Unionville defeats Shanahan to capture District 1 4A girls volleyball title – Daily Local

Bruce Adams

[email protected]

LOWER MERION — When Bishop Shanahan and Unionville, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the latest Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association poll (for PIAA Class 4A teams), took the court Thursday night in the PIAA District 1 4A championship final, he had there were all possibilities. the beginning of a hand-to-hand fight.

And it was a tight contest in the first two and a half sets at Harriton High School, with neither team building a lead of more than four points.

Then late in the third set, with the match tied 1-1, the Longhorns went on an 11-3 closing run to win 25-19. Unionville closed it out with a 25-19 victory in the fourth set, a 3-1 victory and the District 1 4A title.

This is the second straight District 1 4A title for Unionville, which reached the PIAA 4A state finals last fall. The Longhorns lost 11 seniors (including five starters) from that 2023 team last spring.

Unionville, the runner-up in the District 1 4A tournament, beat No. 1 seed Shanahan (20-2), which reached the championship final riding a 20-game winning streak.

“Winning this title means so much,” said Unionville junior libero Stalena Van Deusen, who recorded a dozen kills Thursday night. “Steph (Unionville head coach Steph Smith) has put so much into this program, so for her to win this game is just amazing.”

Unionville junior forward Leah Wiswall said, “Winning this title means a lot, especially because we’re doing it for Steph (Smith). I think we put all our hard work on the court tonight and really fought. I think in the last two sets we handled the ball very well and placed it well on the court.”

There were seven lead changes in the first set on Thursday. Shanahan led 23-19, but Unionville closed on an 8-2 run to win 27-25.

Shanahan fell behind 13-9 in the second set but went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-13 lead. There were six lead changes in the second set, and with the Eagles trailing 25-26, a pair of kills from Shanahan’s Mia Mascherino and Ava Barnhart gave the top-seeded Eagles a 28-26 win and tied the match at 1-1.

The third set was back-and-forth with Shanahan leading 16-14 before the Longhorns went on a closing 11-3 run. The Unionville match started with strong play from Stalena Van Deusen (12 kills on the night) and Maeve Stokes (nine kills, nine blocks) and ended on a high note with Wiswall (15 kills) getting some scoring hits. laser shots across the area.

Smith said: “Leah had a smaller block outside and was able to use it. Our setter Holland (Van Deusen) did a great job of using all three of our hitters, so that ended up opening the door for her because they weren’t stumping her…. The Dutch setting is phenomenal; her ability to set up all of our hitters no matter what the pass was was very important (to us).

Holland, Stalena’s twin sister, said: “I just trusted my offense, distributed the ball, and I think they got us back in the game. Leah (Viswall) and I had a really good relationship tonight, I just trust her a lot. I know she’s ready when I just toss her the ball.”

After finishing the third set 11-3, Unionville carried the momentum into the fourth set to take a 15-7 lead.

Late in the fourth set, Shanahan came back with a 7–1 run to cut the Longhorns’ lead to 19–17, but Unionville was strong again down the stretch, finishing on a 6–1 run for a 25–18 victory.

Stalena said: “Just trusting our training, we work on it a lot in training, in training we play a lot of very close games in intense situations, so we were all ready to trust each other. We limited the mistakes (tonight) and played our game.”

Smith said: “From an offensive and defensive standpoint, Stalen is a very well-rounded player. Maeve (Stokes) in the middle with her blocks and shots (was valuable). It was just a lot of teamwork tonight.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our girls after graduating so many players last spring. Our girls responded and became more active. Our girls have such a calm disposition, a balanced keel, they need to be shaken up a lot.”

In the first round of the upcoming PIAA 4A state tournament on Nov. 5, Unionville will face Spring-Ford, the fifth-seeded seed in the District 1 4A tournament.

For Shanahan (20-2), the loss ended a 20-game winning streak, including a 3-1 win over Unionville earlier this season.

Shanahan head coach Greg Ashman said, “It wasn’t our night. We couldn’t control the corridors like we usually do. We need to pass the pass to the linker so that the linker can control our centers – the final result. If we don’t know how to manage centers, we’re not that dangerous to the team.

“(Our players) need to understand that no one is perfect; they have to work hard every time, have a lot of discipline, and I think their discipline was broken tonight. We were a little overconfident because we beat them earlier in the season.”

The Shanahan coach believed the loss could be a boost for the Eagles in the upcoming PIAA 4A state tournament.

Ashman said, “This (loss) will help us keep running because we have the other half of the (state tournament) bracket, which is not easy at all; we’ll probably have Hempfield, we’ll probably have North Allegheny and a few (other) strong teams along the way. But it will make us tougher.”

For the young Longhorns, a couple of seniors who contributed reflected on winning the district championship.

Unionville Libero Alise Uedjema said, “It’s incredible to win after losing to 11 seniors (before graduation) last spring. Everyone worked together and were able to quickly build relationships early in the season.

“I think at the end of the second set (tonight) we just found our rhythm and were able to play with high intensity while playing relaxed at the same time. Sometimes when we play with too much energy we get stressed, but I think today we were able to just work together and get things done.”

Longhorns right fielder Sophia Hines said, “Winning this title means a lot. We’ve had such a strong team each of the last four years and we’ve made it to the district finals each of them, and by continuing that tradition, I feel like our team has become very close.”

Originally published: October 31, 2024 11:33 pm ET