Upper Merion played its best volleyball of the season on Friday, and anything less would not have been good enough against some of state’s top squads in pool play on the opening day of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament at Central York High School.
The Vikings rolled to a perfect 3-0 record, defeating Unionville (25-17, 25-21, 26-24), Hempfield (25-20, 25-23, 16-25) and the state’s top-ranked squad Pine Richland (25-20, 25-22, 10-25).
“They just focused so well,” coach Tony Funsten said of his players. “We pass served meticulously throughout the day, and these are the best teams.
“Pine Richland – I thought they played great against us, and we beat them. They served tremendously, but we served well too. We pass serve so well. It doesn’t have to be a perfect pass for Cass (Cassidy Koenig) to make a good set, so we’re always putting pressure on the other team.
“We were just in system more than the other teams were that we were playing, and that has everything to do with the way they play as a team.”
The Vikings, according to Funsten, served well and also received big performances from their big guns.
“Devyn (Ingram) was her usual great player, and Cassidy was her usual great player,” Funsten said.
The Vikings’ coach went on to laud the standout effort of Casey Griffith.
“She played great in our (district) semifinal win over Avon Grove,” Funsten said. “She played better today. She was so consistently good.
“Cass knows she’s shorter, so she keeps her off the net. Casey hit down the line, into the far corner, and she would power one when the blockers were slow. She just had a fabulous, fabulous all-around day – defensively, offensively and serving.”
Freshman Melanie Ingram also had a big day.
“She’s getting her serve back, and she was really hurting people with her serve at key times,” Funsten said. “We’re tough to beat when those people are playing like that.
“We made very few errors. The teams that were playing for us were like, ‘When are they going to crack?’”
Also coming up huge was defensive libero Shannon Phillips.
“She was unbelievable,” Funsten said. “There were times when Shannon and Devyn would dig three of the hardest hit balls you have seen in months and pop them up in the air. Cassidy would come flying by and set somebody, and we would get the attack. The combination of serving, passing serve and defending as well as we did – that’s why we were 3-0.”
The Vikings will face Dover – the second place team in the other pool – in Saturday’s semifinal match.
NOTES: In the Vikings 3-0 win over Unionville, Koenig had 28 assists, 14 digs and three aces while Devyn Ingram had 16 kills and 26 digs. Shannon Phillips added 28 digs while Melanie Ingram had 16 digs, seven kills and three aces. In Upper Merion's 2-1 win over Hempfield, Koenig had seven kills and 25 assists, Devyn Ingram added nine kills and 13 digs, and Melanie Ingram had seven kills and eight digs. The 2-1 win over Pine-Richland featured important contributions from Koenig (seven kills, 27 assists, 15 digs), Devyn Ingram (14 kills, 15 digs) and Casey Griffith (11 kills).
