No. 1 Bishop Shanahan beats Perkiomen Valley, reaches 1-AAA final
FORT WASHINGTON >> Bishop Shanahan’s girls volleyball team showed why it is the No. 1 seed in the 2015 District 1-AAA Tournament as well as the second-ranked squad in Pennsylvania in the current polls.
But the Eagles also had to be at their best Thursday night during the semifinal round at Upper Dublin High School while being tested by No. 4 Perkiomen Valley.
Bishop Shanahan won the match, 3-1, to advance to the championship match Saturday afternoon against Great Valley, which won the other semifinal contest 3-0 over Penncrest.
The Eagles won by scores of 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16.
It was a hotly-contested battle on both sides.
“This should have been the finals,” said Bishop Shanahan coach Greg Ashman. “We saw the draw and thought that Perk Valley was the team to beat with their size and the way they battle at the net.”
But the Eagles did not shy away from that size either while improving their overall record to 29-3-1.
Perkiomen Valley will still play in the third-place game Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Penncrest at Harriton High School. The championship match will follow at 4:30 p.m.
The Vikings (19-2) still had plenty of bright spots and will be moving on to the state tourney starting Tuesday of next week.
Perkiomen Valley’s Cayla Veverka finished with 23 kills and 13 digs with yet another outstanding performance. Helena Clauhs had 11 kills and three aces. Emily Oltman had nine kills. Adrianna Lattanzi had 17 digs. Ellie Min finished with 56 assists and 14 digs.
“We knew about them coming in,” said PV coach Drew Scheeler. “The first three games were close and could have gone either way. Give credit to Bishop Shanahan. They kept battling. Bit I am happy with my girls. They battled the entire game. They played well.”
The Vikings will still be looking forward to their first-ever trip to the state tournament.
Ashman said his team plays top non-league foes like Hempfield and Parkland to prepare the Eagles for wars against tall players in this area.
Bishop Shanahan sophomore Renee Shultz totaled 14 kills, 26 assists and 10 digs. Junior Chloee Kleespies had 14 kills. Freshman Machaela Devlin had 10 kills and three blocks. Senior Gina Lewis ended the night with 28 digs.
