Downingtown West overcomes early collapse to dispose of Unionville
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> You hear high school coaches say all the time that their players are more resilient than the adults, and on Tuesday Downingtown West volleyball coach David Parrish saw another prime example.
After his Whippets had blown a big lead in the second set of a Ches-Mont clash at Unionville, the optics didn’t appear good for a quick bounce back. But with senior star Aly Reardon leading the way, West did exactly that, closing out the Indians with clutch plays in the third and fourth sets for a 3-1 triumph.
When asked if his players took the second set collapse better than he did, Parrish said: “I would definitely agree with that.”
The scores were 25-22, 27-29, 25-20, 25-18, with Unionville getting off to a slow start in each of the final three sets. But thanks to career-high kills for both Reardon and teammate Hailey Lewis, the Whippets avoided any more momentum-altering comebacks down the stretch.
“In can be hard to forget about a set like that, but we just try to focus on the next point and not dwell on the last point,” said Lewis, who finished with 18 kills.
“We just talked about having fun and cleaning up our serve receive was also a big factor,” added Reardon, who delivered 25 kills and 19 digs. “We just wanted to get back to playing some clean volleyball.”
Downingtown West ends a two-match losing skid and is now 4-1 in the league (5-3 overall). Unionville falls to 4-2, 6-6.
“What happened (Tuesday) is similar to what’s happened quite a bit this season,” Indians head coach Stephanie Smith explained. “Once we pick on a little bit of excitement, these girls start feeding off of that and start playing well.”
The excitement started not long after Unionville found itself trailing 11-1 after dropping the opening set. The Indians kept fighting, but after back-to-back aces by Lewis, the deficit was 24-18.
“We were up six there and we should have been out of here in three (sets), but those things happen,” Parrish said.
In all, Unionville went on to outscore West 11-3 the rest of the way, including a service ace by Sophie Brenner, two kills by Annalise Griffiths, and a clutch block by Kat Tuerff.
Deadlocked at 1-1, the Whippets led much of the way in the third set, and thwarted another comeback by going to Reardon often. She scored six of West’s final 10 points with five kills and an ace to help win it.
“We started finding the holes in their defense and did a good job of ending the plays,” Reardon said.
“We got ahead in the third, Unionville battled back to make it close, but could never quite catch up,” Parrish reported. “We played very well at the end of both (third and fourth sets).
“Aly is definitely our go-to girl and she’s very good in the clutch. Opponents know where we are going to go and it’s just a matter of who can stop who.”
Set number four started similarly, with the Whippets storming out to a commanding early lead that topped out at 13-6. Unionville clawed back to within one at 19-18, but that’s when Lewis took over. Moved from middle hitter to the outside, the senior registered six late kills as West scored the final six points to close it out.
“This is only her second match as an outside hitter,” Parrish said. “In the last (set) Hailey was on fire. She definitely improved throughout the day.”
Libero Lea Fillidore had 19 digs and Paige Polsin chipped in with six kills for the Whippets.
“Unionville is very good and much improved over last season,” Parrish said. “They are always a tough defensive team, and now they’ve really have the offensive power to hang with anybody.
“So to get out of here with a win – let alone in four – I am very pleased. We had to play well to get the victory.”
Brenner led the Indians with 17 kills, Tuerff added nine kills and Elizabeth Saurbaum had 20 assists for Unionville.
“There is still time to refocus and finish the season strong,” Smith said. “We just didn’t play our best (Tuesday).
“It’s a tough margin when you are down early like we were. We’ve done it in the past but that’s something we’re working on.”
