To view game action photos, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
TOWAMENCIN – Pennridge was in dire need of a big play.
The Rams - who led by as many as six late in game three of Monday’s SOL opener - had just watched a 24-20 lead disappear as North Penn gamely rallied to knot the score.
That’s when Jon Algeo stepped to the fore.
The Rams’ senior hitter delivered a monster kill out of a timeout, and when a Cody Davis’ serve caught the tape and fell in for a winner, the Rams had earned the win and taken a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five match.
But nothing came easily on this night as the upstart Knights extended the Rams to five games before they eked out a 3-2 win (25-16, 20-25, 26-24, 21-21, 15-8).
Leading the way for the Rams were Algeo and Ben Nyce. Both middle hitters finished the night with 12 kills and three blocks.
“I thought our middles were the difference tonight,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said. “Ben and Jon – our two seniors – really stepped up offensively and got a bunch of good swings, good solid kills.”
It was all part of the game plan for a Ram squad whose headliners are outside hitters Zech States, a second team all-league selection last year, and Austin Jacoby.
“It’s no secret that we have two pretty good outside hitters,” Childs said. “I talked to Will (Jager), our setter, earlier and said, ‘We have to get our middles going.’
“No matter what game we play, we have to get our middles going, so we can free up our outside hitters more. Austin and Zech still need to get most of the sets, but we have to get good, quality sets in the middle because they’re going to be seeing two or three blocks at a time.”
States (11 kills, 10 digs) and Jacoby (eight kills, eight digs, three aces) both had big games, but for the better part of the match, the Knights neutralized the Rams’ outsides with touches and blocks at the net. They couldn’t be everywhere, and that allowed Algeo and Nyce to make some serious noise.
“Our outsides are our two captains, and we have a lot of faith in them,” Algeo said. “When they get blocked, it can be disheartening, but the weakside and the middles stepped up, and the back row attacked too.”
It seemed as though the Rams might be in for an easy night when they opened up a 19-9 lead in game one and cruised to a 25-16 win that culminated with Nyce slamming down a kill for game point.
That certainly was not the case as the Knights came roaring back.
“We played them in a scrimmage earlier this season, and we beat them by a good margin,” Algeo said. “I think we might have come in and underestimated them a little, and they played really hard. I guess we just weren’t expecting that. They played a really good match.”
The Knights – who were led by the performances of Tyler Kruszewski (14 kills) and Kyle Sinding (12 kills) – began to gain some serious momentum in game two. They turned a 13-13 tie into a 16-13 lead after a Chris Davidson kill. They led 23-18 after a Bhavit Vora service winner, and a win was in the books after another Davidson kill for game point.
“After the first game, we lost our concentration and got down on ourselves,” Ram senior Cody Davis said. “If someone made a mistake, we didn’t pick ourselves up very well.”
The Rams were in danger of going down 2-1 when the Knights staged a gutsy comeback late in game two.
The Rams led 21-15 after a Jacoby kill and appeared to be in command, and they still led by four (24-20) after a North Penn net serve, but a winner by libero Kevin Cannon (nine digs) sparked a 4-0 North Penn run. A Davidson kill was followed by a Sinding block, and the two teams were deadlocked after a Sinding kill.
But the Rams weren’t finished yet, and Algeo delivered a kill that sparked the big finish by the Rams.
That could have marked the beginning of the end for the Knights, but according to Sinding, this is a different team than the one that faced the Rams in a pre-season scrimmage.
“I think we got our act together,” the Knights’ junior outside hitter said. “We practiced harder and picked up our play when we saw what the other teams were going to be like.
“I think we prepared ourselves mentally and physically although it wasn’t evident in the first game. I think we just kept our heads up and stayed positive. We knew if we got down we weren’t going to get anywhere.”
In game four, the Knights went on top 10-6 after a Bhavit Vora winner and extended that lead to five after a Cannon service ace. An errant Ram pass gave the Knights a 12-6 lead.
The Rams pulled to within two (20-18) after a States kill, but the Knights went back on top 23-18 after a Matt White block, and they won it when a Ram serve sailed out of play, setting up the winner-take-all fifth game.
Benefitting from a pair of Knight net serves, the Rams went on top 3-2. Then came an impressive service run by Davis. It began with a States kill and was followed by a serve the Knights mishandled. After a Davis service ace, the Knights were called for a net violation, and just like that, the Rams led 7-2.
“You just have to serve tough all the time, don’t let up at all and just try and be consistent,” Davis said. “I just try to do a nice float serve. Float serves are harder to pass than some jump serves.”
The Rams went on top 10-3 after a States service ace, and the Knights – who had four serving errors in the shortened game – would get no closer than six the rest of the way.
“We had 20 unforced errors – serving and hitting,” North Penn coach Kevin Eck said. “That basically is the story of the day.
“If we minimize our mistakes between the first and fifth game, we’ll be fine.”
The Knights return just one player with varsity experience - setter Zenas Pak, who had 31 assists in Monday’s opener.
“We have a lot of older guys that are inexperienced, and you never know how they’re going to play,” Eck said. “Our first scrimmage against Pennridge we played horribly. The next day we went to a five-school scrimmage, and we didn’t lose the whole time, so it’s really a mental toughness issue. It’s not a skill issue per se, and that’s what we talked about afterwards.
“We just need to learn to play together as a group, and I think they’ll get better as time goes on. I think Pennridge will probably be one of the toughest teams in our conference this year.”
The Rams improved to 2-0 (1-0 SOL) while the Knights are 0-1.
- Log in to post comments
0
