District 1-3A: Upper Dublin rallies back from 2-0 hole to beat Council Rock North and advance to states

BENSALEM — They had lost eight seniors from last year’s team, making a repeat run to the state tournament unlikely in 2022.

Upper Dublin faced those doubts right away this spring and quickly forged a new identity.

The Cardinals made it all the way to Thursday night’s District 1-3A Third-Place Game, facing Council Rock North.

With their season in danger of flickering away, the Cardinals faced a 2-0 hole the same way they faced every bit of adversity this season.

“All of our guys trust each other,” said senior David Levin. “We play together as a team and we know that we’re not the most skilled team out there but we know that we have each other’s backs and there’s nothing we can’t do.”

Fifth-seeded Upper Dublin rose up and won three consecutive, tightly-contested sets to win 3-2 over the No. 6 Indians and lock up a spot in states.

“This felt amazing. This was a combination of teamwork, coaching, and everyone giving it their all,” Levin said.

A fine season came to a close for CR North. Upper Dublin prevailed (23-25, 15-25, 25-20, 25-20, 16-14) in a marathon of a contest.

“We played them earlier in the season and we went up 2-0, and they took us down 3-2,” Levin said. “We knew there was an opportunity. We knew we had taken sets from them before. We just tried to come out as hard as possible with the most energy, and just prove to them that we wanted to win.”

“At the beginning of the fifth set, I looked at everybody and said ‘listen, runs happen. Whatever happens, just get the next point. Don’t worry about the previous point.'”

Levin and fellow captain Ben Dorsey, Terrell Turner and Landon Kullmann all contributed in a big way to the Cardinals’ success.

It was a group that matured tremendously leading up to and including this big night at Bensalem.

“It means a lot. We went to states last year, which was a big moment, but I was on the bench,” Dorsey said. “So one thing I wanted to do this year was make an impact on the team on the court. To come here with all these guys, with everyone stepping up, it meant a lot.”

Upper Dublin led most of the way in the third and fourth sets but the fifth and deciding set was back and forth the whole way. Upper Dublin had one final surge to win it.

“We made a couple lineup changes, but we just told them to never give up, never give up faith in each other,” said coach Paul Choi. “We’ve gotten this far as a team and we just had to believe in each other.

“I have to give a lot of credit to my seniors, my captains. They’re the leaders on this team.”

Several members of the team stayed for long after the match, savoring the moment.

“No one ever thought we’d be in this position, especially at the beginning of the season, losing eight seniors,” Choi said. “Once the season started, things started to click. And we started having bigger aspirations for our team.”