Pennridge comes together, tops CR North for District 1 title
WARMINSTER >> All season long, Pennridge volleyball has had this knack for coming up with points when it probably shouldn’t.
There’s no real way to describe how the Rams keep doing it, but it’s paid off time and time again. Thursday, in one of the biggest moments of the District 1 title match against Council Rock North, Pennridge did it again. Somehow, the Rams came up with a point and it turned into the last surge they would need.
A game and inspired effort by the team’s seniors and junior hitter Ben Chinnici led Pennridge to a 3-1 (25-21, 15-25, 25-20, 25-17) win over Council Rock North at William Tennent for the Rams’s second straight district title win over the Indians.
“That’s one thing about this team, they make those kind of plays,” Rams coach Dave Childs said. “We win some points we shouldn’t win sometimes and that’s a characteristic that’s been with us this year. It’s just funny plays here or there but they stick with it and they’re good, skilled players that can make plays like that when they have to.”
After the second set, they really had to make those plays. CR North lost 3-0 to the Rams last year, but every player on Pennridge knew the Indians were going to give everything they had. After a back-and-forth exchanging of shots in the first set, with Pennridge narrowly winning, CR North took the defending champions apart.
Behind an inspired set from senior Will Desautelle, CR North’s offense stretched out and baffled a normally stout Pennridge defense. Childs used both of his timeouts early, at 12-7 and 16-7 but his team never really got going.
“They served really well, we had a lot of bad passes in the second game, a lot of transition balls to them,” Chinnici said. “I think it was mainly our ball control that brought us down.”
Rock North coach Greg Marchetti had no complaints about the effort his team put forth and said with just a day to prepare coming off the semifinals, it was tough to get ready for a team like Pennridge.
“They create a lot of matchup problems,” Marchetti said. “When we were passing very well in game two, it opened up everything. The court looked big. They were having a tough time playing defense.”
At one point Childs pulled Chinnici out and talked with him shortly, something that senior Aaron Nelson said almost never happens. Pennridge took that loss then came out looking like a different team in the third set, with Nelson’s work against Rock North’s big Jason Yakimiv a big part of it.
VOLLEYBALL FINAL: Pennridge 3, Council Rock North 1
Rams win fourth set 25-17. back-to-back District I titles pic.twitter.com/kgsUIbGvci— Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3) May 27, 2016
Pennridge had a 7-1 run to take a 14-11 lead, kept it through 21-18 then held off a late surge to regain the lead in the match. It wasn’t just one guy either. Nelson was playing great defense, Chinnici got himself going, senior setter Jesse Smith was getting clean passes and making great sets. Senior libero Austin Rush picked it up on the back end and sophomore Cross Edwards and junior Josiah Friesen put down their share of points.
“Ben got himself back into it and that was key because he’s by far our best player and we needed him,” Nelson said. “The defense really picked up too so with that, we were able to run what we wanted to run and hit everything we needed to.”
In the fourth set, Pennridge got off to a good start even though the teams traded the first six points. It was big because the Rams chased North’s two power servers off the stripe quickly and prevented the Indians from starting out hot. Down 9-8, Pennridge suddenly got very hot, ripping off five straight, with Friesen making it six out of seven to give the Rams a 14-10 lead.
Then, with Smith out, the Rams got one of those points they probably shouldn’t have. A long rally between both sides came back to Nelson, who back set it up to Chinnici. The junior did what he does best, hammering it down for a kill, with Pennridge picking up the next three points for a 10-1 run and 18-10 lead.
“That was so big because once the setter’s out, it’s normally like ‘what do we do, how are we going to get a good set,’” Nelson said. “In practice, it sometimes happens, so we do it and trial and error so once we get it, it stick with it. It was such a big thing that we got an amazing kill on an off play that was great for us and hard for the other team.”
The lead ballooned up to 23-12 at one point before CR North scored five of the next six. It was of little issue though, as Pennridge got the final point when Chinnici put down one last kill.
“It feels great,” Nelson said of repeating. “Kudos to Dave (Childs) for keeping the program going strong, we’re doing so well and it’s just great to win it again.”
PENNSBURY 3, CB WEST 2
The Bucks took another hard-fought loss that ended their season in the consolation game Thursday night.
Pennsbury got a huge effort from senior hitter Sean Sweeney, who had 25 kills, 12 digs and five blocks. Overall, the Falcons had 13 solo blocks and made things tough on the Bucks’ hitters. Still, CB West’s Daniel Klapper had 11 kills and 20 digs, Ryan Alu posted 12 kills and nine digs and setter Matt Douple had 41 assists and eight digs.
