To view photos of the PW/Mount match, visit the Photo Gallery.
#1 Upper Merion 3, #8 St. Basil Academy 0 (26-24, 25-10, 25-14)The Vikings avenged last year’s second-round loss to St. Basil with a convincing 3-0 win.
“Their three seniors that graduated were all players that hurt us last year,” coach Tony Funsten said. “Even though Basil’s is good and capable of beating anybody, we have a little different makeup this year, and I felt we were a good matchup to beat them.
“The kids were really psyched to play them.”
In game one, the Vikings led 22-17 only to watch Basil’s knot the score.
“The first game was the key one,” Funsten said. “We got a little nervous and had eight hitting errors, but some of those were hitting errors on blocks.
“That first game was the key to the whole match.”
Another key was the Vikings’ strong serve receive game that featured Devyn Ingram, Shannon Phillips, Casey Griffith and Melanie Ingram.
They’re a very aggressive serving team, but they only had one ace against us the whole match,” Funsten said. “They live and die on their serve, so that was crucial.”
Cassidy Koenig had 23 assists, 16 digs and seven kills. Devyn Ingram had 14 kills and 17 digs. Phillips had 14 digs while Griffith had eight kills and 12 digs. Annie Lawn had four blocks while Heather Krick had a pivotal block to open the third game.
The Vikings will face Avon Grove in Thursday’s semifinal match.
#3 Mount St. Joseph Academy 3, #11 Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-20)
The Colonials might have been without their senior star – Devon Maugle - in Tuesday’s semifinal, but they put up quite a fight before falling in three.
“It was amazing,” coach Michael Nguyen said. “They left it all out there on the court. They gave every ounce of volleyball effort that they could muster.
“I could not have been any prouder of each and every one of them. I feel at full strength we would have beaten them.”
The Colonials spent game one adjusting to their new lineup but then found their stride in the second game.
“We had them neck-in-neck,” Nguyen said. “It was 23-23.
“We got some balls up that were 12 feet off the court and got them over the net. We played some crazy defense – the Mount would make another good hit, but we got it up again.”
Meghan Lawrence – a senior captain who measures in at 5-5 – had a team-high 12 kills to go along with seven digs and one ace. Fellow captain Alex Griffin had seven kills, 1.5 blocks and 12 digs.
“Meghan and Alex being the team captains knew that they had to step up their game, and they did,” Nguyen said. “Alex Griffin was great – if we could have gotten her the ball a little bit more in the second game, she was almost unstoppable. We just couldn’t get her the ball.”
Dana Wisniewski added four kills, one assist and two blocks while Liz Keefer had three kills and one ace. Anna Waltz led the defense with 16 digs to go along with two aces. Sally Kijak had 20 assists and seven digs. Brooke Ashenfelter had four digs, and Gigi Jenkins added three kills, five blocks, two aces and three digs.
“It was such an exciting match for our team,” Nguyen said. “Our fans were tremendous. They came and supported us, and they knew we were shorthanded.
“The fan support was incredible, and I think they were really proud of our team and what they accomplished. There were tears shed at the end because they know this was their best chance – we win this we’re in states, and that was the hard part for everyone.
“All the hard work they have done the last four years – I tried pushing them harder than I have ever pushed any team I coached. I felt like the bad guy, but I had to be that, and they responded.
“The girls deserve all the praise, so does Mount St. Joseph. They played a solid strong match, but we made them earn their victory.”
#4 Avon Grove 3, #12 Pennsbury 1 (25-27, 25-16, 25-19, 26-24)
The Falcons held a 24-23 lead in game four of their match with Avon Grove but couldn’t close it out. They found themselves in a position to win the pivotal fourth game thanks in no small part to the efforts of Lauren Pisauro, who had four aces and six kills in that game alone.
“Lauren Pisauro played amazing in that game,” coach Tim Paulson said. “She served fantastic. She handled herself well and showed composure. She kept us in that game and gave us the lead, but we didn’t go to her at the end.”
Pisauro finished the night with 16 kills, seven aces and nine digs in a superb all-around effort while Audrey Stringer had 13 kills.
“Unfortunately, no one else had more than two, so it was a two-girl show,” Paulson said. “We weren’t very balanced offensively.”
Jae Jackson had six blocks while Katrina Ballerini had three aces and Jen Matusa, two aces. Defensively, Juliana Slaven had 10 digs.
Avon Grove is led by Mackenzie Kleepies, who proved too much to handle for the Falcons.
“She’s an incredible passer, an incredible setter and an incredible jump server,” Paulson said. “She’s the best all-around player I’ve seen this year.”
The win marked the end of the season for the Falcons (15-3).
“I’m pleased with game one and game four but in two and three we didn’t quite have it,” Paulson said. “Mackenzie – we couldn’t stop her.
“We couldn’t seem to do anything that seemed to work, and they couldn’t do anything that seemed not to work, and it got discouraging, but we came back. Lauren’s serving brought us right back, and we were right there.”
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