Check out the recaps for an exciting night of SOL girls’ volleyball on Monday. (Abington/PW photos provided by Abington volleyball)
SOL Continental
ABINGTON 3, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 0 (25-14, 27-25, 25-21)
Streaks are made to be broken, and the Ghosts brought an end to one of the SOL’s most impressive streaks with their win over the Colonials, who had won 35 consecutive regular season matches.
Of far greater concern to the Ghosts than ending the streak was the fact that Monday’s win vaulted them into a tie for the top spot in the conference standings with PW and Hatboro-Horsham and keeps them in the hunt for the title.
Playing for a championship, it turns out, was the Ghosts’ singular goal under first-year coach Dan Marsh.
“This is a senior-laden team, and they came to me and said, ‘Marsh, we want you to coach us,’” the Ghosts’ coach said. “I said, ‘I need to meet with you,’ and I met with them at Panera.
“I said, ‘What do you guys want?’ They’re like, ‘We want to win a championship, and we think you’re the one who can help us do it,’ so I reminded them before the game, ‘Remember when we met in Panera and you guys said you wanted to win a championship. Well, tonight’s going to determine that. If you want to win a championship, you have to win tonight. Leave it all on the floor,’ and they did. I said, ‘Walk off the court on your own terms. Whether we beat them or not, give yourself a chance to win the championship,’ so they did.”
The win avenged a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Colonials in the second match of the season.
“The first time we played them we won the first (set), and it was because we were aggressive offensively, and we weren’t allowing them to get into their offense and get the ball to number five, Lily Acquaviva,” said Marsh of PW’s standout outside hitter who had 20 kills and 20 digs in the initial meeting. “So we knew coming in that our best defense was going to be our best offense, and we needed to hit it to them and make them scramble as much as possible so that they’re out of system and that they’re not getting her the ball, and we did it.
“We kept the pressure on them the whole time by being aggressive offensively, we served well, and we kept them off balance. It was a great win, a great win for this program.”
For the Ghosts, setter Anna Bantner had 24 assists and three services. Hannah Dalton had 16 kills and 10 digs, and Grace Whitney added six kills. Fabiola Gonzales had 11 digs, and Amanda Rice had six digs.
Marsh credited a defensive adjustment as key.
“We have two liberos that are very similar,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “But Fabiola is better in the one spot, and we know that Lily (Acquaviva) likes to hit line, so we had her play the one the whole game as DS, and it worked and had the other kids play libero.
“It was a great game. We took control in the first game. In the second game, they were winning 22-20, and I told them, ‘If you come back and win the second one, you’re going to put all the pressure on them.’ We were able to come back and win that second one, and the third one was similar to first one where we just kind of controlled the match.”
Although the Ghosts share the top spot and can determine their own destiny, they know it will not be an easy road.
“We still have to play Hatboro-Horsham twice, we still have Upper Dublin and a couple of teams in our league, so we have a lot of work to do,” Marsh said.
SOUDERTON 3, QUAKERTOWN 1 (25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 26-24)
Bella Mazzeo turned in a standout defensive effort, contributing 23 digs in the Indians’ sweep of the Panthers. Maria Iervolino (14 kills, six digs) and Haley Novak (10 kills, 10 digs, three aces) both had double-digit kill efforts to lead the visiting Indians at the net. Zoe Kondel added eight kills while Erin Brady had four kills and five blocks. Jordyn Peacock (four kills) and Tori Reiner (three kills, three blocks, five aces) also contributed at the net. Setter Talia Watson had 21 assists and four aces, and Maya Hanson added nine assists.
UPPER DUBLIN 3, NORTH PENN 1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19)
Senior setter Bryn Stek had another big night for the Cardinals, finishing with 29 assists, 20 digs, four aces and four kills. Maggie Weglos had 10 kills, 15 digs, one block and two aces, and Sharon Yoast added six kills and five digs while Kara Grebe had five kills, three blocks and four digs. Annie Faust (eight digs), Sarah Sharp (two aces, six digs) and Catie Yoast (one ace, three kills, four digs) also made important contributions.
PENNRIDGE 3, WISSAHICKON 0
The Rams were let by senior middle hitter Jess Kalams with seven kills, three aces and two blocks in Monday’s sweep of the Trojans. Setter Kara Allelunas paced the Rams’ offense with 22 assists, and sophomore Emma Tirjan also contributed with five kills and two blocks.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, CHELTENHAM 0
For the Panthers, Mackenna Doud had five digs, Najeh Eden added two kills and Myka Byers had three aces.
