District 1-4A Girls Volleyball: Boyertown saves second set, sweeps Sun Valley
BOYERTOWN >> A lot of practice on crucial situations late in a set paid off for Boyertown in Thursday night’s District 1-4A girls volleyball second-round contest.
The eighth-seeded Bears fought off four set points to win the second set as part of a 3-0 (25-18, 29-27, 25-20) win over visiting Sun Valley, who came in as the ninth seed, and earned a spot in the quarterfinals.
Boyertown (18-4) will face top-seeded Council Rock North — a 3-1 winner over 16th-seeded Conestoga — on Saturday with a PIAA Tournament berth on the line. The season came to an end for the Vanguards (17-6).
Adrianna Derstine led the Bears will 19 kills and also made 17 digs, Grace Rinehimer had 39 assists and seven digs, Carly Little had eight kills and three aces, Allie Pioli contributed six kills, 11 digs and three aces, Emma Smith made 19 digs and Kyra Neiswender had 16 and Chloe Wolfe had six kills.
Katie Kuehl had 11 kills for the Vanguards, Jenna Jones eight kills and 12 assists and Kylie Shetter 11 digs.
The Bears trailed nearly the entire second set and were down 22-18, their largest deficit, before making their late-set rally.
“We practice that a lot, being down, and we fought our way back,” said Boyertown coach Mike Ludwig. “It was nice to see them battle through.”
The Bears tied the score at 23-23 in the second set on an ace by Rineheimer and then fell behind four times before finally winning it on a kill by Little, an ace by Pioli and a cross-court kill by Derstine off an assist by Rinehimer.
“We were just focusing,” said Derstine. “We work a lot in practice on focus on the last five points. We kept pushing.”
“We talked to each other and got each other up to have more energy,” said Little.
That came after Boyertown led all the way in a dominating first set. The Bears scored the first five points, four of them on hits by Derstine and all of them served by Pioli. They opened up a nine-point lead on several occasions and finished up when Derstine hit one off a block.
“We just came out strong with enough energy,” said Derstine. “If they got a big point, we kept our energy up.”
“I think we were just communicating well,” added Little. “Our defense was on point. I think we started really tough.”
Sun Valley led 11-9 in the third set before the Bears went on a 9-2 run. Then the Vanguards scored four in a row to close to within 18-17, but an error by the visitors and an ace by Little got the hosts going again and another hit off a block by Derstine wrapped up the win.
“She’s a phenomenal volleyball player,” Ludwig said concerning senior outside hitter Derstine. “She just does so much good stuff on the court. Some of the other girls have really stepped up. It opens her up even more.
“We’ve been playing really good volleyball. We’ve been really focusing on the defensive side of the ball, settling in defensively and getting us extra swings. The work in practice in showing up in games.”
Last year, the Bears defeated Sun Valley 3-2 in the same round, giving the Vanguards a lot of motivation coming into the rematch.
“It just motivated us to see they wanted revenge,” said Derstine.
“Sun Valley plays hard and they’re very fundamental,” said Ludwig.
The Vanguards had defeated Souderton 3-1 in Tuesday’s opening round while the Bears had a bye.
“They were a good team,” Sun Valley coach Liz Boccella said concerning the Bears. “My team fought. They played hard. I’m proud of them. Honestly, it was just energy. They played hard and wanted it. They all communicated well. It’s sad to be losing five of our players, but I’m looking forward to next year.”
