PIAA-2A: Dock defeats Manheim Central, heads to state semis for first time
WYOMISSING — Dock has broken through.
By virtue of a commanding sweep of perennial power Manheim Central on Saturday afternoon, the Pioneers are in the state’s final four for the first time, their 3-0 victory out at Wyomissing High School sending them to the PIAA-2A Semifinals.
“It felt great. We all played amazing,” said junior Anthony Bernardo, who led the team in kills with 10. “I think we played great as a team, and we’ll see what we have against Lower Dauphin.”
The two will square off on Tuesday at a site to be determined.
Dock’s victory over the Barons provided a showcase of many strengths, especially the Pioneers’ blocking, which they had been itching to utilize in a big way.
Bernardo had four blocks, Sean Gillespie and Tyler Derstein had three each, and Tristan Blum and Cameron LeSuer had two each for 14 as a team.
“I was telling our guys before this match, ‘we’re getting there. I think we’re ready to break out with a blocking match.’ And then we did,” said Dock coach Kirby King, who has guided the program to its finest season. “We had barely been getting 10 blocks a game. So this was awesome. The other thing that helps is that these guys (Manheim) have really good swings, which usually helps your blockers.”
Dock won in straight sets, 25-15, 27-25, 25-20.
The Pioneers led 2-0 and later 5-2 in the first set before falling behind only briefly, 8-7. Dock eventually built a 17-12 edge and went on from there.
The second set saw the two teams battle the whole way, with Dock making a crucial push at the end to pull it out and get the 2-0 lead.
Momentum spilled into the third and final set, with Dock jumping out to a 6-1 advantage. The Barons rallied, but Dock pulled away down the stretch, building leads of 19-14 and 22-16 before closing it out in style.
“It’s awesome,” said King, who guided the program to states multiple times in the early 2000’s when it was all one class, competing against bigger schools. “This is what we’ve been working for all season.”
Blum pounded away with a .467 hitting percentage.
Alex Yoo racked up 17 digs.
And Bernardo’s kills were not only in abundance but timely.
Said King: “He had a back-row kill that was really big. Game changing.”
Bernardo played his finest match of the season, even adding three aces. Lane Bergey added three as well and Derstein had a pair.
A tremendous run came to a close for the Barons, who had four seniors in Josh Dippel, John Wenger, Trent Groff and Barend Oostdam. The Barons reached the state quarters for the second year in a row after making the semis in 2019 and the state final in 2018.
How strong an opponent Manheim has been made the victory all the sweeter for Dock.
“(The final four) was a big goal, and that was one of our goals since the beginning of the season,” said Bernardo. “We all wrote down on a piece of paper what our goals were, and that was the big one.”
