Pennridge wins SOL American showdown with Souderton

FRANCONIA >> It was a pivotal Suburban One League American Conference match, and Pennridge played like it.

“This is a pretty big win, especially because we won 3-0,” the Rams’ Bryce Muller said after Thursday night’s victory over rival Souderton. “We managed to stay strong through the whole thing.”

Pennridge won a back-and-forth first set, rallied back from an 11-3 deficit to take the second set, and then held off a fierce surge by Big Red to close things out in three (25-22, 25-21, 25-22), raising its conference record to 9-2.

“We were right there with them in the standings,” Pennridge coach Dave Childs said. “It was a big match and I think we knew it, so that’s encouraging. I thought Game Three, we would learn about ourselves, and hopefully that’s a sign that we’re maturing a little bit.”

Everyone had a hand in this one.

Ryan Benscoter racked up 18 kills to go along with his five digs and three aces. Tyler Johnson had 9 kills and four blocks.

Muller (five kills, two aces) and Skyler Ammon (five kills) were key contributors.

Thomas McKinney (four kills, six digs) and Dan Detweiler (seven digs) chipped in as well, and Riley Kodidek had 37 assists and five digs.

“We play really well together as a team,” Muller said. “We kind of picked up our energy (in Game Two). We were like, ‘let’s go.'”

Pennridge battled back in that second set to eventually go up 20-19, then closed out on a run.

“This is a very big win. Souderton’s one of the top teams in our district with us, so us winning against them in three is really good,” Detweiler said.

Aidan Wunderly came through for Big Red (7-4 conference) with 12 kills and Grant Anderson added eight.

Wunderly also racked up 15 digs on his home court and added an ace. Tate Kreiser had 27 digs for Big Red.

“Overall, it’s a very good, well-coached Pennridge team that played with more desire than we did tonight,” Big Red coach Luke Pinto said. “They have good leadership. Benscoter’s a talented guy and when he gets the momentum going for them, they’re harder to stop.

“We’re learning and getting much better as the season goes.”