It was a good night for the SOL as three of its four teams notched wins in the District One AAA Tournament.
#1 UPPER MERION 3, #16 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-21)
The Vikings turned in a workmanlike effort against a Henderson squad that would not go away. Henderson actually led 22-20 in game two and made the top-seeded Vikings earn Thursday’s win.
“The first game was pretty competitive and then we kind of cracked it open,” coach Tony Funsten said. “We relaxed a little bit maybe, and Henderson started playing better, and we had our hands full.
“We were down pretty much the whole second game. Finally, at 22-20, I called my last timeout and said, ‘We have to go now,’ and we did. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t like we sided out and got kill, kill, kill. It was our way, which is kind of a hard way.”
Henderson, a member of the Ches-Mont League, is used to tough competition, facing the likes of Bishop Shanahan, Downingtown East and Avon Grove.
“They weren’t afraid of us, and they have some attributes that were pretty good,” Funsten said. “They have a real good libero. She struggled in the first game, but after the first game, she was great.
“Give Henderson credit. They kept us off balance.”
Cassidy Koenig had a typically solid performance for the Vikings. In the third game alone, she had five kills and 11 assists. For the match, the Vikings’ senior setter had eight kills, 27 assists and 13 digs.
Kendall Gazzo had a team high 11 kills while Melanie Ingram and Carolyn Yvellez both had nine kills. Casey Griffith had 17 digs to lead the defense.
“We didn’t crack them with our serving,” Funsten said. “We only had three aces in the match, which is kind of low for us, but you have to give Henderson credit.”
The Vikings will face ninth-seeded Pennsbury in an all-SOL match on Tuesday.
#9 PENNSBURY 3, #8 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-15)
Revenge was sweet, very sweet for a Falcon squad that one week earlier was swept by the Titans on their home court.
“We definitely wanted it so badly,” Falcon senior Amanda Pace said. “They came to our house, and they creamed us on our Senior Night. It was awful. But coming here tonight - we made goals in the beginning of the season to go far, and tonight was a step we needed to take.
“We knew what we had to do, and we worked so hard in practice. We studied their patterns, and we came out here wanting it. I think that urge to win and accomplish our goals just really pushed us through tonight.”
The Falcons served early notice that things would be different this time around, opening up an early lead in game one and never looking back.
“We were so ready to win this time,” senior Lauren Pisauro said. “We were so ready to beat this team. We knew that was not our normal team playing them the last time, and that was one of our not-so-good games.
“This is how we normally play, and I’m glad we got a second chance to show them how we really play.”
In the second set, the two teams were deadlocked 4-4, but the Falcons reeled off seven unanswered points to take a lead they would not lose. The Titans made it a 17-13 game after an Abby Mummert block, but Pennsbury’s Audrey Stringer answered with a kill, and the Falcons were off and running. They led 22-14 after a Pisauro block on their way to the 25-18 win.
The third game was more of the same. The Falcons led 7-3 after an Oliva Aizen service ace. That lead grew to 13-5 after a Kate Webb service ace. The Titans – who were without middle hitter Megan Kaminski – never threatened.
Kaminski, the Titans’ senior middle hitter, will be playing soccer at Penn State next year and lists soccer as her primary sport. She is the starting goalie for South’s soccer team, which had a district playoff game on Thursday night as well.
“Megan loves the game of volleyball, and she loves the game of soccer,” South coach Ulana Keer said. “Megan is not to blame.
I had a great season.
“I’m not upset. I know I beat them, I beat them in their home game, and I didn’t have my best player today, so I’m not upset at all. I told my kids they should be proud of everything they accomplished.”
Keer bids farewell to six seniors – Kaminski, Jayne Mulhern, Giuli Frendak, Catherine Fayer, Jill Danyluk and Melissa Adamson.
“Those are the hard-core kids who love volleyball,” the Titans’ coach said. “I’ve had them since I was their jayvee coach in ninth grade. It’s tough losing them.
