Monday, June 4 http://www.lancnews.com/sports/index.htm
SHIPPENSBURG _ Steve
Mummaw didn't have to think too hard to remember last year's state volleyball
tournament.
He and his fellow Hempfield teammates were shocked by Montour in the
semifinals. But the silver lining in the hurt that day was that Mummaw and the
other juniors had another season to try and relieve that pain.
Saturday, the Black Knights, senior-strong with Mummaw, Ben Murray, Matt
Manning, Keith Maurer, Matt Baker and Tony Spangler, delivered on a pact they
forged last year.
"I thought about a promise we made to each other last year,'" said
Mummaw, after Hempfield defeated Mount Lebanon to win the PIAA Championship at
Shippensburg University. "We saw that the guys were upset after we lost.
We decided we weren't going out that way. Next time we come here, if we're
crying, they are going to be tears of joy, not tears of sorrow."
Spangler, too, recalled the pain of a year ago, now expunged by Saturday's
12-15, 15-8, 15-11 win over the Blue Devils.
"Last year was the worst feeling in my life,'" said the senior
co-captain. "We came up short. I thought we were the best team in the
state and we hadn't lost up to that point. I vowed to myself and I know the
whole team did the same thing, that this year would be different."
It was different because the Black Knights had too many weapons for their
opponents, too many options and few weaknesses.
"Hempfield controls the ball very well,'" said Mount Lebanon coach
Rick Welsh. "I thought we matched up well and we have a lot of height. But
they play great defense and make very few errors. That's the difference."
The Black Knights had to combat taller front lines both in the semifinals
against Upper St. Clair and in the finals against Mount Lebanon. The key to
beating those taller teams is athleticism and serving.
Murray is famous for his big hits on kills in the middle of the net. But having
Mummaw and Spangler coming from the outside was too much for either of
Hempfield's opponents to defend.
Setting the ball at just the right places was Baker, the team's quarterback,
for lack of a better description. He sets the ball so a teammate is not hitting
into a double block.
"Matt puts the ball wherever it needs to be,'" Spangler said.
"Usually there is only one blocker and I'm pretty sure that anyone on our
team who goes up against one blocker can put the ball down."
Several of Hempfield's kills at the net wouldn't have happened if the
Knights hadn't come up with big digs in the back. Gary Vogel, Stephen Yeager,
Maurer, Spangler and Mummaw dove to keep plays alive.
So much for the offense. But the Black Knights had to play defense to beat the
two taller teams. Their first line of defense was their serves.
On several serves, Murray stood back almost 60 feet from the net. His serves
when high and far and Mount Lebanon had trouble handling them.
"We could not stop their serve,'" Welsh said. "We could not
pass when they dropped back and served the balls from deep. They scored eight
of their 15 points (in the decisive third game) on those serves."
Hempfield served the same way to Mount Lebanon when the Knights beat the
Blue Devils in the York Tournament. They knew it was coming and couldn't do
anything about it.
After the match, Hempfield coach Mike Vogel said that serve goes back to
Hempfield grad Jim Hughes, who used it to help the Knights win the state title
in '96.
"Serving overcomes height,'" Vogel said. "A tough serve takes
them out of their game. It neutralized their height."
Counting tournaments, the Knights played 59 matches this season and won them
all. The played 124 games and lost two, one in the state final. No wonder Vogel
called this team "a group of unbelievable guys that I had for three years."
What's next? Vogel sees next season as a rebuilding year. The Knights will
lose the core of their team to graduation. But another setter will replace
Baker, possibly his freshman brother Mike. Another middle hitter will replace
Murray, possibly his freshman brother Luke.
At Hempfield, volleyball runs in the family. Besides the Bakers and Murrays,
there are the Yeagers. Stephen, a sophomore, is following in the footsteps of
his brothers Andrew '98 and Jonathan '00. Ben Murray learned to love the game
playing with his older brother Reese on their backyard sand-pit court.
Players come and go. But at Hempfield, the players are of state championship
caliber. It's been that way for four of the last eight years.
Which means many more tears of joy than of sorrow.