Unionville tops Downingtown East, will face Shanahan in district final
EAST MARLBOROUGH – The last time Unionville volleyball reigned over District 1, Bill Clinton was in his first term, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty, and all of the players on the current roster were still many years away from birth.
The 2019 Indians will get a chance to end a 24-year-and-counting hiatus on Thursday in the District 1 4A Final against Ches-Mont rival and top-seeded Bishop Shanahan. Second-seeded Unionville earned the title berth with a tense 3-1 home victory over No. 3 Downingtown East on Thursday.
“It’s really exciting for our program,” said Indians’ head coach Stephanie Smith. “It was 1995 since we last won a district final. To have such a young team and to battle all the way through the districts to the final is just a huge accomplishment for us.”
Now 23-2 overall, Unionville rebounded from a slow start to top the Cougars for the second time this season. The scores were 20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-21.
“It was just two good teams battling it out,” said East head coach Peggy Hopton.
“I think since we beat East in the regular season (also 3-1), they came out with that revenge mindset,” added junior Sophie Brenner, the Indians’ top hitter. “We really just had to calm ourselves down and make sure that we were as energetic as they were.”
Unionville now owns a winning streak of eight straight. The squad’s only setback since late August came on Oct. 14th against a Shanahan team that is the defending district and Ches-Mont champs, and is still unbeaten. The all-Ches-Mont final is slated for 7 p.m. on Thursday at West Chester East.
“This is a big opportunity for us as a program,” said Indians’ setter Ashlyn Wiswall.
“I think the nerves will go away because we’ve already played (Shanahan),” added Brenner. “We know what we are up against and we will have that revenge mindset this time.”
Downingtown East falls to 22-3, but the Cougars have already qualified for the PIAA Playoffs. They will play Pennsbury on Thursday in the third-place match.
“I expect every team we are going to have to play to be a tough team. But we are a tough team,” Hopton said.
Already trailing 1-0 and down 12-5 early in set number two, Smith called a timeout to regroup. The Indians proceeded to gradually cut into the margin, and then took their first lead on an Emily Harper kill. In all, Unionville scored the final four points to even it at 1-1.
“We had to wake up and we got it together,” said Brenner, who led the Indians with 15 kills.
“After the first, we realized that we had to step it up,” added Wiswall, who had 27 assists. “We had more of a positive mindset.”
The Cougars got off to good starts in set numbers three and four, but Unionville battled back both times. In the third, the deficit was 11-4 when the Indians went on an 11-1 run. The set was still up in the air when East’s starting middle blocker Julia Michinok went down with an ankle injury and did not return.
“Mich is a great player who is having a great season. But I was proud of how we kept fighting,” Hopton said.
Unionville won 10 of the last 16 points thanks to a couple blocks and a kill by senior Kat Tuerff, to make it 2-1. In the fourth, the Indians trailed 5-1, surged ahead 18-12 after an 8-0 service run by Emma Yin, and then watched as East made a last gasp run to cut it to 18-17. Harper and Brenner each had important kills down the stretch, while Wiswall and Genna Weeber had service aces to close it out.
“There is something about our team that we have a calmness and a drive to pull out those really important, crucial points,” Smith said. “They like those close sets and are ready to battle.”
Harper finished with seven kills and seven blocks, and Tuerff chipped in five kills and six blocks.
In keeping with the trend, the Cougars got off to a terrible start in the first set, but staged a comeback sparked by senior hitter Jill Curran. East then got late kills from Rachel Wertz and Brooke Lauletta to win the opener.
“You have to play every point and play to the end,” Hopton said.
“(East) came out on fire, we got into a hole, but we were able to battle back,” Smith added.
“It was weird to see the momentum shifts that happened. But when we got down a couple points we got more determined and played a little harder.”
Curran had a game-high 25 kills and added seven digs and three blocks. Lauletta chipped in 10 kills and 13 digs.
