Council Rock South lost to top-seeded Unionville in Thursday’s District 1 4A final. Photos courtesy of Jon Sklut. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f214243981
Distirct 1 4A Final
#1 UNIONVILLE 3, #2 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-11)
Defense has been the calling card of a Council Rock South squad that captured the SOL National Conference title and advanced to Thursday’s District 1 4A title game at Harriton where it was put to the ultimate test.
The Golden Hawks spent Thursday’s match diving after every loose ball and digging up some monster kills, but it wasn’t enough to defeat a Unionville squad that is not only undefeated but only lost one set the entire season, and that came in Tuesday’s district semifinal match against Spring-Ford.
“It’s very tough,” senior libero Cadence Palmer said of going up against the Indians. “It crushes your spirit a little bit. It’s hard to stay positive and keep playing.”
“They’re a very talented team,” senior Edan Kauer said. “I know it took a while for us to adjust. We started to adjust in the second set later on, but they are a very talented team at the end of the day.”
In a sport where height counts, the Indians had a lot of it, and the Golden Hawks didn’t.
“We’re probably the shortest team in District 1 I’d say,” Palmer said.
“Our tallest player is 5-10 or 5-11,” Kauer said.
“5-9 actually,” Palmer said. “5-9 is our tallest player.”
It was a decidedly tough matchup, and the Golden Hawks settled for silver, but it wasn’t settling at all.
“I don’t think I would have thought we would get here,” Palmer said. “I was hopeful, but after last year, we were left kind of disappointed. We had a first round bye, and we lost in the second round to the 13th seed, Strath Haven, when we were the fourth seed.
“So this is very exciting. I’m so proud of us. We were ranked second, so for the first and second seed to be playing, we really did live up to our full potential of what we could have done this season, and we still have states.”
“I will agree,” Kauer said. “Early in the year, when we got that high seed ranking, we were doubting ourselves. We were wondering – why are we seeded this high, why are we seeded above some teams, why are we only one under Unionville, but we proved that we deserved this seed, and I’m very proud of us for that.”
The first set got off to a promising start, and thanks to an Olivia De Saro kill, a Unionville hit out of bounds, and a dink for a winner by Kauer, the Hawks opened up an early 3-0 lead. The Indians took their first lead at 5-4 on a first touch kill and went on to open up a 19-9 lead on their way to the 25-15 win.
In the second set, the Golden Hawks led 10-9 after a Kristina Shumakov kill only to watch Unionville go on an 11-2 tear to go on top 20-11. The Golden Hawks rallied and made it a 21-17 game. They still trailed by just a 22-18 score after a Nala Kauer winner, but the Indians closed it out for the 25-19 win.
The third set was more of the same. The Hawks trailed by just one early after a De Saro kill (5-4), but the Indians responded with a 7-1 run to go on top 12-5. The Hawks would get no closer than five the
rest of the way.
“It’s really, really hard to match up with them,” Rock South coach Carrie Allen said. “We’ve been undersized against most people, but they’re a huge team.
“We’ve been undersized against teams that have had a few hitters like that. They’ve got all positions. That’s just what it is.”
De Saro, a sophomore, led the Golden Hawks at the net with 10 kills to go along with eight digs and two aces. Edan Kauer (17 digs, 4 kills) and Palmer (17 digs) led the defense. Cassidy Melnick added nine digs.
“We have a very strong defense,” Edan Kauer said. “That’s really been a key for us. We just get into a mentality where nothing hits the ground, we’re going for everything, we’re staying aggressive, so that’s really been our key, and our offense is definitely picking up too.”
Ashlyn Dinan had 15 assists, one ace and two blocks, and Rachel Khelmer added four assists. Nala Kauer had a pair of kills while Shumakov had one kill.
“I asked them – ‘Do you think you played your best?’” Allen said. “They all agreed that they did not. So I said, ‘Remember how this feels because we’ve got a couple days of practice before our first (state) game on Tuesday, and every team we see from here on out is going to be at that level, so we have work to do. Take that into the next couple of days to prepare better.’”
And what can the Golden Hawks do better?
“For us, it’s mostly been adjusting our offense and defense, especially for our offense hitting high hands off the block, getting those kinds of touches off the block,” Edan Kauer said. “And then for our defense, filling in the gaps from our block and making sure we pick up everything best as we can.”
Council Rock South (19-3, 12-0 SOL) will face District 3’s third place squad, Dallastown, in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA 4A State Tournament. Dallastown (22-2) entered the District 3 Tournament as the top seed but fell to #4 Wilson (3-0) in the district semifinals.
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