BRYN MAWR >> The eldest members of the Pope John Paul II girls volleyball team have only known victory in the District 1 championships. Thursday night, the Golden Panthers seniors faced their final trip to a district final – win or lose.
For the last two years, only one of those outcomes has come into play for the Pope John Paul II program.
Another victory and another championship were acquired by the Golden Panthers Thursday night against Villa Maria in the District 1 Class 3A girls volleyball championship, a 3-0 verdict (25-15, 25-18, 25-14) giving PJP its fifth straight district title and 50th consecutive win.
“No, it never really gets old,” senior setter Madison Monahan said with a laugh. “It feels like there’s always something new every year. I feel like it gets more exciting.”
There’s much to be excited about for the reigning PIAA 3A champions as they earned the right to defend their crown. PJP will open its state tournament run against the District 12 runner-up on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
“The seniors, we all came out with so much energy because we knew this could be our last game. Obviously we didn’t want it to be – we want to keep going,” senior outside hitter Hutton Cordrey said. “It’s surreal it’s my last one, but it feels so good.”
PJP’s standout seniors led the way with Monahan registering 32 assists and seven digs, Cordrey doing it all with 11 kills and 16 digs, outside hitter Natalie Ricevuto recorded 10 kills and libero Gabriella Cooper had nine digs. Junior outside hitter Maeve Gallagher came away with nine kills and eight digs.
“You’re always nervous (for these big games),” PJP coach Ryan Sell said. “We played Villa earlier in the year and we know that they’re good and we know anything that we play them it’s going to be a good game, even if the score maybe doesn’t reflect that.”
Villa Maria suffered the cruel outcome of District 1 only receiving one berth to the PIAA Championships, their season concluding with a 20-3 record and its only defeats coming to district champions in PJP and 4A champion Unionville.
“We had a very successful season the girls played really hard from beginning to end,” said associate head coach Burgess Hoff. “We started a new culture with the team, trying to make sure that they pick each other up when they are down and they executed that from the beginning of the season all through the end.”
Hoff assumed head coaching duties for the final with head coach Peggy Evans absent due to another commitment. It was something of an early start as Hoff will take over as Villa’s head coach next season.
Top performers for Villa were Gill Keaveney with 13 kills, Leah Machita had 17 assists while Megan Ronan had seven digs. Alana Whitewell was an active hitter for the Hurricanes as well.
Villa made the district final for the second straight season, a worthy accomplishment for a group led by seniors Keaveney, Machita, Ronan, Whitwell, Grace Schmitt, Brigid Touey, Elizabeth Sharp and Olivia Flynn.
“We are losing eight seniors so we will have to rebuild again next year,” Hoff said. “But I’m very pleased with the performance from the beginning of the season up to now.”
PJP didn’t drop a set in its district run. In fact, it’s only lost one set all season, against Spring-Ford in the PAC final.
Despite its talent gap over the vast majority of opposition, the Golden Panthers were in need of a reconnection entering the postseason, according to Monahan.
“We’ve tried to reconnect as a team. We’ve gone more back to family-like events,” she said. “Winning, you have to have the skill, but you also have to have the family-like connections. That’s the missing piece that some teams have.
“We realized at the start of the postseason we weren’t doing those team events outside of the court so we had a team meeting, came together and realized that connection is what sets us apart from everyone else. We had to bring that back into the team.”
The Golden Panthers have felt the weight of expectation as reigning state champions returning the large majority of its lineup. But with an undefeated mark, they’ve risen to the challenge.
“I’ve seen them evolve through the year because they definitely have noticed (the expectations),” Sell said. “Our expectations have always been high, but now it’s just at another level because you win a state championship and return almost your entire lineup, htat’s when it gets really real for those kids.
“Over the course of the year there’s definitely been moments where they have felt it. You see the shoulders dip a little bit but they always seem to bounce back pretty well. I’m pretty proud of the way they’ve handled it this year.”
The goal is four more wins and a return trip to Cumberland Valley on Saturday, Nov. 18. But staying focused on the present is the only way to get there.
“I don’t want to think too much into the future because it is really hard where we got to last year,” Cordrey said. “I’m just really happy that we keep going.”
