Maidens capture Perk Valley Tournament - The North Penn girls’ volleyball team captured their second tournament championship of the season at Perk Valley this weekend. The Maidens were 7-1 in pool play, defeating Central, Gwyned-Mercy, Plymouth Whitemarsh, and splitting with Pope John Paul II
North Penn, seeded second after pool play, defeated first seed Agnes Irwin 25-12 in quarterfinals. In semi finals, NP defeated Perk Valley 25-12. The Maidens would have a rematch with Pope John Paul II in the finals, and they came out on top in the best-of-three match, winning in two straight (25-21, 26-24).
“This was an entire team victory with every girl on the roster contributing due to SAT's,” coach Bryan Yost said. “In 10-plus years of coaching, I don't think I have ever been more impressed and proud of how this team played Saturday.
“All day the girls were making great adjustments on every team we played to utilize other teams weakness to our advantage especially against a very good Pope John Paul II team. PJP was a very solid team all the way around, but our girls knew where the open floor was and won the tournament by smarts and not power.”
Yost lauded the effort of senior setter Kendra Allen.
“She led the way by playing, in my opinion, the best volleyball she has ever played,” the Maidens’ coach said. “Her distribution of the ball kept the other team’s blockers scrambling all day. She made key dumps for kills at just the right time in a few close games.
“Overall, there was not one girl that carried us on Saturday, this truly was a great team effort, and championship.”
North Penn leaders:
Kendra Allen- 95 assists, 15 aces, 26 kills, 3 blocks, 14 digs
Courtney Gill- 34 kills, 8 aces, 14 digs
Isabelle Kerr- 25 kills, 12 aces, 29 digs,
Stephanie Elechko- 39 kills, 9 blocks, 5 aces
Alyssa Chiodo- 73 digs, 8 aces
Trojans finish second in pool – Wissahickon’s varsity and junior varsity both finished second in pool play at Saturday’s Perkiomen Valley Tournament, which vaulted both teams into the playoffs. The jayvee lost its next match 25-8, and the varsity lost a tightly contested quarterfinal match against LC 25-23.
“We’re so proud of both teams for the spirit and effort they displayed throughout the entire tournament,” coach Mary Copelli said.
Neshaminy report - Halfway through our season, we have a record of 6-3 overall and 3-3 SOL National. We started the season aggressively, but we know we have a lot of work to do if we want to have a better conference showing in the second half of our schedule.
Last season, we had six players named to the SOL National All Conference Teams, but only two of those players returned this season (Kelly Mason and Morgan Oberholtzer); so I was nervous about who would step up as our go-to player. This team, however, has shown that each player can be our go-to player on any given day.
Senior Amy Paulits has been a setter and an opposite hitter, but this year we needed another middle hitter. When we asked Amy to fill this role, she said she would do whatever we needed because she just wanted to play and make our team better. She has not only stepped up to fill a gap, but she has also become our offensive leader with 137 total kills (2.69 per game). She has improved her all-around game; she is second on the team in digs with 136 total (2.67 per game), second in blocks with 10 total (0.20 per game), and third in aces with 24 total (0.47 per game).
Senior Libero Kelly Mason has been the defensive backbone and serving specialist of our team. She leads us in digs with 226 total (4.43 a game) and aces with 35 total (0.69 a game).
Junior Setter Julia Staub is a second year Varsity member, and it is a tremendous asset to our team to have such experience and consistency in a young setter. Staub is averaging 6.12 assists a game (306 total).
Junior Opposite Hitter Morgan Oberhotlzer is an incredibly strong player, but a hand injury and concussion have kept her out of half of our competitions. Her per game averages are the first or second highest on our team in every category (2.1 digs, 1.55 kills, 0.9 aces, and 0.25 blocks per game), so we are hoping to have her back this week.
We are also led offensively by seniors M. E. Easton 76 total kills (1.49 per game) and Bria Harris 74 total kills (1.54 per game). Junior Jen Harasim has 65 total kills (1.28 per game) and leads us in blocks with 18 on the season (0.35 a game).Vikings come up big: Upper Merion won an important match at Garnet Valley on Saturday. The win came one day after Garnet Valley defeated a Downingtown East squad that was ranked in the state's top 10 by a 3-0 score. The Vikings won 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-13). Melanie Ingram had a big day with 14 kills and only one hitting error. She also had 16 digs. Carolyn Yvellez also had a huge performance with 16 digs to go along with a career high 11 kills. Casey Griffith, according to coach Tony Funsten, had a rock solid game in serve receive, and Cassidy Koenig had a routinely outstanding day on the court with 17 digs and 29 assists.
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