District One 4A Playback games
#7 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, #5 BOYERTOWN 2 (25-16, 26-24, 17-25, 19-25, 15-12)
The Indians, according to sophomore Ashleigh Adams, share a special bond this year.
So when the Bears battled back from a 2-0 deficit to even the match at 2-2, a players-only huddle before the fifth set included a whole lot of encouragement.
“We just come together and bring each other up,” Adams said. “We’re really close this year, and that helps a lot. We know how to bring each other up.
“It helps out when we all come together because we know we’re all playing for each other. Before the fifth set, we’ll come together and we’ll be like, ‘This is for all of us, we’re playing for each other. Put everything on the court’ because it encourages us to play great.”
According to coach Mike Adams, it was the second straight five-set match that included a players-only huddle prior to the fifth set.
“Morale was still high,” the Indians’ coach said. “They were confident. You really want to see the girls self-driven.
“Sometimes kids are kids and they might doubt themselves sometimes, but they do their own huddle, and they say everything they need to know, and they pump each other up. Not just this match but the last one – I didn’t even go in the huddle. All the things we work on during the season, they knew, they went out confident, and they went out to win. They never doubted themselves. They knew what they needed to do. They’re so coachable even in stressful situations, and that’s rare.”
Adams led the Indians with a dazzling double-double that included 21 kills and 23 digs to go along with five aces. Mary Baniewicz followed her 26-kill effort against Hatboro-Horsham with 24 kills to go along with 12 digs and three aces.
“They dominated the outside,” coach Adams said. “Mary had 24 kills and is really picking it up for the playoffs. Ashleigh had 21 kills, but she also played ridiculous defense.
“There were points when you looked across – not just their hitter but the coach is like, ‘That’s a point? How did she just dig that?’ That’s a difference maker in a tight match when you have somebody that digs balls that people aren’t used to seeing ever get dug. Those two dominated on the outside.
“Our middles didn’t have a ton of kills, but we spread it out. They might not have gotten kills, but we got points off it. One girl might have dug it, the other girl dove over and touched it, so they were still very effective, especially Julia Walton. She had a bunch of points, but they didn’t get scored as kills.”
Walton had three kills, three blocks, two aces and six digs, and Cora Lake had three kills and three blocks. Sabrina Pasemann had four kills while Abby Jones added two kills and one block. Mikayla Adams had 13 digs and three assists.
“They were super disciplined and they knew what to do,” coach Adams said. “That’s why it’s fun coaching this team – they’re super coachable and they’re really disciplined.
“If you’re going to score a point on us, you’re going to earn it. Boyertown had some girls who can put the ball away, and we were putting up beautiful blocks in great positions, and they were still putting balls down. We can’t be upset, we just moved on and went to the next point. It was a lot of sideout volleyball. It looked like a college level volleyball game. It was fun.”
In the winner-take-all fifth set, the Indians opened up a 6-4 lead only to watch the Bears go on top 7-6. The Indians came back to take a 9-7 lead. Again, the Bears knotted the score at nine all, 10 all, 11 all and 12 all before the Indians closed out the match with three straight points, a run that was capped with a block at the net for match point.
“They ran an inside set – we practice all this stuff so we were ready for it,” coach Adams said. “Our right side blocker stayed inside, and our middle – Sabrina Pasemann – closed beautifully. They hit it right into our block.
“Sabrina ended up with four blocks, but she actually blocked a whole bunch of times, but a block only counts as a block if it ends the point. Even in the fourth set, she was starting to figure out their outside hitters and key in and get some huge blocks. In the fifth set, she just dialed it in. She slowed down their outside that we couldn’t stop most of the day and literally blocked her twice in a row, not for kills but forced her to roll on a free ball, and we were able to just pound the ball down.”
Kylie Tinner had 26 assists and seven digs while Sydney White had 20 assists and five digs. White played the fifth set hurt.
“That girl is tough,” coach Adams said. “It was an amazing team effort, and the seniors – Sydney White, Abby Jones and Kylie Tinner - were determined to keep their senior season going.”
Although only a sophomore, Adams acknowledged there was an urgency to keep the season alive for the seniors.
“Because we’re all really close, we definitely felt we had to do it for them because they’ve worked so hard for so long,” Adams said. “It meant a lot that we won tonight.
“We all know it’s for each other, and no matter what happens, we’re all there for each other.”
With the win, the Indians earned the fifth and final state berth. It is their second trip to the state tournament in four years, their first since 2016.
“That was a great team and a great match,” coach Adams said. “If we played 10 sets, it probably could have been five sets each. Both teams played such great volleyball.”
Council Rock North will take on the District 3 champion in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA 4A Tournament. Top-seeded Central York will take on second-seeded Hempfield in Saturday’s District 3 title game.
#3 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 3, #4 PENNSBURY 2 (25-16, 18-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-8)
The visiting Falcons opened up a 2-1 lead after three sets, but the Cougars rallied to earn the hard fought win in Thursday’s third place a c a playback match.
“It was a tough loss,” coach Michael Falter said. “Our girls were exhausted in the last set - they have played a lot of tough matches the last two weeks.”
Thursday’s playback certainly fell into the category of tough matches.
Elley Torres and Izzy Marinelli combined for 32 kills. Torres led the Falcons with 18 kills to go along with one ace, 18 digs and six blocks. Marinelli added two digs and one block. Setter Carissa Van Veen had 34 assists, five aces, 11 digs and one block. Brooke Burns contributed 16 digs, four kills and one ace while Bria Mullaghy had 15 digs. Mary Miller had one kill, three digs and two blocks. Ashley Parry had two aces and one dig, and Kat Croteau had one kill, one dig and one block.
Pennsbury will take on the District 12 champion in Tuesday’s PIAA 4A opening round match Tuesday.
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