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PERKASIE – Austin Jacoby clenched his fists and smiled.The outside hitter’s laser kill had just ricocheted off a pair of would-be Souderton defenders and out of play for match point, giving Pennridge a convincing 3-0 win over their archrivals (25-23, 25-18, 25-15) in Wednesday night’s battle of undefeated SOL squads.
This was – Jacoby hopes – a statement win.
“They have a program there,” the junior outside hitter said of Souderton. “They have been state contenders year-in and year-out for the past couple of years. They’re our rivals.
“It feels great to come out and beat a team as good as Souderton because when people look at it – Pennridge beat Souderton. That didn’t happen in the past, but we’ve raised the bar now.”
The win upped the Rams’ early season mark to a perfect 6-0.
“The sky’s the limit right now,” Jacoby said. “We just have to take it one game at a time though. We can’t think 16-0. We have to think 6-0 and tomorrow night 7-0.
“This is big. I’m not sure any Pennridge team has ever started off 6-0, but we’re just feeling it right now. We’re on top of the world, and it feels great.”
The Rams displayed a balance and depth the Indians could not match.
“Everything worked,” said Pennridge senior Ben Nyce, who contributed six kills and three blocks in the middle. “We have two senior middle hitters with a lot of experience – me and Jon Algeo, and with Zech (States) and Austin on the outside – it’s a one-two punch, and it gives Will (Jager) a lot of spots to set it to, and we can all put the ball away.”
If Jacoby and States – who combined for 17 kills - weren’t finishing off a point on the outside, Nyce and Algeo were. The senior middles combined for 14 kills, and the Rams – who also got some important finishes at the net from Cory Chinnici - were operating on all cylinders.“We don’t have one guy that has 40 kills every night,” said Jacoby, who led the Rams with 11 kills to go along with five digs and five aces. “We spread the ball around, and that throws teams off a lot.
“They know we have two strong outside hitters, and we have two really good middles, but when Cory can get going on the right side, we’re throwing off their blockers. We probably had four or five guys that had more than five kills. That helps because they don’t know where the ball’s going.”
The Indians, meanwhile, didn’t have the luxury of such a balanced attack. Almost all of their attack came from the outside where Nick Edgett (11 kills) and Luke Pinto combined for 21 kills.
“It felt like we were all way too tense, and we were making stupid mistakes,” Edgett said. “We needed to relax and get our heads in the game.
“We weren’t playing as a team. We had individuals screaming and yelling, but we needed to relax and play as a team.”
If there was a defining moment in the match, it came in game two when Jacoby stepped to the service line with the score knotted 9-9. The Rams led 11-9 after a Souderton hit into the net, and then Jacoby went to work, reeling off four consecutive aces to put his team on top 15-9.
“Volleyball is huge momentum game,” Jacoby said. “If you can (rattle) off three or four points in a row just serving, that gets your team behind you. Blast a couple of aces – balls are bouncing off the walls, you get amped up and you feed off the crowd.”
While the Rams were getting amped, the Indians’ confidence began to sag.
“Serve receiving is so mental,” Souderton coach Brad Garrett said. “He hit a couple of balls real hard, and then he wasn’t necessarily even ripping it. He was serving aggressively and picking his spots.“We weren’t moving our feet. We were a little flat-footed. You can’t give up a run of four, five or six points against a good team like Pennridge and expect to win.”
Chase Brunner delivered a block at the net to break the Rams’ run, but the tone had been set. The game and match belonged to the Rams.
A pair of Souderton hitting errors allowed the Rams to go on top 18-10. The Indians trimmed the lead to five (19-14) after a Jake Shoemaker kill, but a States kill sparked a three-point Ram run that was capped by a States’ service ace. The Rams went on to earn a 25-18 win.
“That (serving) run was key,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said. “It was kind of close at the time, and that second game was important. If they get momentum and take that game, it’s a whole new match.”
The third game was even easier for the Rams, who led 11-6 after a Nyce service ace, and an Indian passing error upped the Rams’ advantage to six. The Indians pulled to within three (14-11) after a Ram hit in the net, but the Rams led 18-12 after a States kill. States followed that with an ace, and then Chinnici came up with a big block at the net.
“The biggest thing is we passed the ball,” Childs said. “We out-passed them, and that was the difference. We were able to hit a high percentage because the passing was there.“They struggled a little bit with ball control, and we took advantage of that.”
Edgett broke the Rams’ run with a kill, but it was only a temporary reprieve as the Rams closed it out for the 25-15 win.
“Pennridge kept us on our heels by serving tough,” Garrett said. “They have a real aggressive, balanced attack, and I don’t think we played with the intensity we needed to.
“It’s disappointing. The guys were excited. We didn’t give them all we had.”
Game one was the most competitive of the match.
The closest thing to a run either team could generate was three points, and that came with Cody Davis serving. The Rams were holding a 4-3 lead when the Rams’ defensive libero – who had a game-high 11 digs – stepped to the service line.
A Nyce kill was followed by a service winner. Then came an ace that put the Rams on top 7-3. The Indians pulled to within two (15-13) after a John Bunyan winner, but they would get no closer, and the Rams won it on a Chinnici kill, setting the stage for the pivotal second game.
“I thought the first game we fought back really hard,” Garrett said. “But we never hit our stride, never got comfortable.
“They kept us off-balance. Pennridge really played a nice match at a high level. I think we’re better than what we played tonight, but it’s part of us learning to play at their level. This is going to be a good experience for us to raise our level. This is where we want to get to.”
As a result of the loss, the Indians fell to 3-1.
“We’re considered the underdog,” Edgett said. “The same thing happened last year, and we ended up in states."
For the Rams, what does it mean to be 6-0?
“Number one,” Nyce said with a laugh. “It’s nice. The past four years we have reached the playoffs, but we haven’t been one of the top teams.
“It feels nice to be on top, especially my senior year. It will be a good ride to the end of the year.”
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