Lansdale Catholic wins PCL opener over Archbishop Wood in four sets

LANSDALE >> What Maile Erwin called a “foreshadowing of things to come this season,” Lansdale Catholic’s 3-1 victory over Archbishop Wood Tuesday night got its Philadelphia Catholic League schedule off to a spirited start.

“I had so much trust in my teammates that we were gonna pull it out,” Erwin said of LC rallying back from 22-19 to close it out in four. “I was praying on the sideline and we pulled it through.”

Erwin shined at libero, Emily Freer and Regan Quigley were key on the outside, Tori Rogee and Nastasja Corrado set things up all evening, and Holly Arnow’s defense played a big part as LC pushed past the Vikings, by a count of 25-16, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-23.

Momentum had swung back the Vikings’ way, looking like the match was gonna go to a fifth and deciding game, but LC took over.

“They put all of their heart into every single play,” said Crusaders coach Julie Stocklos. “It was amazing to watch.”

The Crusaders (2-2) came out and controlled Game One, getting things off in the right direction.

“I’m really proud of the whole team right now. It was everyone working together,” Quigley said. “We just picked each other up.”

“I’m on Cloud Nine right now,” Erwin said.

Wood (0-2, 0-1 PCL) evened things up at a game apiece by taking the second set, 25-23. Izzy McCormick, with her 13 digs, helped power the Viking comeback hopes.

“A point here or there — we’re still working on things,” Vikings coach Tim Kilian said of the team almost getting it to a fifth game. “We lost seven seniors so there a lot of new faces, a lot of new positions.

“It was fun. For our second match of the year and first league match, it was fun to have that kind of excitement. No matter where you are, home or away, you wanna see people get into it and feed off the energy.”