Downingtown West volleyball team prevails over Kennett

Downingtown – Playing for the third consecutive day, and competing in its seventh contest in the past 10 days, the Downingtown West girls’ volleyball team shook off a loss in the opening set to Kennett  and prevailed, 3-1, Wednesday.

The host Whippets (18-2, 10-2), who are currently ranked No. 4 in the latest PIAA District 1 4A rankings, lost to the visitors 23-25 in the opening set, then swept the next three sets, 25-18, 25-22 and 25-12.

“The first set was a struggle; we’re out of gas right now; this is our seventh match in the past 10 days,” said D-West girls’ volleyball head coach Dave Parrish. “Last night was a tough win against Rustin [25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 27-25] and tonight was the same thing.

“Our players showed a lot of heart tonight, digging down and finding that little extra energy to get things rolling. Our serving has been struggling but our passing has been fantastic all season. But early on tonight, we were struggling with our passing.”

In the first set, Downingtown West led 15-12 but Kennett slowly came back, tying the score at 19-19 before taking the lead for good.

“Kennett is a solid team that doesn’t make a lot of errors,” said Parrish. “We had 10 hitting errors in that first set, and Kennett was giving us a lot of free balls and second balls over that we were not picking up. We did very well in the third and fourth sets in picking up that short stuff, the roll shots, the off-speed stuff that was killing us early.”

In the second set, D-West slowly built its lead, going ahead 23-12 at one point and displaying plenty of depth in its hitting attack. For Wednesday’s match, Camryn Tuffner made 14 kills, Jen Schuda 10, Darby Weller 8, Grace Poluch 8, Melanie Bowman 6 and Jill Arrowsmith 5.

“Someone’s always coming around for us to pick up the [hitting] load,” said Parrish. “If one of our hitters is having an off-night, we’ve been finding someone else that can get hot.”

In the third set, D-West got off to a 19-12 lead, but the Blue Demons went on a 9-1 run (fueled by some fine hitting at the net by Kennett junior outside hitter Maya Rosenthal) to take a 21-20 lead.

The Whippets fought back, and aided by some strong hitting by Tuffner, finished on a 5-1 run for a 25-22 victory to give the hosts a 2-1 lead in sets.

In the fourth set, the Whippets roared out to an 18-4 lead, and finished it up with a 25-12 victory.

Schuda led the way for the Whippets with a triple-double: 10 kills, 12 digs and 26 assists Wednesday against Kennett.

Schuda was an all-state selection last fall, and in the 2021 pre-season, Parrish had said of the senior: “Jenna is a very talented setter with a strong serve. She has developed into a formidable attacker at the net, and is a real leader on and off the court.”

D-West also got a strong performance Wednesday from senior defensive specialist Claudia Bournazel, who had 39 digs in 42 attempts.

“Claudia has been passing phenomenally well for us,” said Parrish. “We [the coaches] rate passing 0, 1, 2, 3 – 3 is a perfect pass – and she has been over a 2 every match. She’s had the best libero season I’ve ever seen for anyone on my team. She has been playing really well.”

In the final two sets, Parrish noted that the Whippets’ serving improved measurably, and Weller led the way with five aces.

“Darby is a softball player who never played club volleyball,” said Parrish. “She’s a natural athlete who can rip it – I wouldn’t want to be in the way of one of her swings (laughs).”

Other notable stats Wednesday included Bowman with 18 assists, and middle hitters Poluch and Arrowsmith teaming up for five blocks.

The Whippets’ victory Wednesday marked the end of their regular season, with the PIAA District 1 4A playoffs coming up next.

“We’re looking forward to Districts,” said Parrish. “We’ve played a lot of games this fall – it’s been a long season. We want to stay healthy for the [district] playoffs, and see what we can do.”

Kennett entered Wednesday’s contest ranked 26th in the PIAA District 1 4A rankings (the top 24 teams in District 1 4A advance to the district playoffs). The Blue Demons (9-9) have one game remaining, against No. 3 ranked Bishop Shanahan today (Thursday).

“Our girls came into this game knowing where they stood [in the rankings],” said Kennett head coach Ashley Douglas. “They play well together and came together as a team. We didn’t win tonight, but overall, I’m really proud of everything they’ve done. We’ve gotten a lot of comments from other coaches and teams who say they’re surprised at what we can do. What saves us is our scrappy defense. They don’t give up, and that’s something that they and I are very proud of.”

The Blue Demons’ key players this fall have been junior outside hitter Maya Rosenthal and sophomore libero Hannah Giampietro. Both are team captains.

“Maya is our No. 1 hitter, the girl that we can go to,” said Douglas. “She leads us in kills and is one of our strongest servers – she is someone we can count on for a run of points. As a libero, Hannah is all over that court. She’s someone we can trust in the back row who we need back there all the time.

“Both Maya and Hannah are good all-around players who are strong servers, and lead this team on and off the court. I’m looking forward to having them back next year.”