The stage has been set for several huge SOL showdowns on Thursday.
Pennsbury – undefeated in SOL play – will travel to Council Rock North where the Indians hope to avenge their only loss of the season, a 3-1 loss to the Falcons.
North Penn – also undefeated in league play – will host a Central Bucks South squad that extended the Maidens to four games before dropping its only match of the league season.
Council Rock North 3, Harry S. Truman 0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-13)
The Indians took care of business with a convincing win over the Tigers. Caroline Anderson and Bailey Dowd led the attack with seven kills each. Anderson also had five aces and nine digs while Dowd had six digs. Setter Amy Malakoff handed out 24 assists and also had 10 digs. Rachel McGlaughlin-McManis added four kills and five digs.
When it was over, coach Kinsey Lynch talked about her team’s showdown with Pennsbury.
“This is a huge match,” she said. “We won the first game and then lost the next three the last time we played them. The girls have really rebounded from that, and we’re ready to compete.
“We know that as always against Pennsbury the girls get really excited. They have been working really hard at practice, they’re very focused and energized. They have their eyes on the ultimate goal, which will hopefully be the win.”
According to Lynch, the players don’t need to look far to figure out what went wrong in the first meeting with the Falcons.
“The girls mentally were broken down,” the Indians’ coach said. “Coaches often say the very classic line - we didn’t really get beat, we beat ourselves.
“I think that’s kind of what happened. We started making mistake after mistake, and we weren’t able to rebound. When we were able to come back, they were ahead by three or four points, so we had to keep playing catch-up, and that’s a very difficult thing to do in the sport of volleyball because volleyball is all about momentum. If you can get the momentum early and stick with it and stay focused, chances are you’ll be able to carry it throughout the game. We just weren’t able to capitalize on some of those moments.
“Again, it was early in the season. We know Pennsbury has gotten better, and we’ve gotten better. We’re just looking forward to a really great night of volleyball.”
Pennsbury 3, Neshaminy 0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-20)
The Falcons remained perfect in league play with their sweep of Neshaminy. Audrey Stringer led the attack with seven kills while Lauren Pisauro had six. Julian Slaven was credited with 14 assists. Katrina Ballerini led the defense with 12 digs, and Jen Matusa had a team-high four aces.
North Penn 3, Central Bucks West 0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-19)
The Maidens wouldn’t call their win over the Bucks their finest hour, and the Bucks - 24 hours removed from an emotional 3-2 win over Quakertown – would echo that sentiment.
“To be honest, we’re lucky to come out on top because I don’t think we worked as hard as we should have,” North Penn senior Nicole Kratz said, pointing to a lack of energy on the part of the Maidens. “It’s frustrating because we can’t blame that on the other team or on who’s coming to our games or on what time the game is, but games aren’t fun if you don’t have energy.”
Acting West head coach Jonathan Rose – who stepped in after the recent resignation of long-time coach Ben Martin – talked about the absence of energy as well.
“It’s tough sometimes because we do have a talented team, but sometimes teams have trouble connecting,” he said. “Yesterday we had a great game against Quakertown, and today we just couldn’t get the intensity up, we couldn’t get the excitement, and that was probably the major problem we had today.
“I definitely feel they have the ability to play with anyone.”
The Bucks hung tough, trailing by just three (15-12) midway through game one before falling 25-14. In game two, it was a 23-22 game before a pair of West errors allowed the Maidens to close it out. Game three was a two-point game late (18-16) before the Maidens slammed the door and finished off the match.
“I think we have a ton of potential,” West senior Sarah Steere said. “Sometimes I think emotionally we let things get to us, but I don’t think we’re in any way deficient in skill. We have the skill, but we have to put the last couple of pieces together.”
Steer and Emily Harvan led the Bucks with seven kills each. Devon Redilla led the Maidens with 10 kills to go along with a team-high 11 digs and three aces. Kratz had nine kills and two aces while setter Kendra Allen had four digs and 27 assists. Libero Alyssa Chiodo had 10 digs.
