Bishop Shanhan volleys to 5th consecutive District 1 title

West Goshen >> Bishop Shanahan captured its fifth consecutive PIAA District 1 girls’ volleyball title with a 3-0 win against Unionville in the District 1 4A championship final Thursday evening, and several Eagles reflected on what has made this team, which lost four Division I players to graduation last spring, unique.
Just about every Eagle interviewed mentioned the same word – family.
“This is not just a team, it’s a family,” said Shanahan’s starting setter Mia Caporellie. “The bond that we all have with each other and the trust that we have for each other is amazing.”

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Shanahan senior outside hitter Cara Shultz, a two-time all-state selection, said, “The bonds we have on this team are special – we really are sisters on the court. We’re not just teammates, we’re not just friends. We are truly family out on the court.”
“They’re so unselfish; it’s not about them, it’s not about the stats, it’s not about who does what, it’s about winning as a team in a giant family,” said Shanahan head coach Greg Ashman.
The Eagles (21-0), the top seed in the District 1 4A tournament, and losers of only three sets this fall (not counting tournaments), needed all of that togetherness Thursday evening as No. 2 seed Unionville gave them a tough battle in all three sets – 25-18, 25-16 and 25-21. The Indians (23-3) were the only Ches-Mont team to win a set against Shanahan this fall, in a 3-1 loss Oct. 8.
“Unionville runs a very fast offense, and I think the key tonight was slowing the ball down on our side,” said Caporellie. “We needed to play our game and not to try to keep up with theirs.”
“Unionville is a fantastic program with some players who can really pound the ball,” said Shultz. “They have Sophie Brenner, who is just an incredible player and incredible person. They run a very fast offense – a big part of our game plan was to put up a good block against them, making sure our defense was disciplined. Our middle blockers do their job so well, and going into this game they knew their role was so important and they definitely executed it so well tonight.”
Unionville hung tough with Bishop Shanahan in the first set, trailing by only one point, 13-12, halfway through the game, thanks to some fine play from Brenner (12 kills for the night) and middle blocker Kat Tuerff (five kills, five blocks), one of only three seniors on the youthful Indians.
“Sophie [Brenner] is just a key player for our team, she has an energy that the girls follow,” said Unionville head coach Stephanie Smith. “When we’re down a couple of points or really need something big to happen, Sophie will be the one to do that. Kat Tuerff did a great job blocking tonight; she really can crush the ball. She had a couple of key plays that really switched the momentum in our favor.”
Leading only 13-12, Shanahan took control, winning five straight points to go ahead 18-12, led by Shultz, who made several key kills and well-placed hits during that stretch. Unionville didn’t quit, cutting the lead to 21-18. But a couple of kills by Shultz and junior outside hitter Brooke Burns keyed a four-point Shanahan run to close out the first set, 25-18.
As in Game 1, Unionville started the second set strongly, taking a 6-5 lead early.
“You have to put up a good block against [Shanahan’s] big hitters, and I think we did a good job of it,” said Smith. “And our setter, [junior] Ashlyn Wiswall [28 assists on the night] made some good set selections, which opens things up for our hitters.”
Shanahan went ahead for good in Game 2 with a six-point run, keyed by strong serving from Cara Shultz and a couple of kills from sophomore outside hitter Coco Shultz, to take an 11-6 lead. While Unionville kept things close, trailing only 17-14 at one point, Shanahan closed Game 2 on an 8-2 run, with the final point coming on a well-placed hit by Burns.
“We knew we needed to slow down Unionville’s blocks somehow by moving fast and by running the ball from antenna to antenna, and mixing the middles here and there – that was the key tonight,” said Ashman. “Mia ran a fantastic offense tonight. She was able to set up our hitters the way they needed to be set up, getting them the ball at the right time, so hats off to her. This title is hers.”
In the third set, Unionville grabbed a 15-9 lead, keyed not only by kills from Brenner and Tuerff but also freshman outside Maddy Lowe (five kills on the night).
“Unionville came out really strong, and the one thing we had to do was stay calm,” said Caporellie. “We ran away from that a little bit in the third set, but then we maintained our calm and pushed it all the way through.”
“We had to adjust a lot in that third set,” said a smiling Cara Shultz. “[Unionville] switched a couple of things, and it took us a while before we could adjust, but once we did, we were good.”
“the key to the third set was staying composed,” said Ashman. “We took that timeout and said, ‘We’re not out of this, it’s our turn to turns on the gases. And we chipped away at the lead and we were able to make the right plays at the right time. I knew that, late in the game, when we had Cara and Mia going back to serve, that it was our game – they’re our two best servers.”
Unionville sophomore outside blocker Genna Weeber’s kill gave the Indians a 17-12 lead, but then Eagles then went on an 11-2 run, triggered by strong hitting from Cara and Coco Shultz, to go ahead 23-19. Brenner made it 23-21 with back-to-back kills, but Shanaham prevailed for a 25-21 win and the match, and the celebration for the Eagles began.
This is actually the fifth consecutive district title for Shanahan, which won the Class 4A title in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and the Class 3A championship in 2015, when there was no 4A classification.
“I’m so happy, five district titles for our team,” said junior middle blocker Bridgette Kelly. “All the chemistry we have – we’re not a team anymore, we’re a family.”
“It’s amazing to be part of this program,” said Caporellie. “To win four [4A] district titles in a row is just amazing.”
“Unionville really is a strong team, they really challenged us tonight,” said Burns. “I’m so excited to win [the district title], we’ve been working on it for a while.”
Cara Shultz, who was accepted at Yale University two weeks ago, said, “We’ve been working for [the district title] every single year I’ve been here, and to have done it four years in a row [at 4A] is just so special for us.”
Shanahan senior defensive specialist Grace Casagrande said, “We’ve been working really hard since August for this. and being a senior, I really took in the last point [of Game 3]. The moment we got it, it was amazing. it’s just awesome to have that [winning] feeling.”
“We always say Shanahan volleyball is like a family instead of a team because of how close we are,” said Shanahan sophomore middle blocker Maddie Rudolph. “That really helps us in our games.”
Ashman said, “Our team was so supportive – everyone on the bench.”
The district champion Unionville squad included 19 players – Mia Caporellie, Maddy Kempski, Brooke Burns, Caroline McNulty, Maddie Rudolph, Olivia Gigliotti, Brittany Mineweaser, Catherine Rae, Laura Brozey, Lauren Gallgher, Annie Mace, Coco Shultz, Mary Howski, Ava Thorley, Megan Kratz, Grace Casagrande, Cara Shultz, Bridgette Kelly and Emily Ettien.