Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ volleyball teams in action Thursday.
SOL National
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3, PENNSBURY 0 (25-19, 25-22, 26-24)
The Golden Hawks made history on Thursday night, earning their first win over the the Falcons in at least a decade. And probably a whole lot longer.
It was the Falcons first loss in conference play, and there was no mistaking the significance of this win.
“This was a tremendous win for the girls,” coach John Wright said. “I have been coaching for 30-plus years, and Pennsbury is always the Gold Standard of volleyball.
“Our players have never beaten them prior to tonight, so you can imagine – it is a very meaningful win.”
Defense was the name of the game for the Golden Hawks.
“Our defense is outstanding,” Wright said. “We’re a fair offensive team.
“We only really bring offense from two players, but we play defense.”
Leading the defense was libero Bria DeSaro with 20 digs. Katie Rodman added 10 digs, and both were a force in the back row. Celina Varian added 15 digs and eight kills. Ariana Ranieri had a team-high 10 kills and seven digs, and setter Ava Paulson had 16 assists, 13 digs and six kills.
“We had a girl who did not come out as a freshman, and she came out as a sophomore this year,” Wright said of Rodman. “She’s a DS (defensive specialist), and she’s just made the difference. My libero, who I think is the best libero in the league, Bria DeSaro, and now this sophomore, Katie Rodman – we’re just amazing back there.
“Celina Varian, who is one of my outside hitters – she’s the best free ball passer we have. We run our best offense on free balls, and Celina just puts dimes up there when we have free balls.”
For the Falcons, Izzy Marinelli led the way with 11 kills, two digs and one block. Elley Torres added 10 kills and eight digs, and Brooke Burns had seven kills and a team-high 17 assists. Abbie Drewes added 15 digs and one service ace. Ashley Parry had six digs.
“Pennsbury can just crush the ball,” Wright said. “They have an outside hitter that’s just scary - #25 (Izzy Marinelli), and she’s only a sophomore. I’m really happy that this is my last year. I don’t want to face her for three years. She’s spectacular. She finished with 11 kills, but she probably had 15 that we dug. I’m sure it frustrated her and it frustrated them.
“Our defense was outstanding. That’s what we preach. We know we’re not going to go out and blow people off the floor. We’re not going to serve people off the floor. In fact, I just tell the girls – put the ball over the net because I’m not afraid of anyone’s offense. Put the ball over the net, and we’ll dig it.”
Making the win even more impressive was the fact that the Golden Hawks did it in three games.
“This is a huge step,” Wright said. “Last year was the first time in at least 10 years we beat North and I think in our history. This year we beat North at home for the first time. We’ve been playing CB West for three years, and we went there and beat them on Friday night.
“It’s my last year of coaching, and it’s supposed to be year of lasts, but it’s been a year of firsts. Now to beat Pennsbury – my kids are on cloud nine. They’re starting to believe. I’ve been trying to tell them since last year.”
The Golden Hawks lost five seniors from last year’s successful squad, including three starters.
“I said, ‘How is our team going to be?’ and they said, ‘We should be okay,’” Wright said. “I said, ‘We’re going to be better than we were last year,’ and they looked at me like I was nuts.
“We replaced everybody with people who are really good, and they’re just starting to get it. We’re 8-1, and they’re just starting to get the fact that we’re very good.”
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2 (25-23, 20-25, 12-25, 25-15, 15-10)
The Bucks picked up a huge win over the visiting Indians, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to win the next two sets.
Leading the Bucks at the net was Amanda Mass with 17 kills and one block. Mackenzie Brooks also had a huge game for the Bucks, finishing with 11 kills, seven aces and 19 digs. Setter Ana Claricurzio had 35 assists, 12 digs, four kills and one ace while Maggie Winderman led the defense with 18 digs and one assist. Also contributing were Naomi Woo (three kills, five blocks and two digs) and Magda Videva (four kills, three digs).
The Indians received big defensive performances from Ashleigh Adams (14 digs), Kylie Tinner (13 digs), Mary Baniewicz (12 digs) and Jill Schweizer (10 digs, two aces). Ashley Kelly added six digs and two aces. Baniewicz led the Indians at the net with 11 kills while Ashleigh Adams added nine kills and three aces. Tinner added five kills and two aces and Abby Jones also had five kills. Jenna Hron had four kills and two aces.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 3, NESHAMINY 1 (22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-9)
The Titans dropped the first set of Thursday’s match but rolled to wins in the next three.
Leading the Titans was sophomore outside hitter Courtney Pohl with 14 kills, one block and two aces. Junior setter Lizzie Shirley had 29 assists, nine digs and two kills while senior setter Maddie Shank had eight assists and six digs. Also contributing at the Net were junior middle Allie Burke (nine kills) and freshman middle (Millie Grove).
PENNRIDGE 3, NORTH PENN 2 (25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 24-26, 15-7)
In a two-hour and two-minute marathon match, the Rams won the first two sets, but the Knights staged a gutsy rally, knotting the match 2-2 before the Rams earned a win in the fifth winner-take-all set.
The Knights were led defensively by senior libero Francesca Dolan with 21 digs and a 2.08 passer average. Dolan also added two service aces. Senior setter Alycia Powers put in an all-around performance for the Knights with six defensive digs and offensively with seven kills, eight assists. She added seven service aces.
Additional standout performances for the Knights included senior serve specialist Ali Walter with three aces, senior outside hitter Morgan Patterson with nine kills and junior outside hitter Natalie Wernly with seven kills. Junior Erin Boland subbed in for an injured teammate and contributed defensively with two blocks in the middle.