It didn’t take long for the Maidens to start looking ahead.
“We’re really excited for the South game,” Kratz said. “I know they’re going to come out with a vengeance, definitely. Our last game with them could have gone either way, so we have to push really hard.”
Central Bucks South 3, Quakertown 0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-18)
Setter Jenn Smith was credited with 30 assists and four service aces while Meghan Kaminski and Abby Mummert led the attack with 10 kills each in South’s Senior Night win. Kaminski also had 15 solo blocks while Mummert had 10 solo blocks. Giuli Frendak contributed six kills while Kim Lorditch and Haley Uzelac each had two kills. Lorditch also had three blocks assists, and Uzelac had two block assists. Jayne Mulhern led the defense with 25 digs. Ally Horvath had three aces and Mummert, two.
“The girls played very well tonight,” coach Ulana Keer said. “Today they took control of the match.
“Quakertown is a very good team. Wendy (Mahler) is a very smart coach, and she coaches her team defensively pretty well. The biggest weakness for Quakertown was they didn’t have the tall girls on the front line to put the ball away like we did, but they threw everything at us. They had a very good game plan. I have to give them credit.”
The team’s lone seniors – Uzalec and Nicole Mummert – both were on the court for the start of the match, but Mummert, who has been sidelined this entire season with an injury, was immediately replaced by the libero.
“It was a very nice night for us as far as hitting,” Keer said. “We had very aggressive net play.
“We served well, and we were able to hit our targets. Jenn Smith was smart setting and moving the ball around to all her different hitters.
“The rest of the team has just been great. I don’t even know what more I can say. They’re all young, and they’re all returning. “
But no one is looking toward next year right now. Thursday night is the big night.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how it goes,” Keer said. “I know my girls are very hungry to win. They want to play hard, and they want to show North Penn what they’re made of.
“It’s going to be a good matchup. I’m going to be excited to see what they can do. Our league, unfortunately, is not always the strongest league. It would be really nice if we played the Villas and Bishop Shanahans on a weekly or bi-weekly basis or even a Hatboro-Horsham or Upper Merion would be very nice. Hopefully next year we can play some of those big guns.”
For now, the Titans will have to settle for facing a North Penn squad intent on owning sole possession of a Continental Conference crown.
Central Bucks East 3, Pennridge 2
Trailing 2-0, the Patriots – according to coach Margie Arm – fought off multiple match points to win game three 26-24 en route to the monster win.
“This was a huge team effort with great play by many individuals,” the Patriots’ coach said.
Courtney Kauffman led the attack with 11 kills (.218 hitting percentage) to go along with seven blocks and four aces. Kelsey Arm had eight kills (.294 hitting percentage) and 10 service points. Madi Staub had 12 digs, five blocks and four kills while Caroline Davis had 23 assists, 11 digs and nine aces.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3, Hatboro-Horsham 2 (25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 25-13, 15-9)
In a key American Conference battle, the Colonials rallied from a 2-1 deficit to down the Hatters. Devon Maugle led PW with a superb 39-kill effort. She also had one ace and three blocks. Alex Griffin had 14 kills in a solid supporting role to go along with 13 digs and one ace. Anna Waltz had 14 digs, and Dana Wisniewski had four kills, three blocks and one dig. Sally Kijak had 13 digs, 50 assists and two aces. Meghan Lawrence had seven digs to go along with three kills and three aces.
For the Hatters, Julie Harvey had 16 kills and seven blocks. Kiersten Collette contributed eight kills and Kathryn Lucca had four. Both Lucca and Lauren Laucella had four blocks each Kelsey Baranek delivered 28 assists. Julie Austin served 10 points in game three, including three aces.
Norristown 3, Wissahickon 1
Trojan coach Marsi Fluehr-Trainor lauded the solid blocking of Alysha Roberts and Alev Erhan.
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