To view action photos of the Pennsbury/Central York match, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
Pennsbury was the lone SOL team still standing after Tuesday night’s opening round of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament.
The Falcons, thanks to their 3-0 win over 10th-ranked Central Dauphin, advanced to the elite eight at this weekend’s state tournament at Penn State.
Pennridge and William Tennent weren’t as fortunate.
Pennridge lost in three games to eighth-ranked Freedom, and Tennent dropped three straight to sixth-ranked Central Dauphin.
Pennsbury 3, Central York 0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-20)
The Falcons used an all-around solid outing to defeat the state’s 10th-ranked squad. Joe Yasalonis dominated the middle with 15 kills and a dazzling .824 hitting percentage. Noah Prickett had 10 kills, B.J. Cummings added nine, Dom Tricoche, eight kills, and Jeremy Rhoads, seven kills.
If you’re counting, that’s 49 kills in three games. Not a bad night at the net for the Falcons.
“We hit fantastic this game as a team,” said coach Justin Fee, whose team boasted an impressive .430 hitting percentage. “Joe Yasalonis was just unstoppable, but it was really coming from everywhere.“The entire team was on defensively. We played great defense, and our hitters didn’t have many errors.”
Fee admits he was a little nervous taking on a Central York squad that his team had faced twice in tournament play this season. On both occasions, the two teams split their games.
It turns out Fee needn’t have worried. That Falcons sent Central York packing in short order.
Jeremy Mueller led the defense with seven digs while Ryan Burns and Rhoads each had four. Dan Salinas and John Dunn each had three digs. Yasalonis and Prickett both had three blocks.
The Falcons will return to action in pool play on Friday when they will do battle with North Allegheny, the state’s top-ranked team, as well as fifth-seeded Parkland and seventh-seeded Hempfield. The top two teams advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.
Freedom 3, Pennridge 0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-20)
Pennridge coach Dave Childs knew his team would be in for a tough challenge when it faced eighth-ranked Freedom in an opening round match.
“They have a solid all-around team and two very good hitters,” the Rams’ coach said.
The Rams contained one of the two but couldn’t contain the other – Sean Reese.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Childs said. “We hung in there. Zech (States) and Cody (Davis) played really well, but enough players just didn’t play well.
“I think we played well defensively, but we didn’t put the ball away effectively.”
States led the Rams with 16 kills, two blocks and two aces. Mike Shenk had six kills and three blocks, and Ben Nyce, five kills and one block. Davis led the defense with 16 digs. Jake Braun had seven digs.
The Rams, who closed out the year with an 18-2 mark, return most of their team next season.
“We’re disappointed right now, but when we look back, this is the next step to what we want to accomplish – being able to compete with the best teams in the state,” Childs said. “This is definitely a step in that direction, and we hope to build on that.”
Central Dauphin, William Tennet 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-17)
Central Dauphin looked the part of the sixth-ranked team in the state in its 3-0 sweep of Tennent.
Mike Bowler and Matt Hartman led the Panthers at the net with six kills each. Bowler also had four digs while Hartman had four blocks. Ruvim Volosevich had four kills and three digs. Chris Kazlauskas had four kills and two blocks, and Kyle Sussman had four kills and three digs. Shane Cooney led the defense with nine digs. Jeff Milnazik had 23 assists.
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