Souderton holds off Christopher Dock’s rally to win in 5

TOWAMENCIN >>  After Christopher Dock rallied from 2-0 down to force a fifth and deciding game, the Souderton boys volleyball team knew want it had to do.

“Our coach (Dave Stastny) told us we had to start on a run, cause the reason we lost that third game was an 11-3 run and a 9-2 run, he told us,” Indians senior Derek DiCesare said. “He said shut down the runs, side out and we’ll be all right.”

Big Red followed the plan, dashing out to a 4-0 lead and kept the host Pioneers from mounting a charge the rest of the set to take the game 15-11 and come away Wednesday night with a 3-2 (25-18, 31-29, 23-25, 23-25, 15-11) non-league victory.

Bob Raines--Digital First Media Souderton's Mike Pagan spikes past Christopher Dock's Noah Shriener May 4, 2016.
Souderton’s Mike Pagan spikes past Christopher Dock’s Noah Shreiner during their match on Wedneday, May 4, 2016. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)

“(Dock is) a good team, they’re playing well, we know most of the kids, some of these guys are friends. We knew it going to be tough,” Stastny said. “We wanted to keep on top of them as much as we could. The effort was there, that’s all I can say. Their effort and attitude, they had a great attitude, so I’m happy with that.”

Ben Campman and Sam Hess each finished with 18 kills while Luke Pagan had 43 assists for the Indians (12-4, 11-3 Suburban One League Continental), who appeared to have things in control after Campman’s kill on their fifth game point gave Souderton a 31-29 Game 2 win.

But on its Senior Night, Christopher Dock (10-5, 9-0 Independent League) was not going to go down easy. The Pioneers stayed alive by winning two tight games by identical 25-23 scores – holding off a late Souderton surge in Game 4.

“I had been telling them in the first two sets to hit line and make a few other adjustments which we really didn’t execute and set three and four we did,” Christopher Dock coach Trish Hoover said. “And we did very well and that was the result. We knew that they were vulnerable on the line.”

Dylan Derstine handed out 62 assists for the Pioneers while Jaden Hunsberger made 20 digs. Ty Rice had a team-high 20 kills with Noah Shreiner and Jess Kolb adding 16 and 14 kills, respectively.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PHOTO GALLERY

“We were kind of hoping to take tonight so we could keep our seeding up in (District 1). We’re hoping for a home match to start it out, so this would have definitely helped,” Hoover said. “But it was a good match, Souderton played very well.”

In Game 5, the Pioneers called a timeout after going down 3-0, but Hess kill made it 4-0 before Dock got on the scoreboard with two straight points.

The teams traded serves until consecutive points from Souderton made it 8-4 after ball Campman hit went off a Dock block and out of bounds. The Pioneers got within two again at 11-9 – which forced a Big Red timeout – but a long serve and a Pat Murphy ace had the Indians up 13-9. Another long serve by Dock on match point sealed Souderton’s fourth victory in a row.

“It was tough, cause we both have big middles,” DiCesare said. “So their guy would put one down, but we just had to come back and put one down. It was fight and I’m really happy to get the win.”

Souderton, ranked ninth in District 1’s latest power rankings – the top 12 make the AAA playoff field – is back in action 6:30 p.m. Friday at Pennridge. The Indians end their regular season hosting North Penn 6:30 p.m. Monday.

“We’re going to try and rest a little in practice tomorrow, but we’re going to stay focused,” DiCesare said. “Pennridge is going to be toughest game all year, playing away at their place, that’s really tough. But we need to beat North Penn. If we can’t beat Pennridge, we need to beat North Penn and I think we’re going to do it on Senior Night.”

Dock, ranked fifth in the power rankings, competes in the Dallastown Wildcat Invitational Saturday then has two road games next week – Monday at Haverford and Wednesday at Council Rock South.

Trailing 15-11 in the opening game, Souderton ran off seven straight points to take the lead for good. Big Red finished the set on a 14-3 run to win 25-18.

“The first set, I thought we came out really strong. We were up by a bunch of points and they went on a six or seven point run mid-game that was the difference-maker there,” Hoover said. “Unfortunately, that’s what has gotten us this year, too, is those little runs of points from the opponent.”

Souderton led 14-10 in Game 2 before a five-point run gave Dock its first lead since 3-2. Tied at 18, the Pioneers collected the next three points and still held the advantage at 23-22 before the Indians claimed the next two to earn game point.

Big Red, however, could not close out the set on the first of its five eventual chances to do so. Dock missed on a pair of opportunities – 25-24 and 28-27 – with Souderton finally taking it at 31-29 on Campman’s kill.

“Ben, he’s a great guy. What he does, he brings a lot of energy, he’s not afraid to swing,” said Stastny of Campman. “And he might swing, he might hit some out, but he swings a lot that he hits off of blocks or off of people and that’s what we want. We want to be aggressive. Giving teams like Dock easy balls, they’re beating us.”

Game 3 had two ties late at 22-22 and 23-23, but the Pioneers kept the match going by taking the final two points – Tyler Rice’s hit deflecting off a block and finding the floor for the 25-23 win.

After the fourth set was even at 15, Christopher Dock put together a 9-3 run to take a 24-18 lead. Souderton staved off a loss for five straight points, but the Pioneers finally ended it 25-23 to tie the match 2-2.

“I think it was just good volleyball,” DiCesare said. “I think they took advantage of their atmosphere and the Senior Night, it drove them and it was good to see. I know those guys, they played hard, but we still held on. We just kept our composure.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply