Boyertown first to clinch PAC playoff berth after win over Methacton

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE >> The Boyertown girls volleyball program won its first Pioneer Athletic Conference title in 2020.

However, a COVID-impacted season meant the Bears didn’t get the whole championship experience — most notably a Pioneer Athletic Conference Final Four setting for their clinching win.

Boyertown is trying to right that this season and took the first big step Monday night.

The Bears became the first team in two years to punch their ticket to the PAC playoffs with a three-set  (25-20, 25-17, 26-24) victory over Liberty rival Methacton that secured at least a share of their third straight division title.

FINAL: Boyertown 3, Methacton 0. … Bears finish things off with comeback 26-24 win in third set. pic.twitter.com/G3TcEnrGJC

— Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue) October 5, 2021

 

“Winning PACs last year was really nice, but we still didn’t get that real feel,” Boyertown senior Grace Rinehimer said. “We’re hoping this year we can really pull out a big win.”

“It’s just going to be amazing because we lost to PJP two years ago,” senior Adrianna Derstine said. “Just to be able to come back and hopefully go to the finals and hopefully be able to prove ourselves this time, I’m just so excited for the opportunity.”

Rinehimer tallied 29 assists, three digs and five aces in the match. Derstine led the way with 17 kills and nine digs. The both noted the play of Chloe Wolfe (five kills) was also key in the match. 

Allison Pioli (five kills, nine digs) and Carly Little (three kills, four digs) also stuffed the statsheet for the Bears (10-0 PAC, 6-0 Liberty). Coach Mike Ludwig also mentioned the defensive play and service senior libero Emma Smith as a weapon for the Bears on Monday and throughout the season.

Seniors Mel Eglinton had eight kills and senior Meg Haftl had 25 assists and four aces for Methacton (4-3, 2-3), which had its streak of five-straight league snapped by the Bears.

“Lately, we’ve been playing what I’ll call error-less volleyball, not error-free but error-less volleyball,” Warriors first-year head coach Alex Notaristefano said. “And we’ve been putting pressure on other teams, which tonight we didn’t do as well as we have in the last week plus or so.”

Boyertown built early advantages in the first two sets. The Warriors rallied within two points (22-20) in the first set before the Bears scored three straight to close it out.

In the second set, the Bears scored eight straight points with Rinehimer serving to go ahead 12-4 and kept their distance the rest of the way.

“We knew we had to serve tough against a good team,” Rinehimer said. “We’re a really strong offensive team, but we knew we had to put the ball down a few times when we were serving. We needed to keep that service pressure on no matter what the score was.”

Inspired by a lively student section on their Dig Pink night, the Warriors led for the majority of the third set and were within a point, 24-21, of forcing a fourth set.

With Rinehimer serving once again and Derstine finding kills on the left side, the Bears scored five straight points to finish off the match and earn their Final Four spot.

“We knew it was going to be really tough with their Dig Pink and everything,” Derstine said. “But it’s so exciting to come out and take them in three and just to pull back after being down is just amazing.”

Methacton finished fourth in the PAC last season at 5-5 and started off 2021 with losses to Boyertown and Spring-Ford in their first two league games.

The Warriors have since regrouped with a five-game league win streak that included victories over Frontier Division leader Upper Merion and Liberty rivals Perkiomen Valley to force their way into the PAC and district playoff picture.

Boyertown (10-0), Upper Merion (8-2), Pope John Paul II (7-2) and Perkiomen Valley (6-3) currently sit ahead of the Warriors in the PAC Standings and with a 7-7 mark the Warriors are currently ranked No. 24 in the District 1-4A rankings

They control their own fate with six PAC games and a non-league contest still remaining.

“I think the way we played last week a handful of matches, really putting some pressure on our opponents from the service line and the attack line,” Notaristefano said of how his team can finish strong. “We didn’t quite do that well enough tonight, but we can do it and I know this group will bounce back in our next one.”

The win over the Warriors started quite the week for the Bears with two other potential PAC playoff opponents still on the schedule this week in Perkiomen Valley on Wednesday and Pope John Paul II on Thursday.

Boyertown edged PV in the standings last year by a game last season. The Vikings are the most recent team to take down the Bears in league play.

The Golden Panthers, who didn’t compete in the PAC in 2020 after a delayed start to their season, swept Boyertown in a non-league match last season.

“We’re really excited,” Derstine said. “We’ve gotta come with a ton of energy though. We have to be ready.”