LANSDALE — Late in the fourth set, trying to force a fifth in the opening round of states, the vaunted Lansdale Catholic girls’ volleyball team was up by four points. But, gradually, that lead dwindled, point by point.
Soon, it was tied at 22, and a sense of inevitable doom seemed to take hold. And then the Crusaders — the District 12 champions — were down by one, and then by two.
And then it was over.
The Spring Grove Rockets, the runner-up from powerhouse District 3 in the York area, finished off the Crusaders 25-22 in the fourth set to cap a 3-1 victory (25-24, 22-25, 25-12, 25-22) in Tuesday’s first round of the PIAA-3A playoffs at Lansdale Catholic High School.
“Coming into tonight, we knew we were going to have a tough matchup, we knew we were going to have to compete,” LC coach Rachael Picozzi said. “They had really great serving runs. Our serve receive was an area where we struggled, and they were able to take advantage of it. Because of that, we weren’t able to get as many offensive runs as we would have liked. Their serving was a big component tonight.”
Rockets senior McKenzie Boyer, with a spike in the third set that extended Spring Grove’s lead to 17-6, recorded her 1,000th career kill.
“Oh my gosh, it was so cool,” Boyer said of reaching the 1,000-point milestone. “I’ve been working on it since my sophomore year, because I played JV my freshman year. It’s crazy. It was so fun.
“It was definitely a battle tonight,” said Boyer, who will play for Eastern University next year. “It was great to see us be able to come back from being down (in the fourth set) and work as a team. I thought our communication was good.”
It Boyer who ended the game — on another kill, fittingly. She finished with 17 to go along with 19 digs and four aces.
“That was pretty cool to see her swing and get the last point of the night,” Spring Grove coach Liz Zeigler said. “I’m super proud of what she has accomplished. And we’re all excited we get another play-day on Saturday.”
In the state quarterfinal, Spring Grove (18-5) will face District 11 champion Allentown Central Catholic (20-3), which beat North Pocono in straight sets Tuesday.
“We showed up, being on the road 2 hours away, and I’m super excited that we played our game,” Zeigler said. “We had a few hills and valleys, but we were able to turn it on when we needed to.”
Alayna Zeigler finished with 14 kills,13 digs and four aces for the Rockets. Aubrey Zeigler had 16 assists, three digs and a kill. And Caylor Ormon racked up 22 assists, two kills, two digs and an ace.
After falling into a one-set hole, Lansdale Catholic (9-3) bounced back for a three-point win in the second set to tie the match. But the Rockets cruised to a 25-12 win in the third set before the fourth and deciding set — which saw the Crusaders fall behind by five early, 3-8, before clawing back to take a four-point lead at 18-14.
“We only had one set where we really didn’t show our best, which was set three,” Picozzi said. “But I thought in the last set, the girls came back and fought for every single point. Unfortunately, it didn’t end in our favor.”
Taylor Dinnis had eight kills and four blocks for LC, and Ellie Carickhoff added eight kills and a block. Brenna Whelan finished with six kills, and Jenna Caims had four kills and three blocks.
Katie Royals led the Crusaders with 14 assists and Kate Picozzi added eight.
“I am just beyond words proud of these girls,” Picozzi said. “We had goals of making PCLs, winning PCLs, and we’ve been able to surpass those goals and host a state game in our own gym. It’s unfortunate that this is where our season ends, but we are very grateful to at least have it end in our home gym on a court we’re comfortable with, that we know and love.
“I’m proud that these girls were able to really play a complete season, start to finish.”
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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or visit ChrisDeFranco.com.
