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Souderton 3, Quakertown 1 (21-25, 29-27, 25-20, 25-22)Trevor Bishop turned in a breakout performance for the Indians.
The senior hitter contributed 20 kills and 12 digs, and it was Bishop’s kill that knotted the score 27-27 in the pivotal second game. The Indians went on to win it 29-27 when setter Alex Long delivered a block at the net. The Panthers never recuperated.
“That was huge,” Bishop said. “I think that changed the whole game. If we would have lost, we would have been down 2-0, and that’s tough to fight back from. That was huge to even it up, and I think that shifted all the momentum from their side to ours as well.
“We came out kind of slow in the first game, and we weren’t really playing our best. I think we realized we had to buckle down. We had to take every point more seriously. We gave too many points away in the first game. We realized to win we would have to play tighter.”
The Indians went on to win the next two games to up their early season record to 2-0 while a Panther squad that figures to be in the hunt for the Continental Conference crown fell to 0-2 after dropping matches to the Indians and Pennridge.
“We have 10 or 12 guys that can contribute in a variety of ways, and the trick is going to be finding a way to get the most out of these guys,” Souderton coach Brad Garrett said. “Against Cheltenham (on Tuesday), we had five or six out-of-rotation calls, and that’s just not Souderton volleyball.
“We worked hard at practice yesterday. These guys came out with a lot more intensity, and if we can play with that kind of intensity and emotion, we’re only going to get better. A lot of our guys don’t play in the offseason, so this is their beginning. I think we have a tremendous upside.”
In addition to Bishop, the Indians also received important contributions from Chris Kluka (11 kills, 4 blocks), Cody Leatherman (7 kills, 10 digs), Christian Benner (23 digs, 3 aces), Mike Borrelli (3 blocks) and Alex Long (38 assists).
The Panthers were led by the 11-kill effort of Spencer Gysi. Ian Jones added 10 kills and Zach Morgan had nine kills. Nate Stout had 29 assists.
“The first game they made a lot less mistakes, and in the second game, they let us off the hook a couple of times,” Garrett said of the Panthers. “To our credit, I think we took advantage of it.”
Buoyed by their huge win in game two, the Indians opened up a 9-3 lead in game three after back-to-back blocks by Kluka and Zach Clemmer.
The Panthers rallied to make it an 11-8 game after a Stout service ace. The Indians led 17-11 after another Kluka block. The Panthers trailed by just four (20-16) after a Souderton hit out of play, but they returned the favor with a serving error.
It was a 22-19 game after a Jones service ace, but after an Indian timeout, Leatherman came up with a huge kill down the line.
“I thought Trevor had a fantastic game,” Garrett said. “There was a battle for our outside hitter position because there are so many guys that are just right there and are very good, but no one was really standing out. Trevor has recently taken on the role of being a senior leader and embraced that role.
“The thing he’s doing better now than he’s ever done before is he’s hitting different shots. He’s hitting cross court when it’s open, he’s hitting down the line (whereas) before he just tried to hit hard. They were keying on him, and he was still able to hit around the block, and that’s the sign of a go-to hitter. I was very encouraged by his performance.”
The Panthers made it a 23-20 game, but a Kluka kill was followed by a block by Kluka and Leatherman for game point, and just like that the Indians led 2-1.
In game four, Leatherman came up with a pancake dig of a huge kill attempt, stunning the Panthers and their fans alike who were already celebrating. The point gave the Indians a 4-2 lead on their way to an early 7-2 lead.
“That’s the kind of thing that’s deflating for a team,” Garrett said of Leatherman’s dig. “It was competitive, and they were right there. We make a play, and they give up on it. It lifts us up and they feel not as good.”
The Indians led 16-10 after a Christian Benner service ace and upped that lead to seven after a Panther passing error. The Panthers battled back to make it a 22-18 game but followed that with a serving error. The Panthers trailed 23-21 after a Morgan service ace, but Kluka responded with a big kill for the Indians. The junior middle delivered a kill for match point.
“They were having trouble with their serve receive in certain rotations, and we said, ‘We’re not going to hit our hardest serve. All the pressure is on them - thinking about the last one when they didn’t pass well,’” Garrett said. “It seemed like every time they had us on the ropes they left us off with a bad serve or a bad set.
“That’s the beginning of the year stuff. They have some real good athletic guys, they have a lot of height. I would expect them to be there at the end of the season.”
The Indians will carry the momentum of their early season two-game winning streak into Monday night’s match at William Tennent.
“This was a big test for us,” Bishop said. “We didn’t know what to expect coming in. We have a lot of seniors but not a lot of experience on varsity, so it’s big to get games like this under our belts. It helps our confidence.
“Everything just seemed to click. Alex (Long) was setting good, we were passing well, and our serving was great. They were on their heels a lot, so we got a lot of free balls over.”
Neshaminy 3, Abington 0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-20)
Dave Baron contributed 13 kills while Ryan Roedel added 12 in the Redskins’ hard-fought win over the Ghosts. Anthony Kirk led the defense with 16 digs while setter Munir Bouzid had 26 assists.
“We played well today,” Neshaminy coach Kevin Roode said. “There were some defensive quirks that we have to work out a little bit that got exposed today.
“Abington played really well. They may have outplayed us. We just might have been a little bit taller, and that was the difference. They scrapped a lot better than we did. They defended better than we did, and they blocked better than we did, and we’re quite a bit taller than they are. It wasn’t an easy win. They made us work for every point.”
The Redskins, who improved to 2-0, were coming off an impressive 3-1 win over Christopher Dock.
“That was a really big win for us,” Roode said. “It was the first game of our season, and it’s a tough way to start the season against a team like that, but we battled and came out with a win.
“We played really scrappy defense, and we covered our hitters really well. They blocked really well, but they didn’t get a lot of blocks for kills because we had guys that were covering our hitters, and that helped out a lot to continue some points that we probably should have lost. Our offense was doing pretty well when we got past them.”
According to Roode, moving Kirk from outside hitter to libero has been a key to the Redskins’ strong start.
“He’s really been the key that’s keeping everything going,” the Redskins’ coach said. “Without him, a lot of the points that we win we probably lose. He comes up with balls that he probably shouldn’t come up with. He’s doing a great job.”
The win over Dock, according to Roode, is a confidence builder for the younger players.
“We have a really young program,” the second-year coach said. “There are 25 kids in the program, and only eight upperclassmen out of that whole group, so there are a lot of sophomores and juniors mixed in who don’t have a lot of varsity experience.
“To go into Dock and get a win and not be completely shell-shocked by playing a good team first – I think that was huge for us. Their fans make some noise, so it was nice that they could tune it out."
Pennridge 3, Central Bucks South 0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-17)
Jake Braun led a solid defensive effort with nine digs to go along with two aces. Setter Mike Trumbower had 30 assists, and the attack was led by Erik Moyer with nine kills and three blocks. Ryan Chinnici had five kills while Derek Kemmerer, Kalin Nelson and Mike Bollinger each added four kills. Bollinger also had four blocks for the Rams, who will compete in the Northeastern Tournament this weekend.
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