SOL National
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 3, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2
Middles Julia Dennis and Allie Burke combined for 22 kills and 11 blocks for the Titans, and it was at the middle of the net, according to South coach Kurt Godfrey, where the match was won.
“It was a battle of the middles,” the Titans’ coach said. “Jenn (Krzeminski) played amazing, played out of her mind, but I had incredible play from both my middles tonight. I can’t speak to how proud I am.”
Appropriately, it was one of South’s middles – Burke – delivering a block in the middle for match point in the fifth and deciding set.
“Jenn is an amazing volleyball player, and in the middle when she’s up front, that’s their go-to when they get a really good pass,” Godfrey said of East standout middle Jenn Krzeminski, who slammed home 30 kills. “Jenn swung and she got Allie two or three times, swinging hard and going off of Allie’s hands and going out of bounds.
“Allie was so frustrated in that fifth set. I called a timeout and pulled Allie aside by herself, and I said, ‘You’re there, you’re reading her well. Get square to the net, put your hands up, get over, and you’ll get her, I guarantee it.’ On match point, they set Jenn, and Allie went up, blocked her and put it right back down for her first block of the fifth set, and what a way to end. It was an incredible night.”
Dennis led the Titans with 15 kills and six blocks while Burke had seven kills and five bocks.
The Titans trailed 18-13 in the fourth set and rallied to knot the score 20-20 before falling 25-23.
“If you look at the scores, both team wanted it,” Godfrey said. “They’re a very talented team with Jenn at the top, and they have a very good defensive system with the way (coach) Kerri (Rabberman) set them up.
“I can’t speak any more highly of how they play, but being at home, we got our fans into it, we got our bench into it. It was a night where all of the girls both on the bench and on the court were absolutely involved. It was just an amazing team effort.”
Senior outside hitter Alyssa Dallmer also had a big night for the Titans, adding 14 kills, 16 digs and six aces. Senior setter Kelly Danyluk had 33 assists, 14 digs and eight aces. Senior libero Lindsay VanFossen had 26 digs and four assists.
“Kelly Danyluk, our rock for the season, served really well,” Godfrey said. “It was just an all-around team effort. I couldn’t be more proud of my girls.
“They fought all night long. It was an incredibly hard-fought night for every point. East wanted to win just as badly as we did tonight. It just was a really good match between two teams that know each other really, really well.
“A lot of these girls play club together, and they’re friends with each other. You see our varsity teams almost sitting together before a match, which is great to see because they’re friendly. We get on the court and they work hard, and then at the end of the night before East got on the bus, you saw East and South varsity players talking to each other. It was just a really fun match to be part of and a nice quality victory for us.”
Krzeminski turned in a stellar performance for the Patriots, contributing three blocks and 13 digs in addition to her 30 kills. Setter Anna Ritter had 32 assists, three aces and 11 digs. Morgan Beakley led the defense with 29 digs to go along with two aces. Morgan D’Angelo had 19 digs and nine service aces, and Makaila Freeman had seven kills and one block.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, WILLIAM TENNENT 1 (25-17, 25-20, 18-25, 25-18)
Katie Hudson led the Bucks to the win over a pesky Panther squad, finishing the night with 18 kills, two aces, seven digs and one block. Mackenzie Brooks (eight kills, five aces, 11 digs), Amanda Mass (nine kills, one block, four digs), Casey Taylor (six kills, one ace, two blocks, 10 digs) and Naomi Woo (five kills, one block) also made important contributions at the net. Setter Ana Claricurzio had 42 assists and 12 digs. Maggie Winderman led the defense with 26 digs and three aces, and Tenley Mileski had 13 digs.
For the Panthers, Kelly Scipione had 27 assists. Stephanie Wooston had 38 digs and four aces. The Panthers received strong games at the net from Nicole Long (12 kills) Devyn Cobb and Shaina Gatton – both Cobb and Gatton had eight kills.
“The girls play so hard and never gave up,” Tennent coach Brian Bassler said.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
Outside hitter Alyssa Coates led a balanced North attack with seven kills, nine digs and one ace in Monday’s sweep of the Tigers. Libero Grace Schweizer had 26 digs, three aces and one kill, and setter Sarah Caola had 24 assists, seven aces and four digs. Defensive specialist Ashley Kelly added 12 digs and one ace, and middle Jenna Hron had six kills and one block. Outside hitter Jill Adams added five kills and three digs, and defensive specialist Jill Schweizer had 14 digs and three aces.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3, BENSALEM 0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-23)
The Golden Hawks were led by Ariana Ranieri with three kills, Paige O’Connell with two kills and five assists and Evelyn Kandov with two kills.
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