Blocking, defense help Pennridge sweep Pennsbury in District 1 semifinals
WARMINSTER >> Pennridge’s serving philosophy is to bring a lot of heat from almost every guy in the rotation.
With five jump-servers in the lineup Tuesday night, the Rams knew there was a chance they were going to hit balls into the net. What they couldn’t do was let those turn into long runs by Pennsbury. So, Pennridge didn’t thanks to a strong defense effort led by one of its best blocking matches of the season.
The result was a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 26-24) sweep over the Falcons in the first half of a District I semifinal doubleheader at William Tennent.
“Defense and blocking helped us get through a lot of that,” Rams junior hitter Ben Chinnici said. “We struggled on our side with serving and hitting but we blocked really well and that gave us opportunites to side-out. We sided-out very consistently.”
Pennridge coach Dave Childs was most pleased with his team’s ability to scrap through moments of adversity on Tuesday. Chinnici said he had a bad game, though it was hard to tell with some of the powerful kills he put down in the match, but credited his supporting hitters for easing his workload.
Senior setter Jesse Smith was also strong, keeping the offense moving and catching Pennsbury off guard several times for points. Smith had a key point in the first set, muscling the ball through a Pennsbury block for a 23-19 lead that put the Rams in firm control late.
“Jesse’s been a rock for us all year,” Childs said. “A good team doesn’t become a good team without a good setter and he’s done a nice job.”
Defensively, the Rams knew Pennsbury could come at them in a number of different ways but especially paid attention to junior opposite Sean Sweeney. He was the focus for Pennridge’s block, with two or even three shuffling over and getting up on his swings.
Senior Aaron Nelson, junior Josiah Frieden and sophomore Cross Edwards were the main guys forming the block and the Rams combined for seven points off blocks in the match. Even the ones they didn’t stuff back over still paid off for the guys on the back row.
“Blocking led our defense,” Chinnici said. “Against (Sweeney), we had really good double-blocking and it left a good seam where we were able to dig it out of the back row consistently because he could only hit it one place. We filtered the hits really well.”
Pennridge had 17 serve errors in the match, something the team attributed partially as a product of its aggressive nature but also some sloppiness.
In the first set, the Rams seized control with a late 4-0 run paced by two points from Smith, then closed the second set on a 6-2 run. Pennsbury’s longest run in the entire match was a 4-0 spurt in the third set, but the Rams otherwise kept their opponent to one or two-and-outs.
Being able to keep Pennsbury from building any momentum was huge both in the short term early on and overall as the match went on.
“We eventually were able to pull away and get an edge on them,” Childs said. “I was proud of the way we were able to battle through, we made the plays when we had to. We’ve been inconsistent with blocking this year, but it was good to see us come up with big plays at the net when we needed to.”
Edwards had a strong match, coming on strong in the third set, making a mark that Pennsbury had to account for him and take some attention away from containing Chinnici. Whoever was in the back row on a given serve was keyed in, but libero Austin Rush was the consistent factor, getting his guys into the channels the blockers created.
Pennsbury had a solid roll to open the third set, taking a 8-3 lead early and pushing it to five again at 10-5 and 12-7. Chinnici said the Rams didn’t start that game well but he and Edwards combined for three of the next four points to get right back in it, eventually tying it 15-15.
From there, the Rams were able to build up the lead and despite having the Falcons claw back and knot it 24-24, Pennridge got the final two points to return to the district final and tie up a state playoff bid.
“We played well but had bad moments where we couldn’t click together,” Smith said. “The best part about is when we bounce back and that’s usually what allows us to get the win at the end of the match.”
