Mann, Hartney lead Garnet Valley to District 1-4A semifinal win over Upper Merion

UPPER MERION >> Upper Merion had no answer for the middle of Garnet Valley’s front.

Sam Mann and Ally Hartney dominated on the inside to lead the No. 3 Jaguars to a 3-1 win over the No. 2 Vikings, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 in the District 1 Class 4A semifinals Tuesday night at Upper Merion Area High School.

“The first time around we missed 20 serves,” GV coach Greg Wood said, referring to the Jags 3-1 loss against Upper Merion four weeks ago. “We still missed too many tonight again, but our team really came to play and our middles were just unstoppable. Sam Mann — I don’t know what the numbers were — just had a fantastic game.”

Mann’s numbers were impressive. She finished the match with 17 kills, five blocks, no errors and a .730 shooting percentage.

Hartney had eight kills, four digs and nine blocks.

“Ally Hartney and Sam Mann have just been unstoppable for us all year,” Wood said. “Our pins have as well, it’s just I know that (Upper Merion was) keying on the middle, but they still had no answer for Sam. She played unbelievable, as did Ally. They both did, across the board.”

“Both of them (are tough),” Upper Merion coach Tony Funsten said. “It’s tough to play against somebody who is 6-3, 6-4 (Mann) and you’re 5-10 and 5-8. It’s tough. We’ve done it before, it’s just that — once against it starts with the serve. When you’re not serving effectively, then the result is what you saw. They can get the ball to their middles and they played great.”

The Jaguars flipped the match in the second game. After dropping the first set, Garnet Valley scored the first four points of Game 2 and six of the first seven to take a 6-1 lead. Upper Merion battled back to get within three, 12-9, 17-14 and 18-5, but never got any closer. The Jags evened the match, 1-1, when Rachel Cain finished the second set with a kill, 25-20.

“I was really nervous at the beginning,” Mann said. “I knew this was going to be a great match. As we got further and further into the game we started to relax and have more fun and run more plays. It got better as the game went on.”

“We got off to a slow start in the second game,” Funsten said. “They gained that momentum and they just carried it from there. I thought we had a chance to make a play or two right at the beginning of that second set that would have been able to keep them off-balance, but they made them and after that — once it was 4-0 we never recovered from that.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Garnet Valley at Upper Merion

The third game was more dominance from Garnet Valley. They jumped out to an 11-4 lead and the result was never truly in doubt. The Vikings managed to get within three, 12-9, but the Jags responded with three straight points and seven of the next nine to take a commanding 19-11 edge. Hartney ended the set, 25-15, with a block to give her side a 2-1 lead.

“We played better defense,” Wood said. “We served better in two and three. To be honest with you, we missed a bunch of serves in Game 1. Other than that, we played better defense, more in-balance and just took aggressive swings. I’m good with our girls missing as long as we are aggressive to the ball. I think we did that really well.”

Hartney’s presence at the net continued in Game 4. She had back-to-back blocks to start the set and a third to give the Jags an early 3-1 lead. Upper Merion battled back and matched their biggest lead of the night at four, 14-10, 15-11 and 17-13, but Garnet Valley responded, scoring four straight points to tie the game and 12 of the final 14 to close it out, 25-19. Hartney finished the set with a block for the 24th point and a kill for the 25th.

“Our first loss came against an outstanding team that played great,” Funsten said. “You’re going to lose. You’re going to lose those matches unless you play your best match and we didn’t. I thought they had a lot to do with it. They never gave us any little crevice to run with.”

Garnet Valley advances to the district championship Thursday, where it will face No. 1 Bishop Shanahan, a 3-0 winner over No. 4 Downingtown West in the other semifinal.

“It feels amazing,” Mann said. “This is the farthest we’ve gone in quite a while. It just feels great.”

After suffering its first loss of the season Upper Merion will host Downingtown West in the third-place game Thursday.

The Vikings won a competitive Game 1. They trailed, 20-18, before making their move. They won three straight points and seven of nine to win the game, 25-22. Dannielle Chung scored the 24th point with a soft shot and the 25th point when GV returned her serve out of bounds.

Emma Rokosky had 14 kills for Garnet Valley and five digs. Cain compiled 47 assists and 11 digs.

Tori Wright led Upper Merion with 12 kills. Kelly Moore had 34 assists and 16 digs and Emily Gallagher totaled 14 assists.