Downingtown East tops rival, is legitimate Ches-Mont contender
UWCHLAN – There is a very long way to go before crowning the 2019 Ches-Mont volleyball champion.
But three teams have separated themselves from the rest, all three are unbeaten in league play, and none of the three – Downingtown East, Bishop Shanahan and Unionville – have played the other. That will happen in a frenzied eight-day stretch early next month, but for now Downingtown West head coach Dave Parrish is the obvious guy to analyze the top contenders.
That’s because his Whippets faced all three recently, including a 3-0 setback to archrival Downingtown East on Thursday.
“They are all a little different, but all are very good,” Parrish said. “Shanahan is solid all the way around. Unionville is big and has some excellent outside hitters. Downingtown East doesn’t have a crushing hitter, but they play great defense and they just don’t make mistakes.
“It will be interesting to see what happens when they start playing each other.”
Nobody in District 1 is playing any better than East at the moment, which dispatched visiting West 25-19, 25-18, 25-20. The Cougars are 7-0 in the league and 12-0 overall. But even more impressively, East has now won 36 of 37 sets played this season.
“They are cohesive and very athletic, so I feel really blessed to be able to coach this team,” said head coach Peggy Hopton.
“We are well-rounded and we don’t really have a weak point on this team,” added senior hitter Brooke Lauletta. “That’s what can separate us from other high school teams.”
The Whippets (4-3, 7-5) just completed a brutal stretch that included six matches in eight-days.
“This is our first three-match losing streak in about five years,” Parrish reported. “That’s not a great thing. They just have to hang in there, keep improving, and good things will happen if we keep working hard.”
The Cougars hardly trailed on Thursday, and got plenty of production from a number of players, including Lauletta (four kills, five digs), Jill Curran (13 kills, three assists, nine digs), Rachel Wertz (11 kills, seven digs) and Jess Angeline (33 assists, five digs).
“We always say we can attack from any angle, from front row to back row. And our setter (Angeline) is super-athletic and she can get the ball anywhere,” Curran said.
“We are balanced, and that’s great for us,” Hopton agreed. “We have one of the best setters around who can dish the ball to any of them. You can’t really key on any player. We can attack from a number of positions.”
The first two sets were strikingly similar: East raced to a 6-2 lead in both, then withstood a West surge with the aid of a timeout, and closed both forcefully.
“Sometimes you just have to get together, refocus and regroup,” Curran said.
“We talk about focus,” Hopton added. “I reminded them that they are good players and that they can do this.”
The third set was tied three times early, but the Cougars reeled off a 7-1 rally that included two Wertz kills and gave Downingtown East the lead for good. Curran then ended it with kills to provide the final three points.
“We work well as a unit and we are competitive, so we come out to ready to fight every game,” Curran said.
Bishop Shanahan plays at Unionville on Oct. 8th and at Downingtown East on Oct. 10th. The Cougars will then play the Indians at Unionville on Oct. 14th.
“We have those matches in mind, but at the same time we attack every match the same,” Lauletta said. “Every day we are preparing for those teams.”
Hopton added: “As long as we focus on what we have to do, we are playing to our ability, and we communicate, we are going to be able to compete with any team we play.”
