UPPER MERION — Before the season started and Spring-Ford was discussing its goals for the season, its players were dreaming big. Most were aiming for a District 1 championship or a state title.
When senior Lila Olsen spoke up, she had a different goal. She wanted to win the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship.
The district and state playoffs are still to come, but the league title has been secured.
Spring-Ford defeated Pope John Paul II in four sets, 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 25-18, to claim the program’s first PAC championship Thursday night at Upper Merion Area High School’s Valhalla Gymnasium.
“(The PAC) is the first level before you reach districts and states,” Olsen said. “I was like, ‘If we want to win districts and states, we have to win PACs.’ And, of course it being PJP and the first in history, it’s a big deal.”
“I said, ‘I’m in the same boat Lila is in,’” Spring-Ford coach George Fuller said of the preseason meeting. “I said, ‘That’s the first thing we’ve got to accomplish. Everything else is nice, but we’ve got to win the PAC.’
“I’d like to also give a lot of credit to Coach (Ryan) Sell and the PJP team. They played a heck of a match tonight and certainly presented some different looks for us tonight that gave us some fits at times. They certainly have what it takes to make another run at the 3A District and State titles.”
Spring-Ford improves to 22-0 this season and completed a three-match sweep over Pope John Paul II, which had won three straight PAC championships. The Golden Panthers are 16-3.
The top-seeded Rams didn’t get off to the best start in the first set, falling behind 14-6 right out of the gate. They responded, however, with seven straight points and a 9-1 run to tie things up, 15-15. On their 15th point, junior Marley Angelucci became the program’s all-time leader in assists, surpassing Catherine Burger’s record of 1,777 assists set in 2014.
“It’s really special,” Angelucci, who finished the PAC final with 39 assists, said. “My sister (Lauren) currently holds the career kills (record), so it’s really special to be up there with her.”
“It’s a fantastic environment, fantastic situation for her to be able to get the career record,” Fuller said. “I’m very happy for her. She’s done a tremendous job for us. The best part is we get her for another year. She’s only a junior.”
The second-seeded Golden Panthers used a 5-2 run to take a 23-21 lead, but that’s all they’d score in the first set. Spring-Ford scored at the end of a long point before PJP hit the ball into the net to make it 23-23. Olsen had back-to-back kills to put the Rams in front, 1-0, with a 25-23 first-set victory.
“We had some service errors later in the sets that would have made a difference,” PJP coach Ryan Sell said. “In that first set we gave up a seven-point run and that was the difference… Serving was the biggest difference. I don’t know how many serves we missed later in the games, but I know that we missed our fair share. We’ve got to get better.”
The second set was another competitive one. The rivals were even, 18-18, after 36 points before Kailey Hudy put PJP in front for good with an ace. Norah Busch, who finished with 28 kills and 11 digs, scored the 22nd, 23rd and 24th points for the Golden Panthers before a block closed out the set, 25-21, to even things up, 1-1.
Twenty-five points weren’t enough to win the third set as the teams alternated six straight points with Spring-Ford ahead, 22-21. Olsen scored Spring-Ford’s final four points, finished with a kill to make it 25-24 and an ace to close out the set, 26-24, and give the Rams a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set was tight late, with Spring-Ford holding a 19-17 advantage, before sophomore Elle Sossong took over. She tallied three straight kills before her ace made it 23-18. Olsen finished the set and match with back-to-back kills, clinching the fourth set, 25-18, and the match, 3-1.
Olsen finished the match with 23 kills and and six digs while Sossong had 22 kills and seven digs.
“There’s so many different things we can do with those two hitters,” Fuller said, “but we have 100 percent confidence in both of them. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of them, they’re both very smart. Elle in particular has a tremendous amount of ball control, she sees the court, she can take a deep cut shot and she can just power through if she needs to.”
“It’s really hard to defend,” Olsen said. “Usually you have a really good outside hitter and the next one comes and you can back off a little bit. When it’s me and Elle, it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, here comes the new one.’ She’s back row, she’s front row, it’s a complete rotation of outside switches and it’s really hard to defend.”
“When it’s one point left, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to get this one.’ I just use all my power to get that last point because it feels fun to finish it off.”
Alanna Bricker had 19 digs for Spring-Ford.
Haley Maloney had 14 kills for PJP while Sophia Benincasa and Mia Mobley each had 11 digs.
“I like the way we played,” Sell said. “Those are two really good teams. They rely heavily on their outside attackers, pretty much every ball went that way, but those two outsides are really, really good, libero is good, setter is good. If you keep the ball up in the air, the setter is going to be able to put it in a decent spot for those outsides to hit from the front row or the back. It’s tough to play teams three times.”
While Olsen’s No. 1 goal has been realized, the District 1-4A and PIAA-4A state titles are still out there for the Rams to chase.
“It’s really incredible,” Angelucci said. “I couldn’t be more proud of my team. I’m so glad that we’re making school history. We’ve just been getting better and better every year and I couldn’t be more proud.”
PJP will be looking to continue its dominance of the District 1-3A and PIAA-3A state playoffs.
“This is a really good match for us in general because it’s going to make us super prepared for playoffs,” Sell said. “(Spring-Ford is) going to do really well in playoffs. The PAC is going to be well-represented in District 1 in general.”
Spring Ford 3, Pope John Paul II 1
Pope John Paul II 23 25 24 18 – 1
Spring-Ford 25 21 26 25 – 3
