Diggin’ it: Peters Township moves on
By Joe Tuscano
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
McMURRAY – If Peters Township head coach Chris Kelly has many more volleyball matches like this one Tuesday night, he’ll need a large box of antacids with him along the sidelines.
The Indians blew through the first game of this first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs like nobody’s business. The rest of the games were white-knuckle affairs.
Still, the object is to advance and that’s what the Indians did, 3-1. Peters Township will play Saturday against either Unionville or Southwestern.
The Indians won their three sets by the scores of 25-14, 20-25, 25-22 and 25-20 at AHN Arena.
So did the Indians relax after that first game?
“I think that’s exactly what happened,” said Kelly said. “They probably thought the other two sets would be as easy as the first. Boy, Manheim came back and played hard. We’ve had a lot of sets where we’re down 21-8 and had the ability to come back. They aren’t phased by that. They play well under pressure.”
Peters Township moved to 17-3 and Manheim, the fourth-place finisher in District 3, ended its season with an 18-4 record.
“That was not the first time we were in a predicament like that,” said Manheim head coach Caleb Roberts of the slow start and fast middle. “It’s happened a few times throughout the year. No doubt they would put up a fight tonight.”
Manheim won the second game by bullying PT at the net, something the Indians are not used to.
“They have some good girls with some great swings,” said Roberts. “That No. 21 (Maddie Carrol) and No. 22 (Elle Gorman), they’re good. I hope they go on to great things.”
In the first game, Peters Township went on a 14-3 run on the way to a 25-14 victory. Manheim had trouble handling the returns of Carroll and Gorman, The Blue Streaks could manage only one run of three points in the game.
The second game started differently. Manheim went on runs of three and four to take a 9-4 lead. But the emotion had certainly shifted to the side of the Blue Streaks.
In Game 3, Peters Township scored the final six points to earn a hard-fought 25-22 victory. That put the Indians a game away from advancing.
“They were a little more scrappy than we were,” Carroll said of Manheim’s rally. “And pushed us a little bit harder.”