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HOLLAND – Noah Prickett wasn’t satisfied with his team’s level of play late in Thursday night’s District One AAA title match against Pennridge.
“Our play in the third game – everyone was getting a little tired, and we started to lose some of our intensity,” the Pennsbury senior said. “We were getting a little lackadaisical.
“Pennridge is a great team, and you could tell momentum was swinging on its side.”
So Prickett decided to do something about it.
It was his acrobatic, one-handed diving save of a ball heading out of play that kept one of the match’s classic rallies alive, and when Jeremy Rhoads finished off the point with a big kill, both the Falcon players and coaches leaped off the bench to applaud the highlight reel play.
“It was unbelievable,” senior libero Justin Mueller said. “All the little points are always the biggest points – the big kill that you think you might not get to, but those are the points that win games.”
No one was happier to see the Falcons leave it all on the court than coach Justin Fee, who was not thrilled with his team’s unemotional performance in Tuesday’s semifinal win over William Tennent.
“The long rallies that we kept winning - I was really, really happy with that,” Fee said. “It’s those little things. We played with emotion, and that’s what makes you do those little things.”
The Falcons did the little things, and they did the big things on their way to a 3-0 win over the Rams in a district title match that was a whole lot more exciting than the final score suggests (25-20, 25-20, 25-18).
“I knew they were going to come and play because I know a couple of their players,” Mueller said. “Having four seniors this year, it was really exciting.
“This feels great. Being a senior, it feels so good.”
The district crown was the third in the last four years for the Falcons, but winning district gold never gets old, especially when it’s hard-earned.
“Last year’s (title) wasn’t as good,” Falcon senior John Dunn said. “We went in super, super confident, and we rolled over the team.“Going against Pennridge this year, we actually came in pretty nervous because they were undefeated. This game we really focused on keeping the energy up. We wanted to feel something (when we won). It was really exciting. It was awesome.”
The Rams’ string of 18 wins without a loss this season came to a screeching halt against a Falcon squad that improved to 18-0 after Thursday’s win and is the state’s third-ranked team in the latest poll.
“They’re a real good team,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said. “They’re ranked as high as they are for a reason. They don’t have any weaknesses. They do everything well.”
The Falcons have plenty of weapons, and they used all of them. Rhoads and Prickett both had 11 kills to lead Pennsbury. Rhoads also had seven digs and one block while Prickett had four digs and one block. B.J. Cummings added 10 kills and three blocks. Joe Yasalonis had seven kills, two aces and one block. Setter Ryan Burns handed out 41 assists to go along with six digs and one block. Defensively, Mueller had nine digs.
For the Rams, Zech States had 11 kills, six digs, two aces and three blocks while teammate Austin Jacoby had 10 kills. Jake Braun had 12 digs and defensive libero Cody Davis had a game-high 17 digs and, in the process, had the opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look at the Falcons’ dangerous net players.
“It’s pretty scary, especially when there’s not a solid block up there,” Davis said. “We knew coming in they were going to be a really tough team, and we hung with them.
“We fell behind and came back. We did the best we could.”In game one, the Falcons opened up a quick 5-1 lead after a Dan Salinas service ace, and they led 10-3 after a Ram hit out of play. It was an 11-7 game after a Jacoby kill. The Falcons went back on top 17-10 after a Dom Tricoche kill, but again the Rams rallied.
States delivered a kill and followed that with a block to make it a five-point game. It was a 20-16 game after a Mike Shenk winner in the middle of the net, but that’s as close as the Rams would get as Prickett closed it out with a kill for game point.
“It’s a district championship game – you can’t get too comfortable, no matter how many times you’ve been here,” Prickett said. “Every year it’s a new district champion.
“Every time we’ve needed to, we come out with intensity, so I knew our team could do it. Fortunately, we came out hot at the beginning of every game, so that gave us momentum. It’s a team effort. Everybody can contribute offensively and defensively.”
The Rams kept things interesting in game two, knotting the score 7-7 only to watch the Falcons reel off eight straight points to go on top 15-7 after a Rhoads kill. Again, Jacoby brought an end to the run with a kill. The Rams trailed by just three (19-16) after a Falcon hit out of play, prompting Fee to call a timeout.
Yasalonis, the Falcons’ 6-7 middle, responded with a kill and block out of the timeout, and the Rams would get no closer than four the rest of the way. Cummings delivered a kill from the middle for game point.
“We knew we had to play up today because our last game we didn’t play as hard as we should have,” Cummings said. “When we play on like that, we’re tough to stop.”
In game three, the Rams rallied from a 5-1 deficit to knot the score 8-8 after a spectacular diving save by States. It was a 9-9 game after a Jacoby kill, and the two teams were deadlocked 15-15 after a States winner. The Falcons went on top 19-16, but Ben Nyce’s kill in the middle made it a two-point game. Prickett’s big defensive play made it a 22-18 game.
“Actually, I was in the wrong spot at first, and I knew if I didn’t get there, it wouldn’t be too good,” he said with a laugh. “I knew I had to get that up.”
“That was awesome,” Cummings said. “That's what volleyball is all about. That’s when you start screaming and yelling. It’s awesome.”
The Rams would get no closer than four the rest of the way, and Prickett closed it out with a kill for match point.
“This feels so good,” said Cummings. “This is number two – last year we won one too,”
And that winning feeling just never gets old.
“We talked before this game that a lot of teams would like to get to the district championship as much as we have,” Fee said. “You can never take it lightly.
“We lost a lot of these (games) early in my career. Our goal is to get here and try and win it.”
Both teams will return to action on Tuesday in first round PIAA Tournament games.
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