Fort Cherry takes the 5th, gets 1st state win
COMMODORE – It’s not often a team gets to celebrate their first state playoff win in school history twice in the span of a couple of minutes.
That was sort of what Fort Cherry experienced in the fifth set of their match at District 6 champion Purchase Line on Wednesday.
Emily Pfender put down a kill for what appeared to be the match-clinching point and the entire team went out on the floor to celebrate, but that was cut short because a net violation negated the point.
A couple minutes later, Pfender spiked another kill onto the court and this time it counted.
Pfender’s kill made history for Fort Cherry in a hard-fought five-set win over the host Dragons in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball playoffs.
It finished off a 15-11 win in the decider.
“On that first one, I hit a ball down and I went into the net, but I saw the open spots on the floor, so I told them to run me again,” Pfender said. “I knew where to go and that was exactly what happened. In these moments when they get tight you have to play smarter and not harder and I just did my best to not tense up or be nervous and just play my game.
Pfender had three kills in the final set. Breonna McClain and Morgan Cornali had two each.
The Rangers (20-2) advanced to play section rival Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Saturday’s quarterfinals. OLSH swept Seneca in the first round. The Chargers and Rangers split two regular-season matches.
“I’ve never been to this point with volleyball and neither has our team, so it’s such an amazing thing,” Pfender said. “I’m so grateful to be having this happen as a senior and so is our entire team.”
Rangers coach Jenna Welsh was proud of how her team showed resiliency in a packed gym that proved to be a hostile road environment.
“This is a very special group,” Welsh said. “The seniors were freshmen when I first took over the program. They’re very close on and off the court. I’m glad we were able to make Fort Cherry history tonight.”
The Rangers faced their share of adversity.
Fort Cherry (20-2) held a lead as big as five on two occasions in the fourth set, but the host Dragons (19-4) didn’t go quietly. Purchase Line slowly chipped away at the lead and tied it at 19-19 with a block by Alorra Phillips.
Fort Cherry was able to get the lead at 23-22, but Purchase Line used a 3-0 run to win it, 25-22. Rylee Mahaffey had two kills in the run, including one on set point.
After Purchase Line took the first set 25-17, the Rangers evened the match with a 25-22 win in the second set. Purchase Line had a 15-10 lead, but the Rangers used a 5-0 run to tie it up with a block by Pfender and ace from Gianna Bianchini and a kill from Cameron Kramer highlighting the run.
The set was tied 21-21 before the Rangers took the lead on back-to-back kills from Madeline Groszkiewicz. Pfender finished off the set with a kill in the middle.
The Rangers won 25-22 in the third set. It followed a similar tone to the second, with the Rangers falling behind by five early. They climbed their way back into it with a 9-4 run which ended with an ace by Bianchini.
Groszkiewicz gave Fort Cherry a 22-21 lead with a spike that went out of bounds of a Purchase Line block attempt. Groszkiewicz had another kill to get Fort Cherry to set point. The set was clinched on a hitting error by Purchase Line.