PAC Girls Volleyball Final Four: Spring-Ford bests Upper Merion, Pope John Paul II sweeps Methacton

GRATERFORD — No one in the Spring-Ford girls volleyball program could remember the last time the Rams reached the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game.

A six-year absence can do that.

The Rams broke that drought on Thursday night and ensured those in the program won’t soon forget the program’s championship game history.

No. 2 Spring-Ford will be heading back to the league title game for the first time since 2016 after a 3-1 victory in Tuesday night’s PAC semifinal win over No. 3 Upper Merion at Perkiomen Valley High School. The Rams will face No. 1 Pope John Paul II — a 3-0 winner over No. 4 Methacton — at PV on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“It’s been a goal since my sophomore year when I started on varsity and I started my high school career,” Spring-Ford senior setter Dannica Fuller said. “Now, actually making it has been the best thing ever. It’s been so exciting.”

Spring-Ford (16-5) grabbed the first set 25-18, using a strong service stretch from sophomore libero Alanna Bricker to take control. Upper Merion junior Sophia Schweikert helped her team rally in the second set for a 25-19 win to even the match 1-1.

The lead traded hands throughout the third set. There were 11 ties and six lead changes, but the Rams pulled out a 25-23 win to regain control of the match. The fourth set was similarly back-and-forth before Spring-Ford finished strong again for a 25-22 win, taking the match on a block by freshman Marley Angelucci.

“It was really important (to finish it off) because in the fifth set when it goes to 15 points anything can really happen, especially if one team gets on a really big run,” Fuller said. “Getting it in four was definitely what we needed to do.”

Lauren Angelucci led the Rams with 13 kills and junior Lila Olsen and Marley Angelucci added seven apiece. Senior Cieri Christine made some big points late in the fourth set. Like Bricker early in the match, junior defensive specialist Abby Tuturice had multiple match-turning service stretches during the third and fourth sets off the bench in addition to some terrific defense.

“We didn’t make as many mistakes,” junior Lauren Angelucci said. “Once we got on a run, we kept going and didn’t let little misteaks get in our heads.”

Schweikert had 25 kills in the match, including nine in the third set. Raven Albrecht piled up 29 assists in the match as she found Schweikert throughout.

Others like Yalerie Acevedo had strong moments but Upper Merion (17-4) couldn’t string enough consistent play together to pull out a win.

“Everything we did was choppy,” Upper Merion coach Tony Funsten said. “Kids played well a set then not the next set. Then the next point they played well and sometimes they made good decisions and sometimes they made awful decisions. That’s what teenagers do. It’s just disappointing because I just think they didn’t pay anywhere near where we played all season.”

Spring-Ford dropped a five-setter to the Vikings on Sept. 28, but was able to exact revenge. Coach Fuller said they didn’t make adjustments quick enough in the regular-season match and ran out of gas late, fixing those things and several little mistakes in the rematch.

The Rams know an even bigger challenge awaits on Thursday against the reigning champs, who took them down 3-0 during the regular season.

“We’re gonna have our work cut out for us Thursday for sure,” George Fuller said. “We’re gonna get back in the gym. I think we learned a lot at PJP — our regular-season match there.”

Funsten said his team will need to clean up its unforced errors, but Upper Merion believes its season is far from over. The Vikings are currently the No. 9 team in the District 1-4A power rankings. They advanced to the quarterfinals last season and fell one win short of the state playoffs in the playback bracket.

“Sometimes it happens. You just don’t like it to happen in the playoffs,” Funsten said. “Hopefully, we’ll learn from this and we’ll be able to turn it around in the district playoffs.”

Pope John Paul II 3, Methacton 0

Methacton put together an effort Tuesday night that coach Alex Notaristefano believes will allow the Warriors to win some district playoff games if they can replicate it.

Unfortunately, in a semifinal against PAC and PIAA 3A reigning champion Pope John Paul II there wasn’t much tangible to show for it.

The Golden Panthers (19-0), who have dropped just one of their 55 sets played, downed the Warriors in another straight setter — 25-20, 25-19 and 25-21 — to continue their pursuit of an undefeated season and second straight PAC title.

“It’s very exciting,” PJP senior setter Madison Monahan said. “It’s a little nerve wracking because of the high expectations from last year, but we’re really excited to get back in the championship and postseason.”

PJP reeled off six straight points behind the service of senior Cindy Jin to go up 13-4 early in the first set and went up 1-0 despite the Warriors closing the gap to three late. PJP sophomore Nora Busch (nine blocks) was a force in the set.

The squads were tied 18-18 in the second set before a few missiles by junior Maeve Gallagher (11 kills) fired up her squad, spearheading the Golden Panthers to take seven of the next eight points. The third set was a barnburner too until PJP scored four straight points to go up 19-15 and close out the match in three sets.

“We were kind of struggling to serve receive, so we focused on that, getting the first ball, pass, kind of in the 10-foot line area,” Monahan said. “We just had to focus on ourselves, stop worrying about the score and what the other team was doing.”

Senior Hutton Cordrey piled up 10 kills, senior Natalie Ricevuto added eight kills and four assists and Monahan added 18 assists — putting the ball on a tee for her dangerous hitters.

Senior Rachel Pettine tallied 20 assists for the Warriors. Junior Makayla Batten added nine kills and three blocks; and senior Emma Shaffer chipped in six kills and three aces.

The Warriors (15-5) will now ready for the District 1-4A tournament, where they are currently No. 15 in the power rankings.

“I think the team that showed up tonight on my side, regardless of the outcome and the scores, that team is going to win some matches in districts,” Notaristefano said. “I’m pretty confident that if we continue to put in the work that we need to put in over the next couple of days before the first district game next week, I think we’re gonna win a couple matches and make some noise and then we’ll see what happens after that.”