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HOLLAND – Austin Jacoby clenched his fist in the air in celebration.The Pennridge outside hitter’s kill for match point in Tuesday night’s District One AAA semifinal against Christopher Dock not only vaulted the Rams into Thursday night’s final against Pennsbury, it also ensured the Rams a berth in the PIAA Tournament.
“It’s going to be a great experience,” Jacoby said after the Rams’ swept Dock 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 26-24). “I don’t know the last Pennridge team that was there. Going to states has been our goal since the beginning of the season.
“Our first goal was to win the league, the next was to finish in the top three in districts. We’re on our way.”
So are the defending district champion Falcons.
Pennsbury not only earned the right to defend its district crown, but the Falcons also will represent District One in the state tournament, thanks to their 3-0 sweep of William Tennent (25-16, 25-18, 25-23) in the second semifinal at Council Rock South High School.
It was the third time this season the two SOL National Conference squads have met, and it was the Falcons third win in as many outings.
“I’m always looking forward to playing them because I know it’s going to be a great game defensively and offensively,” Pennsbury’s Noah Prickett said. “They’re usually one of our toughest challenges, and they really show us our weaknesses.”
The stage has been set for a title showdown between the district’s lone undefeated squads. Pennsbury (17-0) and Pennridge (18-0), the district’s first and second seeded teams, will do battle at Council Rock South on Thursday, 7:30 p.m. In a contest for the final state berth, Tennent will take on Christopher Dock at 6 p.m. at Rock South.
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William Tennent needed all the help it could get against the state’s third-ranked team in Tuesday’s semifinal, and the Panthers’ student section tried to provide the ‘seventh man’ with their non-stop cheering and occasional taunts.Not that it fazed the Falcons.
“I like it,” Noah Prickett said. “The atmosphere – I love it. I hate playing flat. This gives us motivation.
“I really enjoy it. The more the merrier.”
Joe Yasalonis was on the receiving end of some of the more pointed comments, and after a particularly impressive block by the Falcons’ 6-7 middle early in the third game, a Panther fan shouted, ‘It’s not fair. He’s on stilts.’
Later, a reference was made to an ostrich. Yasalonis didn’t mind but admitted that perhaps a little vocab lesson might be in order.
“I just thought it was a little ironic,” he said. “Ostriches have short arms and they can’t fly. They should Google that.”
Yasalonis – proving that he indeed can fly - led the Falcons at the net with eight kills and six blocks to go along with two aces. Prickett (eight kills), Jeremy Rhoads (eight kills, two blocks, two aces) and B.J. Cummings (six kills) also came up big at the net. Justin Mueller led the defense with 10 digs. Ryan Burns had 32 assists and two blocks.
“They’re a good all-around volleyball team,” Tennent coach Jim Creighton said. “They’re aggressive serving, they put up really good blocks, and they play good defense.
“We tried to battle them, but we started off real slow, so we never really could get in the whole match.”Ruvim Volosevich led the Panthers with 13 kills while Mike Bowler (eight kills), Kyle Sussman (seven kills), Matt Hartman (six kills, four blocks) and Chris Kazlauskas (three kills, three blocks) also contributed. Cooney led the defense with 11 digs. Jeff Milnazik had 25 assists.
There were stretches when it looked as though the Panthers might be able to stay with the Falcons. In game one, they led 4-2 after a Volosevich block. The Falcons regrouped to go on top 7-6 after a Rhoads kill, but a Bowler kill evened the score. Bowler turned an acrobatic Volosevich dig of a Falcon kill attempt into a point with a kill of his own, and the Panthers led 8-7. They still led 12-11 after a Falcon net serve.
But that’s when the points stopped coming with regularity as the Falcons closed out the game with a 14-4 tear that was capped with a Cummings kill for game point.
In game two, the Panthers trimmed the Falcons’ lead to 7-6 after a Hartman block. The Falcons went on to open up a 16-10 lead after a Dom Tricoche kill, and although the Panthers made it an 18-15 game after a Sussman kill, they would get no closer as the Falcons rolled to the 25-18 win with Cummings once again delivering a kill for game point.
“When you come out and lose the first two, that puts a lot of pressure on you,” Cooney said. “We came back in the third game, but you have to come out ready to play in the first game.
“Each game we were with them the first 12 points, but they got a lead on us. Their serving was awesome, and ours was a little bit off.”Game three was by far the most competitive of the match. A Yasalonis block put the Falcons on top 5-4.
“Their blocking was ridiculous – I don’t know how many balls they blocked, but we have to cover that,” Cooney said. “It wasn’t like they would block for a point. They were just blocking and we would mess up.”
The Panthers rallied to knot the score 6-6 after the Falcons were whistled for four hits. The Falcons went on top 11-7 after a Yasalonis service ace, but the Panthers came roaring back, turning a 12-9 deficit into a 15-12 lead after Milnazik reeled off six straight points at the service line.
The Falcons responded to that with a 7-2 run that was capped by a Yasalonis kill, but it was still either team’s game after Milnazik’s dump to knot the score 22-22. The Panthers, however, couldn’t close it out as the Falcons – sparked by kills from Rhoads and Tricoche – went on to earn the 25-23 win.
If it seems as though the Falcons would be happy to simply earn the sweep, guess again. It turns out they weren’t real pleased with their effort in the third game.
