A complete wrap of the tournament will be included when the information is available. To view action photos of the tournament, visit the Photo Gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/.
QUAKERTOWN - Catherine Fayer smiled as she clutched the gold medal that was draped around her neck.
“This is the perfect way to end my senior year,” the Central Bucks senior said after her Titan squad captured the title in the Quakertown Invitational Tournament. “It’s amazing. This is the best we’ve ever been in South history.”
The tournament win was the first of the 2011 season for a Titan squad that certainly impressed William Tennent coach Brian Bassler, whose team finished a surprising second.
“They’re an outstanding team,” said the Panthers’ coach, whose team fell to the Titans in two straight (25-10, 25-13). “Our girls were emotionally and physically spent from the semifinals, but CB South may have been the best team we have seen all year, and it wasn’t easy to try and rebound like that and pick it back up. They’re right up their with Pennsbury.
“They have a great group of girls and a nice coaching staff, and their win was well-deserved.”
In game one, the Titans turned an 8-6 lead into a 20-8 lead after a Giuli Frendak kill. They closed it out with a 5-2 run that culminated with a crosscourt kill by junior Abby Mummert.
The second game was more of the same. A Mummert kill got the ball rolling, and the Titans led 16-9 after a Jayne Mulhern service ace. A kill by Meghan Kaminski put the Titans on top 18-13, sparking an 8-0 run to close it out.
Freshman Kaitlyn Kushman handed out 19 assists in the match. Mummert led the Titans with seven kills while Kaminski had six and Frendak, four kills. Mulhern had five digs.
“It was very nice to see them come out so strong against William Tennent,” Titan coach Ulana Keer said. “I have some kids who are very experienced. They settled into good play, they talked a lot to each other, and Kaitlyn (Kushman) set everybody amazingly- she was getting the ball to the right people at the right time. Overall, it was a great day.”
The Titans were on a bona fide roll all day. They won their pool with a perfect 8-0 record, downing Christopher Dock, Central Dauphin East, Bayard Rustin and Souderton. In the quarterfinals, the defeated Pennridge and then upended neighboring Central Bucks East in two straight (25-15, 25-17) in the semifinals.
In the East match, Kushman had 19 assists while Mulhern led the defense with five digs. Mummert had seven kills, Kaminski, six kills, Frendak, four kills and Annie Danyluk, two kills.
“We all had energy, and we all just played our game,” freshman Kaitlyn Kushman said. “We ran our system, and we were playing well all day.”
“We played our game,” Fayer added. “We didn’t play their game.
That is no small feat in a tournament that ended close to 11 hours after it began. Kushman admits she received an energy boost by eating some chocolate, but the Titans looked like a team that could have played for another 11 hours.
“It wasn’t easy,” Fayer said. “It was all mental.”
And the Titans had the mental edge all day.
“We all know each other, and we practice well together,” Fayer said. “It’s all about teamwork. You can’t just take a bunch of gifted girls. It’s all about teamwork.”
A centerpiece to that teamwork is Kushman, the Titans’ freshman setter, who has been embraced by her teammates.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “I love working with them. They bring my momentum up.”
“We love her,” Fayer said. “She’s a great addition.”
Keer was ecstatic with her team’s effort.
“Every kid today was 150 percent focused on the goals we set at the beginning of the season, which was to beat every team that we came up against and play them the best and the most intelligently and with the most spirit,” the Titans’ coach said. “It all came together very nicely for us today.
“We had some pretty good competition with Bayard (Rustin) in pool play. East was a tough match – we struggled against them in regular season play, and it was nice for the girls to redeem themselves with that match.”
The Panthers were coming off a semifinal finish at the Plymouth Whitemarsh Tournament.
“I can’t ask for a lot more,” Bassler said. “We beat Liberty in the quarterfinals and Rustin in the semifinals. Those are outstanding teams to beat in order to get there.
“I’m really proud of the girls. We have come a long way. We graduated eight seniors, and we’re very inexperienced.”
Bassler was reluctant to single out any players but acknowledged the standout play of middle hitters Michele Felix and Maria Jose Alanis (a transfer from California), right side hitter Emily O’Donnell, sophomore libero Cecelia Weir and junior setter Hannah Washam.
“All of our girls played really well and contributed to our success, but those five really stood out at times,” Bassler said. “I am really proud of our effort and the way our team battled through the 11-hour tournament.”
If the Panthers were exhausted by the time they reached the final against South, it was impossible to blame them as they were extended to the limit in their best of three match against Rustin in the semifinals. They won in two straight, the first by a 25-23 score and the second 26-24, and it was anything but easy.
In the second game, the Panthers found themselves staring at a 19-13 deficit, and they still trailed 23-18 but outscored Rustin 8-1 to close out the match.
“Being tired is not really an excuse,” Felix said. “I think we all worked very hard today, and it showed. (South is) a very good team, and I think we could have done better, but it’s been a long day.”
The Panthers were actually a decided underdog to advance to the title game after finishing 6-2 in pool play. They won their first six games but dropped a pair to Quakertown (25-19, 32-30). As the second seed out of their pool, the Panthers played Liberty, the top seed from Pool B, and won 25-17, setting the stage for the Rustin classic.
“That was one of the better matches we have played all year,” Bassler said. “We really did have a great day, and I think we established ourselves as one of the really good teams in the area. I don’t think we are quite at a great or elite level yet, but we keep making strides.”
- Log in to post comments
