Garnet Valley sweeps Plymouth Whitemarsh in D1-4A semifinals

WHITEMARSH >> Garnet Valley swept Plymouth Whitemarsh in the District 1-4A semifinals Tuesday evening at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School to advance to the championship game for the first time since 2018.

The third-seeded Jaguars won in three sets 25-18, 25-14, 25-21.

“It’s really exciting,” Garnet Valley’s Sarah Wood said. “I’m a freshman, so it’s fun to be able to do this as a freshman and having my sister (Maddie Wood) on the team, too, but I think we all just really put the pieces together during practice and during games to make it really special.”

The Jags will face the winner of No. 1 Unionville and No. 5 Lower Merion in the championship Thursday at Harriton High School at 7 p.m.

The first two sets followed similar patterns. Garnet Valley took control of both sets with dominant runs early and maintained their advantage through the end.

In the first set, The Jags used a 12-4 run to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 12-7 lead. The advantage grew to seven, 18-11, before they finished it off, 25-18.

GV faced a 6-4 deficit early in the second game before rattling off eight straight points. Abby Houpt, who had five aces in the match, served during the 8-0 run that saw the Jags go on top, 12-6. The dominance continued after the second-seeded Colonials called timeout and a 17-4 push put Garnet Valley ahead, 21-10. The teams traded points until the Jags won, 25-14, for a 2-0 advantage.

The third set was back-and-forth and competitive throughout. Plymouth Whitemarsh jumped out to an 11-6 lead, keyed by an 8-0 run with Natalie Small serving, and Garnet Valley responded with five straight, with Wood serving, to tie things up, 11-11. The teams were even at 14-14, 18-18 and 19-19 before the Jags took control.

Wood made two full-extension, diving digs to keep the point alive and a PW return ended up flying long to give the Jags a 20-19 lead. GV carried that momentum to a 23-19 advantage and an eventual 25-21 win to close out the sweep.

“It’s huge,” Wood said of the set-changing point. “Getting fired up with the whole team, everyone’s jumping around. It’s awesome.”

“(Garnet Valley is) really conditioned for this time of year”,” PW coach Dave Stewart said. “They’ve been in this situation before. They know how to play in these late matches in the district playoffs. For our guys, this is a new experience. I think at the beginning we were a little shell-shocked, but we finally calmed down and realized we can play with this group.

“The longer rallies went their way and that’s rough, because that’s really deflating on this side because you’re like, “I just dug and dug and dug and we didn’t win that point.’ Then you just have that exhale. Their experience in the moment and the speed in which they play the game was a little bit beyond where we are at this particular point.”

Wood led the Jags with 19 kills and added two aces. Klaira Zakarian and Kelly St. Germain each added five kills, Sarah Weins four and Abby Hendrixson, who only played the third set, three. Maddie Wood set up the offense with 30 assists.

Plymouth Whitemarsh will play the loser of Unionville and Lower Merion in a seeding game Thursday before the state playoffs start next week.

“The big thing for these guys and what I told them is you have to keep your chin up, you have to bounce back very quickly, we can’t be in a situation where all of the sudden your frustrated,” Stewart said. “You’re playing some of the best teams in the area and you just have to realize that and jump back in and get going again on Thursday.”

Garnet Valley 3, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0

Garnet Valley 25 25 25

Plymouth Whitemarsh 18 14 21