Penncrest taken down on Great Valley’s volleyball ‘redemption tour’

EAST WHITELAND — Before Great Valley could begin to prove it would be dangerous late in the volleyball season, it first had to remember, and then reconcile, something that happened early.

So, the Patriots did Tuesday in the PIAA District 1 Class 4A tournament with a 3-0 victory over Penncrest. They pounced early, kept the pressure on, and proved with 25-15, 25-21 and 25-13 efficiency that they’d learned plenty since their 3-1 loss to the Lions in August.

“It was really important to stay aggressive on them,” said Lindsay Gal, who had 10 kills. “Once they got in system, that’s when they would be able to attack. So we knew we had to be aggressive and keep them on their toes, because that would lead to them being out of system. And that would help our defense.”

The 16th-seeded Patriots took the lead in all three sets, and trailed only briefly in the second. Gal’s serving was critical to that dominance. The Pats had a five-point run in the first set, a six-point run in the second and a five-point flurry in the third with Gal doing the dealing. The senior had a team-high three aces.

Great Valley (8-9) will visit top-seeded Bishop Shanahan (16-1) Thursday at 7, hoping to avenge a recent 3-1 defeat. The Patriots’ dominance Tuesday should boost their confidence.

“They beat us early in the season, and we wanted to come out with more energy tonight,” Patriots coach Sam Ellis said. “That was a big key. The season paid off for us. It took us a while to get going at the beginning of the year, and as we started flowing, we started developing our chemistry and we started developing our routine. And that motivated us the rest of the way.”

The Patriots took first-set leads of 2-0 and 23-11, but as it would throughout, Penncrest did not easily collapse, pulling within 24-15. Behind the early excellence of Nicole Karwoski, whose serves propelled a six-point flurry, Great Valley took a 6-0 lead in the second. Penncrest, however, rallied to lead by as much as 15-12, with the serves of Tessa DiSerafino keying one five-point flurry.

“It takes a toll on the team,” said Lion Julia Kasper, of falling behind in all three sets. “But personally, I try to bring the team up by cheering and everything like that. So that’s just my way of bringing the team up. But I know that as soon as I bring one person up, the whole team comes together and we win as a team.”

The Lions trailed, 3-0 and 9-2 in the third set, but pulled within 11-5.

“I think there was a point where we were down and we were starting to give up,” said Kasper, who had seven kills. “But everyone needs to come together. Our coach, Jen (Carney) puts a lot of heart and a lot of effort into training us to work together and be a team. So at a point I think we did give up. But we came back and gave it a good fight.”

Kristina Balta provided 11 assists, five digs and four kills. Megan Arndt added five kills and five digs. And Lily Mallon had 13 digs. But the 17th-seeded Lions’ season ended at 9-6.

“We went through some ups and downs,” Carney said. “It was a bummer. It was a bad way to end the season because that’s not the way they played all season.

“Unfortunately, it just didn’t jell for us. They played really well. They stepped up a lot better than they did in the beginning of the season when we had them. It was a shame. We had a good season, a good run. We have six seniors that we are graduating. We had a good run with them.”

For the Patriots, the run will continue. And with the way they played early in sets Tuesday, it could continue for a while.

“It was great,” said Alana Cunningham, who supplied seven kills from the middle. “We usually don’t start off with that much energy, but we came out for the first round and it definitely helped us. We got into some lulls in the middle, and it really helped us project forward.

“We were disappointed that we lost to them the first time. We took a set off the first game that we played. But it was definitely a redemption tour for us. We really wanted to come out, win in the first round and also win against them, just to prove we can beat them and show that we should have beaten them early in the season.”

Shanahan, though, could be a handful.

“We have another shot at them,” Ellis said. “We understand what they can do. We’re going to work hard and make adjustments from the first time we saw them, and go back out and try to attack them again.”