Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ volleyball teams in action Tuesday. CB West/William Tennent photos provided courtesy of Jon Sklut. Check back for a photo gallery of the match: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f214243981
Non-league
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 3, WILLIAM TENNENT 0 (25-7, 25-14, 25-16)
Rachel Hu did a little bit of everything in Tuesday’s non-league sweep of the visiting Panthers. She not only finished with a double-double – 11 kills and 11 digs, but she also led the Bucks’ strong service game with five aces and added one block.
Alexis Barklage added eight kills and one block. Also contributing at the net were Hollis Walton (3 kills, 2 blocks, 3 aces, 2 digs) and Lily Rasnake (2 kills, 2 aces, 1 dig). Erin Ferello (12 assists, 1 kill, 1 dig) and Elisa Kremser (11 assists, 1 kill, 1 dig) shared setting duties. Amber Woodring contributed defensively with nine digs while Alexa Lee added five digs to go along with three aces.
Central Bucks West (2-0, 0-0 SOL) will host Unionville in a non-league match on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. William Tennent (1-1, 0-0) will travel to Pennsbury Thursday for its SOL opener.
ABINGTON 3, PENNRIDGE 2
Things didn’t look all that promising for the Ghosts, who found themselves staring at a 2-0 hole in Tuesday’s road match at Pennridge, but just when it looked like they were down for the count, the Ghosts rallied to win the next three sets to claim the gutsy come-from-behind win.
While the Ghosts may have stunned the Rams, they did not surprise their coach.
“This is a very unique group that really, really, really wants to work,” Abington coach Dan Marsh said. “We’ve been weight lifting, we’ve been in the gym, they’ve been waiting to play. They really love the game.”
The Ghosts competed in a tournament to open the season on Friday – they won their pool but lost in the championship to Central Bucks West.
“We were feeling good, we were looking good, and we go into Pennridge – we knew they had a coaching change, and they were a young team,” Marsh said. “The problem is – they want to win so bad that they don’t let the game come to them, and we made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. We had 14 missed serves – just a lot of unforced errors.
“Number 21 from Pennridge played amazing – she was hitting the ball all over the place, and they were digging some of our stuff. Basically, I just told them, ‘You guys love volleyball, and you’ve got to have fun. You can’t force it, you can’t take a square peg and put it in a circle. Let the game come to you.’ I don’t think we ever played perfectly, but we relaxed enough to get the win. All five sets were close.”
Junior setter Mary Carter dished out 34 assists in the five-set match.
“The sets were close, and in the first two, there were a lot of long rallies that we would play and then eventually kind of give up on or make too many mistakes, so we got in our heads as we made more and more mistakes,” Carter said. “But we talked to each other, and as a team forgot our mistakes and went all out.
“We knew we had a chance to win, and we just weren’t playing to our potential, so we locked in and pushed. We used all of our energy in those last three sets to push and win. It was very exciting – this is a lot of momentum. It’s a good way to start of the season.”
Carter’s favorite targets in Tuesday’s win were Sasha Moody (15 kills), Sofie Heininger (10 kills) and Liz Tanis (9 kills).
“This was a great first match, and we go right to Hatboro on Thursday,” Marsh said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Abington (1-0, 0-0 SOL) will host Hatboro-Horsham in Thursday’s SOL opener. Pennridge (0-1, 0-0) will be on the road at Quakertown on Thursday.
QUAKERTOWN 3, WISSAHICKON 2 (25-15, 25-27, 25-19, 14-25, 15-9)
The Panthers won a marathon battle against the Trojans that saw the two teams exchange sets.
Grace White led the Panthers at the net with 11 kills to go along with four aces, two blocks and three digs. Zoe Hartley led the Panthers’ defense with 13 digs and also had a pair of aces while setter Anna Skogen handed out 12 assists and, in addition, came up with 12 digs, four kills and eight aces.
Also making important contributions for the Panthers were Cece Bates (6 kills, 3 digs), Ellie White (6 kills, 2 digs), Colleen Gallagher (8 digs, 2 aces) and Genevieve Clark (6 assists, 2 digs). Contributing one kill each were Mia Handschumacher, Ericka Marks, Kiele Magalengo and Krysalyn Juchno. Handschumacher also had one kill and Marks, one dig.
Quakertown (1-0, 0-0 SOL) will host Pennridge in Thursday’s SOL opener at 6:30 p.m., and Wissahickon (0-2, 0-0) will be on the road at New Hope-Solebury on Thursday.
MOUNT ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY 3, SOUDERTON 0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-15)
The visiting Indians fell to a strong Mount squad in a non-league match Tuesday.
For the Indians, Kay Guessford led the way at the net with eight kills, three aces and three digs while McKenna Murawski had seven kills, six digs and one ace. Zoe Folk’s 13 digs led the defense. Lauren Vince contributed four kills, one ace and three digs. Setter Margaret Donnelly was credited with eight assists and one dig.
Souderton (1-1, 0-0 SOL) will travel to North Penn for Thursday’s SOL opener.
UPPER MERION 3, UPPER DUBLIN 2
The Flying Cardinals lost a hard-fought battle, extending the Vikings to five sets before falling.
For the Cardinals, Brooke Kinsley (11 kills, 2 aces, 1 assist, 12 digs), Madison Small (11 kills, 10 digs) and Janis Andrulonis (7 kills, 1 assist, 5 digs) were forces at the net. Alisa Zeng’s 20 digs led the Cardinals defensively. She also had one ace and one assist. Setter Kaitlyn Small handed out 30 assists and also had 15 digs, three kills and a team-high seven aces. Lyvia Marcus contributed 10 digs.
Upper Dublin (0-2, 0-0 SOL) will be on the road at Plymouth Whitemarsh for Thursday’s SOL opener.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 3, RIDLEY 0
The Indians earned a sweep of the Green Raiders, turning in a strong outing in Tuesday’s non-league match.
Sophomore Oliva Szymkiewicz led the offense with 13 kills and two aces, Senior Kaitlyn Liedl had 12 kills and eight aces, senior Liz Butler had three kills to lead a balanced attack, headed up by junior Sarah McCafferty's 30 assists.
“Once again, senior libero Emma McNulty took command of the serve receive and passing that allowed Sarah the opportunity to set up our hitters,” coach Joe Schweitzer said.
Council Rock North (2-0, 0-0 SOL) will host Souderton on Friday at 11:30 a.m.
NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 3, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0
SPRING-FORD 3, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 1
CONWELL-EGAN 3, BENSALEM 0
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