ABINGTON >> The Upper Dublin boys volleyball team had its first full, legitimate practice in a while Monday afternoon. After a week off for spring break, the players came back to the mentally-stimulating session to get ready for a jam-packed week.
The early results were good.
Upper Dublin cruised to a 3-0 win over Abington, 25-18, 15-17, 25-15, Tuesday night at Abington Senior High School.
“It’s nice to have the full team back,” UD coach Paul Choi said. “We’re still missing one player from spring break and whatnot, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen the full team together. Hopefully this run will continue for the rest of the week.”
The first two games were tight before the Cardinals pulled away.
Tied 15-15, Upper Dublin closed the first game on a 10-3 run to take it, 25-18.
“We’ve been working a lot these past couple weeks on our serving game alone,” Choi said. “Serve and pass really, but I told them that your serving can be the difference between how a match ends. It was tight on that first set, then we went on a run serving with Matt (Ross) and that’s exactly what we talked about. You just need one run and then you have a lead or you’re back in the game.”
The second game was 18-15 before Upper Dublin won seven of the next nine points to win, 25-17.
“Upper Dublin started hitting that line-shot very nicely,” Abington coach Chistine Steinmetz said of the swings midway through the first two sets. “We didn’t have much of an answer for that today. I think they just got a little tired and down on themselves. We’ll work on it.”
The third and final game was never close. The Cardinals opened with a 14-2 lead and never looked back. The Ghosts got within nine, 24-15, but UD won the next point to end the match, 25-15.
“Very happy with how they finished the game,” Choi said. “Not letting up in any parts of the game.”
Upper Dublin’s Ross had four aces, 19 kills, four digs and three blocks. Mario Petushi totaled three aces, eight kills and 11 digs. Joe Levin had three aces and six digs while Max Adams finished with six digs. Longan Loi had 30 assists.
While Upper Dublin had its full team back, Abington wasn’t as fortunate.
“I think they did a great job,” Steinmetz said. “They showed a lot of resiliency tonight. We had a lot of kids out sick today, so we had a lot of kids playing different positions, a couple sophomores playing up for us. I think they really did a nice job being flexible and figuring out how to get it done.”
TJ Dougherty led the Ghosts with 16 assists. Sean Dougherty had 11 digs and Josh Harkins five kills.
