Lansdale Catholic’s successful season ends in PIAA AA 1st round
PHILADELPHIA >> All season long, Lansdale Catholic’s fledgling boys volleyball program did things its way.
It’s certainly not traditional, but it’s fun and it helped the Crusaders to an excellent season that got them to the state playoffs in just their third year as a program. The program has grown in each of the three years and with each passing season, a new step forward.
Wednesday, the Crusaders saw their season come to an end in the first round of the PIAA AAA tournament in a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-18) loss to Southern Lehigh at the School of the Future.
“We served less than 80 percent, we missed a ton of serves and got ourselves in a hole at the beginning of each set,” LC coach Kathy Arnow said. “It’s very uncharacteristic of our team. We had a great run this year and (Southern Lehigh) played well.”
While it wasn’t a usual LC match in terms of execution, it was right up there in terms of energy. The team’s eight seniors did a great job of instilling a very loose and light-hearted vibe, celebrating with gusto when they scored and picking each other up when they were scored on.
That’s their thing, finding a positive side in every point. Arnow noted that the way her team plays is much different than any other, but she’s also gotten a lot of comments from parents and fans of other teams that it’s an entertaining style to watch.
It’s a little ridiculous, but in a good way.
“We’re all weird and we’re all crazy,” senior co-captain libero JT Parker said. “We’re playing for fun and that’s what we came into volleyball for, to have fun and be friends. We’re not going to let those bad plays get us down, we’re so weird and crazy and that’s the energy we feed off of.”
This year, the team had 19 total players, a big step up from last year. Eight of them were seniors, most of who have been part of the program’s three years of existence. They were the guys out in the halls recruiting and nudging classmates and other students to give the sport a try.
“We developed great chemistry and one of our greatest attributes is that we have a lot of energy,” senior setter and co-captain Colin Duffner said. “We were able to set a foundation for the school to have a team and I hope they can continue that success we had. That energy is what makes LC volleyball special so I hope they continue that.”
LC not only made states, but they won a District 12 AA title and advanced to the Philadelphia Catholic League title game where they lost to an established La Salle group. Still, Arnow said it was a special feeling to look at the state bracket and see the Crusaders listed as one of the last 16 teams standing in the state.
Duffner took over as the setter this year after Parker did it last year and quickly established a rapport with his hitters. The players were able to be fluid in that aspect, open and willing to changing up their roles in order to better the team.
“I really hope they understand that good teams will lose to a worse team when they’re working harder,” senior co-captain hitter Matt Mussoline said. “There have been games where we played really, really good teams and hung with them and fought against them because we were playing harder than them and not underestimating our opponents. I think if they can take away that hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard is a true saying, we can work to become the best team in the state.”
Mussoline noted a couple of first-year players, Tyler Grant and Shane Ward, as guys who came in with no background in the sport and became key contributors almost right away. Duffner felt that building the program doesn’t mean finding lifelong volleyball players, but guys who are willing to put in the work and listen to coaching.
While the eight seniors will go their separate ways, they leave a foundation and a program that sees itself on the rise. Where LC goes from here and how it does so is yet to be seen, but if it happens to involve a little untraditional play, it might be the most fitting tribute to this group.
“It’s our signature, some people don’t even know what to make of it,” Arnow said. “I don’t discourage that. I’m ok with it, these kids have a lot of personality and the expression is you can’t cage those birds. It’s what made us do what we did.”