“Unfortunately, we had multiple injuries tonight but that gave other players a chance to step in and step up,” North Penn coach Scott Coles said. “The team grew tonight and battled the entire time. I’m encouraged by our gutsy performance even in the loss.”
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 3, HARRY S TRUMAN 0 (25-5, 25-2, 25-14)
The Patriots used a team effort to sweep the visiting Tigers.
“We were able to get everyone in that was working so hard,” coach Kerri Rabberman said.
Jenn Krzeminski had a big game with two blocks and 15 kills. Anna Ritter had 30 assists, two aces, and two kills. Halle Sharp had four aces, four kills and a block. Vivien Agassi added three aces, five kills and two digs. Izzy Guzzi contributed two blocks and four kills. Camille Larson and Kaylynn Bryan also contributed offense at the net and Kaylynn also had three aces. Abby Killough had three aces and seven digs. Chloe Mettille added five digs while Megan Lunny also played solid defense. Morgan D'Angelo led the serving with five aces and also contributed six digs. Sophie Mettille added five assists and offense at the net.
WILLIAM TENNENT 3, BENSALEM 0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20)
The Panthers earned a sweep of the visiting Owls.
“Bensalem has some good young players, and they are vastly improved,” Tennent coach Brian Bassler said. “They are a well-coached and hard working group.”
The Panthers were led at the net by Riley Morgan and Sara Ingham. Grace Marsland and Chiara Ciccone each had five aces, and Jackie Essig and Mackenzie Clee had strong all-around performances.
For the Owls, Sydney Bawuah (seven kills, five aces) and Zariah Prescott (four kills, five aces) had excellent matches. Maddie Buechner (four kills, six aces), Zariah Prescott (five kills) and Sara Streng (two kills, one block) played well at the net. Seniors Meg Klaiss (eight aces) and Grace Fan (five digs) played key roles as well, according to coach Steve Linehan.
SOL American
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 3, SOUDERTON 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-19)
The Colonials maintained their stronghold on second place in the conference standings with their sweep of the Indians. Both teams entered the match with just one loss in conference play.
The Colonials received a balanced attack that included important contributions from Gillian Conner (seven kills, one ace, 14 digs), Lily Acquaviva (eight kills, 10 digs, four aces), Megan Peuser (eight kills, three blocks, two digs) and Allison Helferty (eight kills, two blocks, two aces). Sophia Repholz had 14 digs and four assists while Sydney Melillo had 20 assists.
ABINGTON 3, UPPER DUBLIN 2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-27, 25-23, 15-8)
Not a whole lot separated the two conference foes in Thursday’s match, but it was the Ghosts eking out the five-set win. It was their third five-set match in seven outings – the Ghosts are 2-1 in those marathon matches.
“Our only three-game match was Cheltenham,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “Obviously, coming off last year where we were so strong – we’re trying to find our identity.
“I kind of knew and I said to the coaches, ‘We could probably be in a lot of five-game wars because I think there’s a lot of parity in our league. Unfortunately, I was right. We’re going to be in a war every night because we’re not good enough to just beat people. We have to earn it. There are so many scrappy teams in our conference. We have long rallies and long games.”
Kaley Ehnow turned in a stellar outing at the net, finishing with 31 kills and four blocks.
“She’s a beast,” Marsh said. “We moved her to the outside because we have so much youth, and we didn’t think we could get her the ball in the middle.
“I think she’s a natural outside anyway. If I had coached her from the beginning, she would have been an outside. I think that move has really benefitted us for sure. I think our first seven points tonight were seven kills by Kaley.”
Fabi Gonzales had an outstanding defensive game, finishing with 28 digs. Setters Aislin Resurrection (17 assists) and Izzy Reilly (19 assists) both had big nights. Resurrection also had eight kills while Reilly added five.
For the Flying Cardinals, setter Sarah Randall had 44 assists, four aces, seven digs and one kill. Charlotte Qi and Sydney Jones led a balanced attack with 14 kills each. Qi also had 16 digs and two aces while Jones had one block and two digs. Kara Grebe added 10 kills, seven digs and one ace, and Shannon Yoast had eight kills, 21 digs and three aces. Leading the defense was Anna Faust with 26 digs, four aces and two assists. Maggie Faust had 12 digs, three aces and one assist. Also contributing was Emily Senior with six digs and three blocks.
Non-league
Wednesday, Sept. 19
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 3, METHACTON 0 (26-24, 25-21, 25-22)
The Warriors put up a good fight, but the Colonials earned the sweep in Wednesday’s non-league match.
Making important contributions for the Colonials were Megan Peuser (four aces, four kills, five digs), Lily Acquaviva (three aces, eight kills, 10 digs), Aja Smith (two aces, nine kills, two digs), Sophia Repholz (14 digs, one ace, two assists) and Sydney Melillo (15 assists, one ace, eight digs).
Tuesday, Sept. 18
BENSALEM 3, CHELTENHAM 1
The Owls defeated the Panthers in four sets on Tuesday to earn their first win of the season. They were led by Sydney Bawuah with eight kills and four aces. Emma LoStracco had 16 assists and two kills. Maddie Buechner (four kills, six aces), Zariah Prescott (five kills) and Sara Streng (two kills, one block) played well at the net for the Owls. Seniors Meg Klaiss (eight aces) and Grace Fan (five digs) played key roles as well.
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