Energetic Sun Valley’s fast starts too much for O’Hara in volleyball win

ASTON — There’s something about playing teams like perennial Catholic League girls volleyball power Cardinal O’Hara that brings out the best in Sun Valley.

You could tell the Vanguards were amped up for their nonleague contest with the Lions Monday afternoon by the way they warmed up, hooting, hollering and clapping at every turn. The question was, could Sun Valley maintain that high energy level in the match?

That’s exactly what the Vanguards did.

Sun Valley rode a fast start in the first two sets to a 3-0 triumph over O’Hara to improve to 8-0. Playing with passion has been SV’s trademark in the early part of the season.

“It’s been great,” first-year coach Liz Boccella said. “Their energy has empowered all of them and is what holds them together as a team. Everyone works well together and roots for each other.”

Getting off to a 12-1 start in the first set and a 7-1 advantage in the second set stoked that vitality. O’Hara coach Bill Collins burned two timeouts as the Vanguards jumped out to the early 11-point lead to no avail. The Vanguards took the first set, 25-9, and followed that up with 25-20 and 25-21 wins to complete the sweep.

“We came in with a lot of energy because O’Hara is a big rival, club and school,” do-it-all sophomore Katie Kuehl said. “That first set started off so well and we just ran with it. I think that energy is what carried us to the victory.” 

Kuehl set the tone with three of her seven kills among the first seven points of the opening set.

“Katie is an amazing hitter,” Boccella said.

Kuehl didn’t do it alone. Senior Laura Stritzinger and junior Janay Kennon were a force in the middle. Stritzinger led the attack with eight kills and had several key blocks. Kennon also helped keep O’Hara hitters Bridget McGuinn and Maggie Doogan at bay.

“They’re the key to our offense and defense,” Boccella said.

Setters Jenna Jones and Hannah McGroary set the attack in motion with 19 and 11 assists, respectively, while libero Kylie Shetter paced a solid defense with 15 digs.

“Kylie is great at readying the ball,” Boccella said. “She needs to be back there.”

Shetter is the floor general of the defense, constantly yelling out instructions to keep everyone on their toes.

“Being the libero and a leader, talking to the other players in the back row is huge,” Shetter said. “We have huge blockers in the middle and we were able to get ready on their hitters and keep the ball alive because of our communication.”

The Lions (6-2) did make runs in the second and third sets behind the play of McGuigan (11 kills, 11 digs), Doogan (seven kills, four blocks) and Jasmine Sullivan (10 assists). O’Hara cut the deficit to 23-19 in the second set and had an early lead in the third set but it was not enough to overcome the hole O’Hara dug in the first set.

“The first set, we passed kind of ugly,” Collins said. “I just told my kids, ‘Walk over and thank them. They just exploited your one weakness, our passing.’ If we’re going to get exposed, I’d rather get exposed Sept. 20 at Sun Valley than sometime in October at Neumann (site of the Catholic League championship).

“What are we going to do? Are we going to sulk and pout and complain or are we going to go to back work tomorrow night at practice? We have to take advantage of what they just did, go back to work and figure it out because there was nothing special that they did on the other side of the net except ball control and they made it look easy and it isn’t.”

Sun Valley, meanwhile, is riding a wave of energy.

“I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season holds,” Boccella said. “We have some big competition coming up but I think we can go far.”

In the Central League:

Garnet Valley 3, Harriton 0 >> Maddie Wood set the tone in the 25-16, 25-17, 25-11 victory with 26 assists and one kill. Klaira Zakarian paced the attack with nine kills, followed by Marypearl Tienabeso with six kills and Kelly St. Germain with five. Rachel Sokolosky, Leah Ellis and Maddie Snelgrove led the defense and combined for seven aces.

Springfield 3, Marple Newtown 2 >> Bianca Brown collected 11 kills, four digs, three blocks and three aces to pace the Cougars to the 25-15, 19-25, 25-20, 24-26, 15-12 victory. Ana Kara led the defense with 22 digs to go with one kill and one ace. Allie Gowman (nine digs, one kill, one ace), Caroline Kirsch (eight kills, six digs, one block) and Lauren Eck (five digs, three aces) also came up big.

Azira Benjamin paced the Tigers with 14 kills and eight digs. Kyra McCool contributed five assists, five aces, five digs and two kills. Sam Avellino had four kills, three aces and three blocks, while Mary Buchy collected 20 serve receive passes and 13 digs.

Penncrest 3, Ridley 1 >> Kay Wimberly did it all with 22 assists, 11 kills, 11 digs and five aces. Liz Kurcon added 16 digs, 12 kills and six aces in the 25-10, 25-21, 25-20, 25-11 victory. Fiona O’Loughlin (seven aces, seven digs, two blocks), Kelly McDonnell (24 digs, four aces) and Bridget McKay (18 assists, five kills, three aces) also were major contributors for the Lions.

Mia Campanile (eight kills) and Kyla Carney (11 digs) paced the Green Raiders.