Unionville edged by Garnet Valley in District 1 4A girls’ volleyball final
Lower Merion >> Following Unionville’s 3-2 loss to Garnet Valley in the PIAA District 1 4A girls volleyball championship finals Thursday at Harriton High School -– the first defeat of the 2022 season for the Longhorns (21-1) — Unionville head coach Stephanie Smith reflected on the team’s resiliency in the third and fourth sets.
The Longhorns trailed powerful Garnet Valley 2-0 after losing the first two sets 25-16 and 25-15, but bounced back to win the next two, 25-21 and 25-22.
“I felt like in the first two sets, we were rushing, we were trying to do too much with our swings, but after we gathered ourselves, then we were able to compete,” said Smith. “Ava Van Deusen (who had 14 digs) really started digging some (key) balls, and Maddy Lowe (14 kills) made some huge plays as she always does. Maddy’s a leader, and she always has this do-or-die attitude, and she has a way of bringing up others as well.”
Thursday’s district final was a carbon copy of the first game between these two teams earlier this season (Sept. 9), in which the Jaguars won the first two sets and the Longhorns won the next two. But in that Sept. 9 match, Unionville won the deciding set, and this time, Garnet Valley took the final set 15-12.
“I told our girls to keep their heads high, Garnet is an incredible team, and we played really hard against them,” said Smith. “Our season’s not over. (This loss) just gives us stuff to work on before we go into States.”
One of Garnet Valley’s top weapons Thursday night was the laser shots of freshman outsider hitter Sarah Wood. Down the stretch, when Garnet needed a big point, Wood often came up with a key hit –- and she finished the night with 35 kills.
“Sarah Wood is an amazing player,” said Smith. “(Garnet’s) Kelly St. Germain on the right side was swinging really well also.”
While Unionville had lost only five sets all season coming into Thursday night, Garnet Valley had a 17-game streak of 3-0 wins coming into the District 1 final. That streak started just after the Jaguars’ 3-2 loss to Unionville Sept. 9.
Garnet Valley took an early lead in both of the first two sets, and prevailed by comfortable margins. Unionville led most of the way in the third set, but had to battle back from a 17-15 deficit in the fourth set. With the score tied 19-19, the Longhorns finished on a 6-3 run, thanks to some fine play up front by Ava Brenner (11 kills, six blocks for the night).
Smith has noted the Longhorns’ depth of talent this season, and she said it was on display again Thursday night.
“Ava Brenner made some big plays today, a number of big blocks at important times to stop Garnet’s momentum,” said Smith. “Vivian Geiger (11 kills, 7 blocks) is just really hard to stop, and she got some big kills for us particularly in the third and fourth set. (Setter) Olivia Harper (43 assists) did a god job of mixing up plays and finding our hitters and she did a good job on defense as well.”
Another key contributor for Unionville was senior captain Jillian Murphy (seven blocks).
In the final set, Garnet Valley jumped out to a 10-6 advantage and maintained a small lead the rest of the way.
Garnet Valley head coach Mark Clark said, “Unionville’s a great team. We had to keep pushing and pushing and pushing because they pushed. You saw the determination they had. We adjusted our block a little bit, and we started digging. I hope we see them in the state finals.
“It seemed like Unionville set up their block and their defense for (Sarah Wood), and that’s why we had to start swinging her in different spots — we didn’t keep going to the middle, we went around to the right side, and when we were going from the outside, we were swinging her from the inside, and then we’d throw it off to someone else, we really mixed it up well.”
NOTES: Coming into Thursday night’s district final, the Longhorns have compiled a 79-8 record the past four year -– 63-3 in the regular season, 13-2 in District 1 play and 3-3 in the PIAA state tournament.
