Boyertown’s Ludwig hits career milestone in win over Spring-Ford

ROYERSFORD >> It didn’t take long for the Boyertown girls volleyball program to turn itself into one of the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s best.

The Bears started as a club program in 2016 and won a PAC Liberty Division title and made a District 1-4A playoff berth just two years later.

Coming off last year’s banner season, Boyertown coach Mike Ludwig raised the expectations for the program’s third official season in 2019. His team has answered the call thus far, the latest example a 3-1 win over Spring-Ford on Wednesday night, winning by set scores of  25-12, 21-25, 25-21 and 25-8 to improve to 13-2 overall and 8-1 in PAC play.

“It was just a lot of working together and putting the time in, and everyone just being there for each other that we just got to build the program,” said senior Julia Smith, one of those who started with the team in its infancy.

“We started to get used to playing as a team and we just started to build and work together,” she added. “We just put the time in and worked super hard at practice so we could start winning some games.”

Smith and senior Savannah Derstine led the team with 20 digs each Wednesday. Sophomore Adrianna Derstine tallied 18 kills and six digs, junior Alexa Mack had nine digs and senior Emily Wolfe added 12 kills and 10 digs.

Junior Emma Ludwig led the Bears with 35 assists, the biggest coming late in the first set to mark the 1,000th of her career.

“It was so fun,” Emma Ludwig said. “I wish it could have been at home, but I was glad to do it with my family and my teammates all around me. It means a lot that they were here. Everything came from them. I couldn’t do it without them by my side.”

Her coach and father, Mike Ludwig, said it was not just an individual accomplishment but a big moment for a young program.

“Tonight with our setter getting the 1,000th assist,” Mike Ludwig said, “I told the kids, ‘That’s the whole team.’ Because unless you have a pass, unless you have a swing, you don’t get an assist. The whole team has really started to come together and do some great stuff.”

After winning an emotional first set, the Bears went up 20-17 in the second. Spring-Ford rallied for six straight points before completing the comeback and evening the match one set apiece. It was just the second PAC Liberty set Boyertown has lost the season, the other coming in a 3-1 win over Perkiomen Valley.

Boyertown went up big in the third set , but had to hold off a long Rams rally at set point for the hard-fought 25-21 win. That was it for the match as the Bears cruised in the fourth set, 25-8, to seal the victory.

“They just served us really tough tonight, so it was really hard for us to get anything going,” Spring-Ford coach Josh McNulty said.

The Rams graduated seven seniors before last season and graduated nine more varsity players heading into this year, including a pair of first team all-area players in Grace Kraft and Olivia Olsen.

Senior Rylee Clarke had eight kills, junior Clarke Gilmore had five kills, junior Maddie Lebiedzinski had 35 assists and junior Anoushka Patel had 11 assists and 11 digs on Wednesday. But the Rams’ bright future was also on display as sophomore Allison Plitnick tallied eight assists and nine digs, and sophomore Faith Hudson had six kills.

“Our first couple scrimmages and our first two or three games, we look like a completely different team now,” McNulty said. “We’ve done a lot of work on not making as many unforced errors …We were missing free balls and roll shots. Now, they’ve settled down a little bit, and they’re playing a lot smarter.

Just last season, a win against the Rams would have marked a monumental victory for the Bears, who won two division games in their inaugural 2017 campaign. Now, they come into most matches as the favorite, currently toting a 6-0 PAC Liberty mark with just two division games remaining.

Boyertown’s lone losses this season have come to a Pope John Paul II team that hadn’t dropped a set until last week and a Unionville squad that ranks No. 3 in the District 1-4A power rankings (one spot ahead of the Bears).

The Bears have PAC matchups with Pottsgrove, Norristown, Phoenixville and Methacton before closing out their regular season with a non-league game against Exeter. They’ve set themselves up so far for a great chance to improve on last year’s PAC semifinal loss and district first-round exit.

“These kids believe they’re supposed to win, and when you believe you’re supposed to win, you just go out there and perform,” Mike Ludwig said.

NOTES >> McNulty said senior Paige Rothenberger didn’t have her best night on Wednesday, but has been a key cog for the Rams this season. Rothenberger went down with a back injury two games into last season and didn’t see much of the court the rest of the year. She moved positions from setter to right side when she came back this fall and has played the position admirably. “She comes back this year, and I throw her in a completely different position, and she’s doing well,” McNulty said. “She’s giving everything she’s got over there, which is all I can ask for.”