Penncrest battles its way into quarterfinals

MIDDLETOWN >> After beating Abington, 3-1, then taking down the net and briefly chatting with family and friends, nearly every member of the Penncrest volleyball team did what you would expect teenagers to do: They immediately went to their cell phones to find out the score of the Strath Haven-Mount St. Joseph’s match.

It did not take long for the Lions to let out a second celebratory roar.

The Mount upset the third-seeded Panthers, 3-0, which means the sixth-seeded Lions (18-4) will be at home in the quarterfinal round of the District One Class AAA tournament instead of on the road.

That’s fine with Penncrest. Of course, a rematch with Strath Haven would have been OK, too. The Lions are glad to still be playing.

The second round of the district tournament usually is where Penncrest’s season comes to an end. This is the first time the Lions have advanced to the quarterfinals since Jen Carney took over as head coach six years ago so the hard-fought, 25-23, 22-25, 25-12, 25-23 victory over the Ghosts was reason enough to celebrate.

Another home game, against the 14th-seeded Magic next Tuesday, just made the victory that much sweeter.

“I’m just so happy we won,” senior outside hitter Diana Balta said.

It wasn’t easy, but then again the Lions knew they weren’t going to waltz into the quarterfinals. The No. 22 Ghosts eliminated 11th-seeded Ridley, 3-2, to earn its date with Penncrest. Ridley defeated Penncrest in the Central League semifinals.

Abington proved the win over Ridley was no fluke. The Lions had to erase a 20-15 deficit to keep the match from going to a fifth set. The credit there has to go to the defense to offset Abington’s attack, which was led by senior Leah Simmons.

“We had to make some adjustments because they have some great hitters who kept pounding away, Carney said. “We really picked it up on defense.”

Not surprisingly, senior libero Gianna Gargiule and senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Emily Hopkins spearheaded that defensive effort.

“They’re my senior captains,” Carney said of Gargiule and Hopkins. “They run the court.”

They do so as one, especially when they’re together on the back row.

“We just jell so well when we’re in the back row,” Hopkins said. “We know how each other plays and what each of us are capable of doing.”

“We just click very well,” Gargiule said. “We trust each other. We’ve been playing together for a couple of years now so we never argue. We talk and get the job done.”

Garguile had 17 of Penncrest’s 65 digs. Hopkins had eight kills, Balta finished with 21 kills and 16 digs and junior setter Nikki Gargiule handed out 25 assists, but it was the defense that made a difference. After Abington took the second set to even the match, defense was all the Lions talked about during every timeout and between each set.

“We just came together as a team,” Balta said. “We really dug deep. We wanted it. It was all or nothing, especially for the seniors, because this could have been our last game. Once the defense picked up, everything else came together.”

With the defense keeping the ball alive and Balta and Hopkins pounding kills, Penncrest slowly pulled away in the third set to win going away. The Lions scored the last seven points to put the set away. Balta finished it off with a kill.

The fourth set was not as easy. It was back-and-forth until the Ghosts, behind Simmons and fellow hitters Claire Gassman and Grace Whitney, opened up a 20-15 lead. Rather than call her second timeout, Carney let the Lions play and it paid off. Penncrest rattled off eight of the next 10 points and nine of the final 12 to keep its season alive.

The best news, though, was yet to come. The Lions quickly learned that they would be at home and not on the road.

“I was very shocked when I heard Strath Haven lost,” Hopkins said. “We wanted to play them again because we beat them in the summer league, but they beat us in the regular season, but we’re just glad to be playing. Hopefully, this is our year to go far.”

“I’m very excited,” Gianna Gargiule said. “We’ll get to see what Mount St. Joe’s is all about.”

In another District One Class AAA matchup:

Mount St. Joseph 3, Strath Haven 0 >> The Magic, who have yet to lose a set in the District One Tournament, beat the Central League champion Panthers, 25-22, 25-13, 25-19, to advance to the quarterfinals. MSJ defeated Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the first round, 3-0. No other details were reported.