-18, 25-10, 24-26, 25-19)
The Golden Hawks put up in good fight in their first district playoff appearance in five years, but the Cougars had too many weapons.
“We played an outstanding match,” coach Kelly Korn said.
Defensively, the Hawks were led by senior libero Emily Lu (16 digs) and senior outside hitter Sarah Lamon (seven digs). On the offensive side of the ball, senior setters Melissa Nicholas (11 assists) and Maddie Henschel (nine assists) combined for 20 assists.
Middles Donna Spiteri and Elaine Budny each contributed five kills with Budny adding three blocks and Spiteri, two service aces. Senior opposite Erika Shevcheck contributed four kills and a block as well.