Southern Lehigh girls volleyball advances
The walls of the Southern Lehigh High School gym feature banners for each sport.
The one for volleyball on the east wall can hold its own with the years listed for league and district and two state final appearances.
And it will be getting additions as the Spartans will be adding 2024 Colonial League and District 11 championship to the banner, and maybe, just maybe, a state title as well.
Southern Lehigh beat Middletown Tuesday night 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 26-24) in a PIAA Class 3A first-round match and will advance to Saturday's quarterfinals where the Spartans (22-0) will face District 1 champ Pope John Paul II from Royersford at a time and site to be determined.
They were not alone in advancing. Liberty, District 11's 4A champ, beat Central Dauphin, District 3's runnerup, 28-26, 22-25, 27-25, 18-25, 15-12 in a five-set thriller and Parkland, the District 11 4A No. 2 seed also advanced with a 3-0 sweep of Williamsport (25-15, 25-20, 25-16).
Southern Lehigh and Middletown were ranked in the top five in the latest Class 3A state rankings by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association.
"Middletown is a great team and we watched a lot of film on them and knew what they had," Spartans coach Don West, Jr., said. "They had an explosive middle and we knew what we had to do. We served great at times and then we missed serves at inopportune times and that put in a bad spot in the third set, but the girls what they were doing wrong. They wanted to finish off. We got a little soft in our serve and receive and once we got back to swinging and being more aggressive we started chipping away."
Middletown was 18-0 before losing to Greencastle Antrim in the District 3 final. The Blue Raiders got up by as many as eight points in Game 3 before Southern Lehigh stromed back to take a 24-20 lead. The Spartans had trouble getting the match-clinching point and Middletown tied before Southern Lehigh got the last two point that sent them on Saturday.
"Zoe [Siuta] and Lydia {Bartlett] as a freshman going against a great middle for Middletown was a tough assignment and we slowed them down and got some big kills when it really mattered," West said. "Abby Stankiewicz stepped up with some big blocks. They all stepped up at different points."
Southern Lehigh fell to Liberty in the District 11 4A semis last year, so it has already extended its season three rounds past where last year ended.
"It's exciting," West said. "We know who's waiting for us. Pope John Paul II is a two-time defending state champ and the No. 1 team in the state. We played them in a tournament and split with them. We know what they have and we'll get some film on them. Ryan [Sell] is a great coach and someone that I know and have chatted with in the past. He got me some film recently and we get along very well. It's a great team and a very tough matchup."
But the Spartans welcome the challenge.
Stankewicz had 14 assists, four kills and five blocks while Hoyer, one of the team's two seniors, had 14 kills, seven digs and a service ace.
"I think we know we're such a good team and we know can go so far, but we also know we have to play our best every single game because all of the teams left now are going to be tough," Hoyer said. "We can't afford to come out flat. We have to play every single game with energy. When we get down, our coaches get us together and encourage us and remind us to play for each other."
Southern Lehigh lost the third game in its district final win over Allentown Central Catholic last week and nearly were pushed to a fourth game again. We called several timeouts to get his players to regroup.
"We had the Central match in our minds and we didn't want that to happen again," Hoyer said. "We didn't want to have to play a fourth set. We wanted to get it over and we battled point by point and just got there."
Hoyer, who will continue her career at Rowan University, said she takes pride in being a team leader but doesn't want to take all of the credit.
"All of us work so hard together and the underclassmen do such a great job," Hoyer said. "We're all leaders. Abby Stankiewicz is a sophomore and she takes so much control on the court and Trinity [Sky Hunte] is the other senior and is great, too, We're all leaders. We all work so hard. I can't take credit. We all share the credit."
Trinity Hunte- and 15 assists, four digs and an ace. Amelia McCoyl had five kills and three blocks. Natalie Pristas had 14 kills and Mia Stanten had 13 digs and three assists.
At night's end, Pristas was wearing an ice pack to support an aching left shoulder. But she was still smiling.
"The key is the love we have for each other," Pristas said. "We come out every game and we say we're doing this for each other. We have each other's back. We support each other, whether we're in a rut like we were tonight in third game, or we're dominating. We won the league, and winning the district title for the first time since 2019 was big. The teams that we've already played, like Central, will help us. Pope John Paul II will be tough, but we're looking forward to it."
