Unionville volleyball earns first-ever state playoff victory

ROYERSFORD >> It certainly wasn’t easy, as the Indians had to find their way through want looked like a mid-match crisis of confidence. But in the end Unionville just had too much power at the net on Tuesday, and topped Emmaus 3-1 in round one of the PIAA Class 4A girls’ volleyball state tournament.
It marks the first state tournament victory in program history.
“I am super happy for this team,” said Indians’ head coach Stephanie Smith. “They’ve worked so hard to get to this point. It’s been a great experience.”
The District 1 4A runner-up endured a shaky stretch in the middle, but started fast and finished strong en route to a 25-15, 15-25, 25-23, 25-20 victory over the Hornets, who finished second in District 11. Now 24-3 overall, Unionville will take on District 3 champion Hempfield on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
“We hadn’t even made states in a while,” said Unionville senior middle blocker Kat Tuerff. “Just making it in is a big accomplishment for our program.”
Freshman Maddy Lowe went on two service runs that included a total of three aces to help put the Indians in front for good in the opening set. Tuerff had a block and Sophie Brenner two kills to wrap it up.
There were eight ties early in the second set, but the Hornets scored 13 of the last 16 points to even it at 1-1. Smith called two timeouts during the Emmaus surge but to no avail.
At one point – at the end of the second set and the start of the third – Emmaus (17-7 overall) reeled off a 17-4 run, and the Indians were clearly out of sorts.
“We went into the second a little overconfident,” Tuerff admitted.
“When we had such a great start and moving into that second set, (Emmaus) is going to fight back, and that’s what they did,” Smith added.
In the pivotal third, the Indians trailed early but finished forcefully with two late kills by Tuerff to eek-out a close battle. Emily Harper, Ashlyn Wiswall and Brenner also had kills down the stretch, turning an 18-18 tie into a two-point win.
“It was very close, back-and-forth, but we had some big blocks,” Smith said. “Those made the difference. They changed the momentum.”
Unionville never trailed in the fourth set, but the Hornets sliced the lead to one on several occasions. The Indians closed it out, however, with three blocks by Brenner, another by Lowe and a block by Tuerff.
“We really turned up our blocking at the end and that is the first line of defense,” Tuerff said.
“It’s great to have hitters across the front line that can put the ball away,” Smith added. “It makes it challenging for opponents to shut us down.”
Sophomores Brenner and setter Ashlyn Wiswall led the way with 10 kills and 19 assists, respectively, but Tuerff chipped in six big blocks. She is the lone senior regular for the Indians.
“You know that if we lose our season is over. And as a senior, you really don’t want it to end,” she said.
“When there is a possibility the season could end, it’s going to fuel that senior to push super hard,” Smith said when asked about Tuerff. “And that energy just resonated throughout the entire team.”