Vikings Advance to District Title Game

Upper Merion, the defending district champion,defeated Strath Haven 3-1 to earn a spot in Saturday’s district title game against Downingtown East.

#1 UPPER MERION 3, #4 STRATH HAVEN 1 (25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 25-16)

LOWER GWYNEDD – Melanie Ingram’s eye widened in disbelief when she heard that she’d put down 23 kills in Thursday’s District One AAA semifinal match.

“I don’t really get over 20 (kills),” the Vikings’ sophomore outside hitter said.

Ingram, who stands all of 5-6 1/2, put up that dazzling number against a much taller, much more imposing Panther squad that boasted a pair of Division One prospects in senior Jessica Keller (6-1) and junior Sharay Barnes (6-2).

Senior setter Cassidy Koenig – who finished another remarkable night with 43 assists, 18 digs and six kills – knew Ingram might be onto something special even before the match began.

“In warm-ups she was doing really good – she wasn’t hitting in the net at all,” Koenig said. “The first couple of times I was setting her – she kept getting kills, so I just kept going back to her. Why shouldn’t I if she was getting kills all the time?”

Why not indeed.

Ingram was, in a word, unstoppable, and after the Panthers opened up a 4-2 lead in the first set after back-to-back Barnes’ blocks, Ingram and the Vikings went to work. An Ingram kill put the Vikings on top 7-6, and after a pair of Panther miscues, Ingram delivered back-to-back kills to up that lead to 11-6.

Another sequence of consecutive Ingram winners put the Vikings on top 14-9, and a Carolyn Yvellez kill made it 15-9, prompting the Panthers to call a quick timeout. It didn’t help. Ingram delivered a kill out of the timeout, and a Strath Haven hitting error put the Vikings on top 17-9.

An Ingram service ace put the Vikings on top 19-10. The Panthers made it a 21-15 game after a monster kill by Barnes, but Kendall Gazzo answered with a kill for the Vikings and when Ingram delivered another winner, the Vikings led 23-15.

“She always comes up big in the big matches,” Viking coach Tony Funsten said of his sophomore outside hitter. “The last time we played them she dominated the match.”

The Panthers rallied to make it interesting, pulling to within four (25-21) before Ingram closed it out with a kill.

“I guess I focused on my warm-ups more than anything,” Ingram said when asked the key to her success. “I try to do my best in warm-ups, and that gets me pumped for the game, and I’m ready to hit wherever they put the block.”

In game two, the Vikings led 5-3 after Heather Krick and Gazzo combined for a block. The Panthers tied things up at 5-5. It was the fourth of 10 ties in the game. The Panthers led 13-12 after a Keller kill, but a Gazzo kill knotted the score.

That’s when Casey Griffith stepped to the service line for the Vikings. The junior libero gave her team a lead it would not lose with a service ace. It was the first of a six-point Griffith service run that effectively gave the Vikings control of the game on their way to the 25-15 win.

“The last time we played them we didn’t have Casey,” Funsten said of the Vikings’ regular season win over Strath Haven.  “We wouldn’t have won tonight without Casey.”

Making Griffith so invaluable on Thursday was not her pivotal service run but rather her ability to dig up seemingly every kill attempt by the Vikings. Griffith finished the night with 23 digs, many on screaming kill attempts by Keller and Barnes.

“Our libero is fabulous,” Funsten said of Griffith. “She might have made a couple of mistakes, but for the most part, she was there when we needed her.”

Game three was another war, and the Vikings – who led 9-5 early - still led 21-20 after an Ingram kill only to watch the Panthers rally for the 25-22 win.

In game four, the Vikings led 7-4 after a Koenig winner, and so effective was Koenig that after she was whistled for a rare carry that made it a 10-9 game, the Strath Haven coach turned to his assistants and said, “Did Cassidy just get called for a carry? It might be the first one of her career.”

The Vikings’ all-state setter, according to Funsten, is indeed that good.

“When we do make bad plays, she turns them into good plays,” Funsten said. “That’s the measure of not a good player but a great player.

“A good player makes the players around them better. Cassidy makes the players around her really, really good, and then when we need plays made, she makes them. That’s why we’re confident as a team and why I’m so smart as a coach – because of Cassidy.”

The Vikings went on top open up a 12-9 lead after an Ingram kill, and a huge block of Keller by senior Krysta Wellington at the middle of the net put the Vikings on top 13-9. Natalie O’Neil – who came off the bench to serve for four straight points – followed with an ace, and after a Panther hitting miscue, the Vikings led 15-9.

The Panthers did not go down quietly, but they would get no closer than five the rest of the way. The Vikings won it on a Koenig tip.

When it was over, Koenig talked about her team’s defensive effort.

“Our libero – Casey – picked up everything, and Kendall (Gazzo) did too,” Koenig said of the Vikings’ senior outside hitter who had 18 digs to go along with 12 kills. “At practice, we scrimmage each other, so we’re always digging up each other’s hits. All their hitters hit pretty hard.”

Koenig admitted she was nervous coming into the match.

 “We played them before, and we won, but they’re really tall,” she said. “We know they have two really good hitters.

“We normally play to the level of the competition. When we play a weaker team, we kind of lollygag, but when we play a good team, we play to our potential. I like close games. During the games, we’re a little scared, but after it’s over, it feels a lot better.”

“We’re just not afraid of the competition,” Ingram said.

On Saturday, the Vikings will defend their district title when they will face sixth-seeded Downingtown East at Spring-Ford High School in a 1:30 p.m. title match.