Spring-Ford girls volleyball plays first five-setter this season, fends off comeback from Boyertown

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BOYERTOWN >> Boyertown hadn’t just closed the gap. It was well within closing distance.

Against Spring-Ford, the Bears were just three points away from pulling off a comeback that would’ve shaken up the PAC Liberty. A four-point run in the fifth set gave Boyertown a 12-11 advantage over the Rams.

For Spring-Ford to maintain its hold on first place, the Rams required a gut-check moment.

“I just think we needed to calm ourselves down with support from the team mainly, because we were getting down on ourselves and when they came back, we were definitely encouraging each other,” Spring-Ford libero Mackenzie Kennedy said.

Spring-Ford responded with a four-point run of its own to take the fifth set, and the match 25-21, 23-25, 25-12, 19-25, 15-12, to stay firmly atop the PAC Liberty standings.

It was the first five-setter of Spring-Ford’s season. Kennedy made 16 digs and four assists on the night for the Rams (7-5, 7-2 PAC Liberty). Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Angelucci also made 16 digs and put up 14 kills and six blocks. Sara Fritzinger logged a game-high 18 kills. Kylie Michael supplied eight kills.

Kennedy made 16 digs and four assists on the night. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Angelucci also made 16 digs and put up 14 kills and six blocks. Sara Fritzinger logged a game-high 18 kills. Kylie Michael supplied eight kills.

Following a close opening set in which both teams traded blows, Spring-Ford opened the next frame with a 9-1 lead sparked by an eight-point run. From there, Boyertown (5-8, 4-5 PAC Liberty) found points in chunks and capped off a five-point run off a serve from Kyra Neiswender (six digs, one kill).

“It’s always good when the kids get to get into a battle like that and kind of test themselves. You kinda learn a bit about yourself,” Bears coach Mike Ludwig said. “We’re still working and that’s all we can do, keep fighting and try for the best volleyball we can with the group that we have.”

Boyertown’s volleyball team celebrates a point while mounting a comeback during the second set against Spring-Ford at Bear Gym on Monday. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

Like the previous set, Spring-Ford opened the third frame strong. A seven-point run to start had the Rams playing ahead the whole period, holding a 13-point lead at two different points.

Not allowing Boyertown to chop down its deficit started with Spring-Ford taking better care of the ball on its own side first.

“We had to get our passes under control first,” Kennedy said.

That, and playing with more intensity on serves and sets.

“After we lost that 9-1 lead and lost that set, going into the third set, I just said, ‘Look, we can’t let these kinds of things happen.’ You could see at that point, we started to play not to lose,” Rams coach George Fuller said. “One motto we have is you gotta play to win, you gotta be aggressive, you gotta be relaxed.

“You could certainly see that in the third set. Got away from that a little bit in the fourth set.”

The Bears broke out on another four-point run to tie the fourth set 11-all. Both teams went toe-to-toe trading volleys with Boyertown breaking away, 20-17 to prompt a timeout from Spring-Ford.

Outsourcing the Rams 5-2 following the timeout, the Bears tied the match behind contributions from all over the floor. Sydney Scheck (three digs, one ace) and Carol Osborne (three digs, two aces) both had 16 assists apiece. Chloe Wolfe had a team-high 13 kills while Carly Little followed that up with nine kills, six blocks and three digs.

“This is the first five-setter we’ve had. We’ve had some four-setters we’ve won, we’ve had some four-setters that we lost but we never got into the fifth set,” Fuller said. “For me, I was happy to see we had some resolve and could dig deep.

“I’m really big on tempo, and once we get some momentum, with all the club volleyball that we play and that we see, we know a lot of these players and we know how to pick ‘em apart.”

Both squads traded three-point runs to open the fifth set and the two battled back-and-forth before Spring-Ford pulled away one last time, at the right time.

“I think they’re working hard and they’re just going out there and playing. Sometimes you go through ups and downs and that’s volleyball,” Ludwig said. “Volleyball goes up and down streaks and you go out there and just kinda play the best you can each point. We had some lapses, but it was a good match back-and-forth.”

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Evan Wheaton

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