Tuesday, May 29
By Keith Schweigert http://www.lancnews.com/sports/index.htm
New Era Sports Writer
To seniors Ben Murray and
Tony Spangler, Hempfield's last trip to the state volleyball playoffs is
something best forgotten.
The Black Knights entered last year's PIAA tournament with a 62-match
unbeaten streak and a No. 1 state ranking, but their season came to a shocking
end in the semifinals when Montour pulled off a 15-13, 15-12 upset.
"It was tough,'" Murray recalls. "I saw a lot of my good
friends who were seniors really hurting because they didn't have another shot
at a title. I was feeling bad more for them than for myself, because I knew I
had another year to go for it. But it still hurt a lot."
"I thought we were clearly the best team in the state,'" says
Spangler. "We just had a bad game, and Montour was amazing. We have to
hope that doesn't happen again this year."
Murray and Spangler will obviously be thinking about last year's upset when
they take the court against Pennsbury in tonight's state playoff opener, which
is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Wilson High School in West Lawn.
If the Knights survive the best-of-five series, they'll advance to the state
quarterfinals, which will be held Friday at Shippensburg University.
If they lose tonight, it will be the second year in a row that their first
loss is also their last.
It would be an especially cruel way to end the season for the Knights, since
this year's team is a lot like last year's.
Once again, Hempfield is riding a long undefeated streak into the state
playoffs _ 53 matches.
And the Knights are also the state's top-ranked team _ just like last year.
Spangler is aware of the similarities, but he's hoping Hempfield can
re-write the script this time around.
"We came up short last year, but I don't think that's going to happen
again,'" he says. "I think the only team that can beat us is
ourselves. If we don't come out ready we could get surprised again, but that's
the only way I can see us losing."
The Knights enter tonight's match coming off of one of their biggest tests
of the season. Hempfield won its third straight District 3 championship with a
15-4, 15-12 victory over York Suburban on Saturday.
In the second game of the match, the Knights trailed 11-9 before staging a
late rally to take the lead for good.
"It was a great tuneup,'" said Hempfield coach Mike Vogel.
"It was something we had to have. We had been breezing through the
postseason, and we finally got involved in a match where we had to make some
coaching decisions on who could stay in and who couldn't.
"This is what's going to happen to us down the road. We're going to run
into teams just like (York Suburban). We'll need different guys to come in and
contribute."
In Pennsbury, the Knights will be facing a team they know little about. The
two teams played in the same tournament earlier this year, but they didn't
cross paths on the court.
The only thing Vogel knows for sure is that Pennsbury wasn't supposed to
make it this far.
"I didn't expect to see them,'" he admits. "I thought we'd
see Council Rock coming out of District 1. They were the fourth-ranked team in
the state, but they got knocked out (of Districts). If Council Rock isn't here
and Pennsbury still is, it obviously means Pennsbury is dangerous."
While he obviously respects Pennsbury's potential, Vogel says his team will
be ready.
"The kids have been focused on this all season long,'" he says.
"This is their week. This is what they've been working toward all year.
Everybody knows what to do."
While the Knights appear to be supremely confident in their ability to win a
state crown, they insist they will not be overconfident.
All they have to do is remember what happened last year.
"(Last year's finish) is in everyone's minds,'" says Murray.
"We don't really have to talk about it a whole lot. We know Montour was a
team that we expected to beat pretty easily, and they came out and thrashed us.
"What we learned from last year is that there are teams out there like
Montour that can come up and do things you don't expect them to do. We have to
be ready and focused for every game. You can't expect teams to roll over for
you.'"