“This is our first South experience to go to this level at districts. It’s our first experience playing this caliber of team with the amount of pressure on them. I thought they played the best they could without their star player. I had a great season. I have nothing to hang my head about. We went 11-1 (in the conference), and we played with the top teams. Sometimes there are things we can’t control.”
Pennsbury coach Tim Paulson – crediting defensive specialist coach Craig Chassen – pointed to his team’s defense as a key to its dominance.
“Our liberos and defensive specialists had their best match of the year,” the Falcons’ coach said. “They dug a lot of balls that we weren’t getting earlier.
“We blocked really, really well. In the last match, we might have blocked them twice. When Kaminski is there, it’s much harder to put up a block because you have two girls to worry about.”
According to Paulson, the coaches and players sat down after their loss to South and evaluated their performance.
“We knew we could play better,” he said. “Don’t take anything away from them – (Megan) Kaminski was amazing in that game and so was Abby (Mummert) and their setter (Kaitlyn Kushamn). They tore us up, but we learned from that.
“We felt confident it would be a much different game.”
“Even if Megan was here – we wanted it bad enough,” Pace added. “It may have been a closer game, but I still believe we would have pulled through.
“It’s amazing to go this far as a senior. We did not want our season to end.”
The Falcons will face top-seeded Upper Merion in Tuesday night’s quarterfinal round.
“It means so much,” Pisauro said. “This is my last high school season. I’m excited to play Upper Merion.”
Pisauro led the Falcons at the net with 10 kills. She also had five aces and six digs. Jae Jackson had seven kills and three blocks. Pace led the defense with 15 digs while Kelsey Moulton had six digs and four kills. Stringer added five kills and three aces. Aizen had four aces and two kills. Paige Misawic dished out 25 assists.
For the Titans, Mummert had six kills, 15 digs and one ace. Kushman had 23 assists, two aces and five digs while Frendak had one ace and four kills. Fayer had 14 passes and two aces. Mulhern – who was sidelined the better part of the night with tendinitis in her foot – had five passes. Adamson had two aces and two digs, Jill Danyluk had three kills and three blocks. Jax Babezki had two aces, three kills and four solo blocks, and Lauren Wise had three kills and two solo blocks.
#12 HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, #5 GARNET VALLEY 2 (18-25, 26-24, 25-18, 23-25, 15-7)
The Hatters used an impressive team effort to send fifth-seeded Garnet Valley home for the season. While most would consider it an upset, coach Kathy Tanner liked her team’s chances.
“I had a good feeling about my bracket,” the Hatters’ coach said. “What really worked tonight was – this was the best team synergy I have seen from them so far. They just all clicked. Every single one of them was so hungry. Nobody wanted to walk out of there with a loss.
“There were points that didn’t go our way, and we had little streaks that didn’t go our way, but they just came back. They didn’t let things bother them. Even when we lost the first game, it was like – it’s behind us. They were just really good about that. They stayed focused, and they really knew we wanted to walk out of that gym with a win. Everyone was on the same page. It was a great, great feeling. I have never seen such team synergy from them before. It was a beautiful thing.”
The Hatters got huge performances from many players in a win that was the consummate team effort. Kathryn Lucca had 23 kills to go along with 19 digs.
“Lucca was on fire like I have never seen her before,” Tanner said. “She had so few errors. Her percentage was so high tonight – it was the best I’ve ever seen her. They had a hard time stopping Kathryn and Carly.”
Carly Black also had a monster night at the net, delivering 21 kills as well as 23 digs. Lauren Laucella (six blocks) and Quinn O’Donnell (three) both came up big at the middle of the net.
Caitlin Klotzbach led the defense with 34 digs.
“They kept shooting to corners, and she got every single one of them,” Tanner said.
Freshman Candyce Riley had a pair of aces and served for 24 points. Freshman setter Sam Jones dished out 51 assists.
“The girls were so confident tonight,” Tanner said. “It was awesome.
“It was just a really nice thing we saw tonight as far as the teamwork coming together. I’m hoping it’s the start of a few more games.”
The Hatters will have another opportunity to play the role of giant killer when they face fourth-seeded Strath Haven in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.
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