“We started to walk to our positions, Prickett said. “You could definitely tell. Fortunately, we kept things rolling and kept playing as a team.“Coach Fee gave us a little something to think about for tomorrow’s practice. A win is a win, I guess, but now is the time you need to perform. This is the season right here. This is what we play for. Anything less than (leaving) everything on the court isn’t going to cut it.”
“Our goal is to play at a top level all the time,” Yasalonis said. “If we don’t reach that goal, we’re not going to give up – we’re going to keep reaching for it.”
Fee would like to see his team up its emotional energy in Thursday’s title match.
“I like our team when we play with a lot of energy, when we get excited over any point that we win because that’s the kind of energy and excitement you need to keep your game at the top level,” the Falcons’ coach said. “We have played like that at times. It makes it a lot more fun for the coaches and the people on the bench and the fans. It’s just the way to play volleyball.
“I didn’t think we did that consistently enough tonight just from the emotional standpoint. These guys play well all the time, but when you’re emotionally playing really high, there’s no stopping you.”
Prickett pointed to the Falcons’ strong showing at the Penn State Invitational as the standard for the team’s upcoming matches.
“We left everything on the court, and that was the best we played in a long time,” he said. “We need to do that this Thursday and during states to compete at our top.”
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Zech States admitted that he might not have anticipated that his Pennridge volleyball team would take an 18-0 record into the district title match, but that’s exactly the position the Rams find themselves in after Tuesday night’s 3-0 sweep of Christopher Dock.
“Before the season started, we sat down and said, ‘Let’s set a goal for ourselves,’” the Rams’ junior outside hitter said. “Everyone was like – at the most, two losses. Some of us said undefeated.
“Coming into the third round and winning (tonight) was awesome. Hopefully on Thursday coming against Pennsbury, we can come out with the same intensity and play our ‘A’ game.”
The Rams found themselves without a key starter in Tuesday’s showdown against Dock. Senior middle hitter Jon Algeo watched from the sidelines after breaking his ankle in last Thursday’s quarterfinal match against Council Rock North.
In Algeo’s absence, sophomore Mike Shenk was thrust into a starting role.“I did not see this coming at all,” he said. “I was very nervous, but after the first couple of points, I was fine.”
It certainly helped that Shenk came up with a big block early on that spotted the Rams a 6-2 lead in game one.
“That felt really good,” he said. “We have been working on it at practice, and it felt good to execute it in a game.”
Shenk finished the match with four blocks and four kills.
“Jon’s a real good player, and you’re not going to just plug someone in and have him do exactly what Jon did, but Mike does a lot of good things, and tonight he played real well,” coach Dave Childs said.
Cody Davis led the defense with 11 digs. Jacoby (14 kills, five digs) and States (13 kills, eight digs) were the Rams’ big guns at the net.
“They’re two of the best players in the area,” Childs said. “We get them a lot of swings, and that’s because they put the ball away consistently. They stepped up and did a nice job tonight.”
The Rams turned that 6-2 lead into a 15-9 lead after a States kill. The Pioneers cut that lead to 22-20 after a Ryan Buckwalter kill. States answered with a block, but a Clint Martin kill trimmed the lead to 23-21, and it was a one-point game after a Ben Richter kill.
The Rams capitalized on a Dock net serve to go on top 24-22, but again Martin delivered a kill for the Pioneers. Jacoby closed it out with a kill for the Rams.
In game two, the Pioneers led 8-4 after a kill by A.J. Longacre, and they upped that lead to five (10-5) after another Longacre kill. The Rams came clawing back, and it was a 12-12 game after back-to-back Shenk kills.
A Martin kill gave Dock the lead, but the Rams went on top 15-14 after a Dock hit out of play and never looked back, going on to earn a 25-22 win.
The Rams opened up a quick 3-0 lead in game three after a Shenk block. The Pioneers rallied to knot the score 6-6. The two teams were still deadlocked 19-19 after a Jacoby line kill, but Ethan Martin surprised the Rams with a dump to put the Pioneers on top 20-19. “We got in a little bit of a rut there,” Jacoby said. “Everybody was talking, and we kept our heads up.
“We knew we wanted to win it in three because if a team gets that momentum winning that third game, that can change the whole match around.”
States delivered a kill to knot the score, but Buckwalter answered for Dock. Again, States came up big, answering with a kill. The Pioneers went on top 23-21, but a States kill was followed by a Dock hitting error, and the two teams were deadlocked.
A Jacoby kill put the Rams on top 24-23, but the Pioneers knotted the score yet again. Back-to-back Jacoby kills put the finishing touches on the convincing win.
“Will set a great game, and we were just swinging away,” Jacoby said. “Even if we got blocked a couple of times, we kept our heads up.
“That was our biggest thing tonight. Will was pushing the ball so we could swing high and hard.”
The win upped the Rams’ record to 18-0. It is the kind of season Childs envisioned?
“I never know what to expect,” he said. “I go through a hundred different scenarios before the season.
“I knew we had a lot of talent – not just with Zach and Austin but also the other guys. It’s just a matter of coming together and playing as a team, having a goal and having everybody on board with that. Going to states was a goal of ours.”
The Rams, according to Childs, will have to elevate their game if they hope to defeat a powerful Pennsbury squad.
“I think it will be a whole other level from what (this) was,” he said of Thursday’s title match. “We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game. We have to get better. We can’t stay where we’re at.”
“They’re the number three team in the state,” Jacoby said. “We went to Dallastown and played against state-ranked teams and held our own.
“We can’t think ‘We’re playing Pennsbury.’ We just have to think we’re playing another volleyball team.”
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