Upper Merion captured its third District One AAA title in the last four years on Saturday. The Vikings swept Downingtown East 3-0 in the title match.
#1 UPPER MERION 3, #6 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-16)
ROYERSFORD – They might not dazzle you, and they might not overpower you, but they will most assuredly beat you.
Talk to senior Kendall Gazzo, and it’s clear that the Vikings have this thing about winning –they like it a whole lot.
“The feeling – it never goes away,” the Vikings’ senior outside hitter said. “Every time I go to a game I live and play to feel the feeling of winning and the excitement of being the best.”
The Vikings have known the excitement of being the best in District One three of the last four years, and if their celebration seemed almost subdued after winning their third district title in four years on Saturday after their sweep of the Cougars in a match at Spring-Ford High School, it’s not because the district title doesn’t mean a lot to the players. It’s just that they wouldn’t settle for anything less.
“It’s a really big achievement, and you never want to stop after it,” Gazzo said. “Playing and winning is kind of like an addiction to our team.
“We definitely expected to come out here, and we expected to win. We knew it would be a close game, and to only go to three games – we were pretty surprised. We expected tough competition, but we’re still really excited.”
For the team’s six seniors, Saturday’s district title was especially significant.
“I love it,” senior Heather Krick said. “It’s so much fun. All four years, I’ve had a great time. We play for a great coach, and I’ve always had Cassidy (Koenig) as my setter. Everybody is so excited, and it’s really a great program.”
The Vikings defeated the Cougars for the same reason they win most of their matches – they are tireless on defense.
“The key to our success is really defense,” coach Tony Funsten said.
If there was one play that told the story of Saturday’s match, it came in game two when – after a Cougar kill attempt – the ball was shanked and appeared to be heading toward the stands. Senior Cassidy Koenig – the Vikings’ all-state setter – had other ideas and somehow made a one-handed save, miraculously digging the ball back to her team for the return. The stunned Cougars immediately hit the ball out of play on an unforced error.
“I was just like, ‘Please get it and make sure you hit it perfectly on your fist so you get it up in the air,’” Koenig said. “It really kills the other team when someone shanks it, and (their teammate) runs it down and you get it back over.”
The Cougars had no answer for the kind of hustle Koenig and her teammates displayed all afternoon.
Koenig finished with 19 digs to go along with 31 assists and four kills while Gazzo had 18 digs to go along with a team high 12 kills. Sophomore Melanie Ingram had 24 digs in addition to nine kills, but it was junior libero Casey Griffith who led the way with 25 digs, including several spectacular digs of her own.
“She’s so great,” Koenig said. “She seriously gets everything up and is one of our biggest passers and one of our best players. We really count on her.”
“Casey is my libero,” Krick added. “She’s amazing – she goes for everything, and I don’t even understand how she gets to half the balls she gets to. “
The Vikings were decidedly out of sync at the outset of Saturday’s title match, falling behind 5-1 in game one before fans had even settled in their seats.
“I don’t know what it was – I guess we were having a little pre-game nervousness,” Koenig said. “In the end, we settled down and realized that we could play with them. We just needed to relax.”
The Vikings still trailed 12-7 and found themselves on the short end of a 15-11 score, but behind a seven-point service run by Griffith, they turned that deficit into a 19-15 lead after a Gazzo kill. Krick ignited the run with a kill, and sophomore Carolyn Yvellez delivered three straight winners, prompting the Cougars to call a quick timeout.
It didn’t help. Once the Vikings had the lead, they never let it go and won it on an Ingram tip.
After that, it was relatively easy for the Vikings. They led 6-2 in the second set after a Koenig dump for a winner. They still led 11-6 after a Krick winner, and Funsten was happy to once again have Krick as a weapon in the middle.
“We had to go against Pennsbury and their size – poor Heather (Krick) was overwhelmed,” the Vikings’ coach said. “We couldn’t even see Heather for two matches between the two Pennsbury middles and the middle from Strath Haven. Today she asserted herself a little more because she could look at these girls eye-to-eye.”
The Vikings led 20-12 after a Yvellez service ace, and the Cougars would get no closer than four the rest of the way. The Vikings won in on a Wellington kill at the middle of the net.
In game three, the Vikings sprinted to a 9-2 lead and never looked back, rolling to the convincing win and the district title.
“It means so much, especially my senior year,” Krick said. “Everyone is doing great. We have Krysta Wellington in the middle who is new to this. We have Carolyn Yvellez on the outside, and we have Casey as our new libero.
“This means so much. I can’t even describe my emotions right now. I’m so excited.”
When it was over, Funsten talked about the importance of consistency.
“The most important thing in volleyball is consistency and that you can depend on what the person next to you, behind you and in front of you is going to do,” he said. “Occasional excellence is the worst thing that can happen in volleyball because once it happens you expect it, and then when it doesn’t happen, you’re disappointed, and there’s hesitancy. You can’t have hesitancy in volleyball.
“We don’t have that hesitancy – as best as you can not have it in a game that’s as random as volleyball, and the impetus of all that is Cassidy. She’s the one who takes as much of the randomness out as any player that I have ever seen, and we have had some good ones.”
NOTES: Yvellez finished the game with seven kills and nine digs wile Krick had six kills, two blocks and eight digs. Wellington had three kills and three digs…the Vikings return to action on Tuesday when they will face Northeast, the second place team from District 12, in the opening round of states at Spring-Ford High School at 6 p.m.
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