Knights off and spiking back to results

Hempfield cruises past Spring Grove

Intelligencer Journal Wednesday, May 24

DISTRICT THREE VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS

Joel SchreinerIntelligencer Journal Correspondent

A member of the Spring Grove coaching staff may have summed it up best during his visit to the concession stand following his team's volleyball match with Hempfield.

His transaction went a little something like this:

"I'll take a hot dog," he said to the cashier.

"You're lucky," the cashier said. "That's our last one. It must be your lucky night."

"Yeah, must be, but it wasn't in there," he said pointing into the Centerville Middle School gym.

That was the only thing that went right for Spring Grove as they, like many others before them, fell victim to the powerful Black Knight attack, 15-1, 15-3 in a District Three opening-round match in Centerville.

Hempfield, along with Manheim Township _ a 15-11, 15-4 winner over Central Dauphin in the opener at Centerville _ advances to four-team pool play Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Hempfield High School.

"That is going to be real tough pool," said Hempfield coach Mike Vogel. "This is the beginning of a long journey in a short amount of time. Hopefully, we're going to play 13 more matches."

If the Knights happen to win all 13, that would complete a perfect run through the 2000 season. After Tuesday's win, the Knights are 56-0-1 this season. Their lone tie came against Central Bucks West during pool play in a non-league tournament.

Hempfield jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in Game One against Spring Grove, then extended it to 9-0 on six straight service winners by senior Rob Fisher. Eventually the Knights led 12-0 before the Rockets managed to score a point.

"Spring Grove was scared," Vogel said. "They're a real young squad."

Spring Grove was the state runner-up a year ago, but returned only one player this year from that team.

Game Two actually saw Spring Grove take a 3-1 advantage, but it was short-lived. The Knights, led by the likes of Derek Shultz, Randy Paules, Patrick Shawaryn and Tony Spangler, rattled off 14 unanswered points for the easy win.

"We won't play our best until we have to, said Shultz, who leads the team with 292 kills this season. "Right now, we're getting by."

"We still haven't played our best," warned Vogel, whose Knights won district gold in 1991, '94, '97 and '99 and claimed state championships in 1994, '96 and '97.

This year, they are looking to erase the memory of last year's fifth-place finish at states.

"There's going to be at least 13 other teams that are going to try to make sure that (winning states) doesn't happen," Vogel said. "We need some luck and we need to make sure we play well."

They also need to finish first or second in Thursday's pool play just to get their shot at redemption. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semifinals, scheduled for Saturday at Central York, with the championship match to follow. In the opener at Centerville, Manheim Township (14-9) shrugged off a slow start to finish off Central Dauphin. Nic Stayer and Greg Leed each had five kills to lead the Streaks, while Stayer also posted three blocks.

"They started slow," said Township coach Bob Kennedy. "But once they got warmed up, they were smooth. We played real well in the second game."

The Blue Streaks and the Black Knights were the only teams from the Lancaster-Lebanon League to advance to the pool play competition of the quarterfinals.

Warwick lost two straight games to Wilson by scores of 15-11 and 15-12. The Warriors led in both matches, but could not hold off the Bulldogs attack. Nate Wertch had 13 kills for the Warriors and Chris Knepper added four blocks.

Cocalico could not stop the Genova brothers of Antietam as they lost 2-0, dropping games of 15-7 and 15-10. Ryan Genova had 11 kills, three aces and five digs for Antietam and his brother David added 20 assists. Jesse Weaver led the Eagles with six kills and Nate Matz added two blocks.

Cedar Crest was beaten 2-0 by host New Oxford, 15-7, 16-14.

The pools for Thursday's quarterfinals are: Pool A, Hempfield, Manheim Township, York Suburban and Wilson at Hempfield; Pool B, Antietam, Chambersburg, New Oxford and Exeter at Central York.