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COVINGTON TWP. — Based on the first set, one would have assumed Nanticoke Area was setting itself up for a short night at North Pocono and a victorious bus ride back to Luzerne County.
That’s why you never assume anything.
North Pocono, behind a match-high 29 kills from James Ildefonso, picked up the energy and rallied for a 3-2 victory over Nanticoke Area on Wednesday evening in a Wyoming Valley Conference boys’ volleyball matchup.
The victory was even bigger in terms of playoffs as North Pocono (7-5) is currently sitting in the No. 8 spot for the District 2 Class 2A bracket, while Nanticoke was sixth entering play Wednesday.
Pocono has completed its WVC regular season, while Nanticoke (7-4) has one more league match against Hazleton Area.
“They are all must wins for us,” North Pocono head coach Jud Holdredge said. “We needed to get this to hopefully stay alive for the playoffs. Right now, it’s one day at a time. We have to come back and practice hard every day. We’ll see what happens going forward. We really needed this one, though.”
Really, Nanticoke Area did nothing wrong in the opening set.
Only one attack error. Precise serving to keep North Pocono out of system. Great balance on the attack between three: Justin Casey (10 kills, 4 blocks, 1 ace), Joshua Baranowski (11 kills, 1 ace) and Luke Butczynski.
And the score showed that. Little runs, two points here or three point there, provided some breathing room. It was a 7-1 run to end the set that jumped Nanticoke Area out to a 1-0 lead and a 25-16 first-set win.
“For some reason, we lost our enthusiasm after that first game, and it affected our desire to win this big match,” Trojan head coach Debbie Gavin said.
That’s when Ildefonso made his presence known.
Held to just three kills in the first set, the attacker began to take healthy swings at every ball lofted in the sky by setter Jonathan Haikes (41 assists).
With Ildefonso dropping thunderous spikes, North Pocono rallied – using a 7-0 run to erase a 15-11 deficit in the second. Nanticoke Area made a comeback, tying the set at 24-24 before kills from Colin Coles and Vince Wojnar knotted the match at 1.
“I think we started to serve a little bit tougher after that first game,” Holdredge said. “We had some good blocks, and that helped to keep the momentum going. We changed the offense, a few small adjustments, to match their players better and it worked. James was on tonight, which really helped. When James was on like he was, we really fire as a team. And our setter, Jonathan, did a great job of putting the ball where it needed to be.”
The two teams split the middle sets by nearly identical scores, setting up the race to 15 in the fifth.
But even there, like most of the night, Nanticoke Area came out flat – down 9-5. Gavin’s group got it back to 10-8 on a kill by Casey and a double-block from Casey and Matt Piontkowski.
It was North Pocono that closed strong, winning five of the final six points – ended by a ground-shaking cross-court spike by Ildefonso.
Nanticoke dug themselves a deficit in the starting moments of each of the final four sets.
“Everything was there in that first game, and then, it went downhill for us,” Gavin said. “We weren’t passing, and we stopped executing. We had some moments to pull us back into the match in the fourth game. We were flat all match. That sums up our day.”
Butczynski led Nanticoke with 17 spikes, while Baranowski and Casey combined for 21 kills.
Holy Redeemer 3, Wyoming Valley West 0
George Beck’s 32 assists and four service points, along with, Ben Rachilla’s 17 kills, four blocks, nine digs, 15 service points and two digs led the Royals’ 25-17, 25-20, 25-21 sweep.
Luke Nealon finished with 13 kills and six blocks and Zach Walker recorded three kills and five blocks in the win.
Wyoming Valley West’s Tyler Klienbach had four kills, five blocks and three digs, Adam McCue chipped in with four service points, two aces and six digs and Joey Burridge finished with eight kills.
Hazleton Area 3-2
Matt Boretski had 43 assists, two blocks, 13 service points, two aces and four digs in the Cougars’ five-set thriller.
Match scores were: 13-25, 25-19, 25-15, 14-25 , 15-6.
Aaron Kellmer finished with 14 kills, eight blocks, one assist, 10 service points and one ace and Everett Fritz had 12 service points, one ace, one assist, eight kills and five blocks.
Tunkhannock’s Max Hardy had 14 assists, two kills and an ace and Evan Turner finished with 14 kills, seven blocks and one assist.
North Pocono 3, Nanticoke Area 2
Nanticoke `25`24`16`25`9 – 2
N Pocono `16`26`25`16`15 – 3
Nanticoke Area Leaders: Luke Butczynski 17 kills, 1 ace; Joshua Baranowski 11 kills, 1 ace; Alec Divers 37 assists, 3 kills, 1 ace; Justin Casey 10 kills, 4 blocks, 1 ace.
North Pocono Leaders: Jonathan Haikes 41 assists; Colin Coles 6 kills, 1 ace.
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