Tuesday, May 16 2000
BOYS' VOLLEYBALL Intelligencer Journal
Ian Radcliff Intelligencer Journal Correspondent
In the spirit of several popular primetime game shows, here's a question:
What is the only year in which the Hempfield boys' volleyball team completed the regular season undefeated, winning six tournaments along the way?
A. 1994 (state champions); B. 1996 (state champions); C. 1997 (state champions); D. 2000.
Yes, those teams of the mid-'90s mini-dynasty plowed through the competition like no other team had in some 30 years, but never did they win as many in-season tourneys as this year's squad. Answer: D.
The Black Knights, who have won eight of the last nine L-L League championships, will ride this unprecedented wave into the first round of the L-L playoffs this afternoon at Cedar Crest with another Section One championship under their belts and big bullseyes on their chests.
One of the teams setting its cross hairs on Hempfield is Garden Spot, which quietly ran the league table for its second Section Two title in three years. With quality wins outside the section against Manheim Township and Penn Manor, and a solid thumping of an excellent Warwick team last month, the Spartans showed they are for real.
"Our confidence has been very high the last two weeks," coach Steve Good said. "We've endured a lot of things people don't know about."
One of which was the health of 6-foot-8 middle blocker John Wenger, who is finally 100 percent after suffering through most of the season with a bad back left over from basketball.
"We've struggled, but now we're hitting all cylinders," Good said. "And we got through prom and the senior trip _ now it's time to go."
Hempfield coach Mike Vogel can relate. It's a tough time, he said, to get focused on an indoor sport.
"It's a long season and now they're all taking their tests. You have college visitations, little things like that, too. They have to think volleyball starting at 4:30 (today)," Vogel said. "And they will."
That's when Hempfield will take the floor at Cedar Crest along with Section Two runner-up Cocalico, Section Two fourth-place Lancaster Mennonite and the host Falcons, who finished tied for second in Section One.
Manheim Township, the fourth-place team from Section One, will host the other pool, with Garden Spot, Warwick, who tied Crest for second in Section One, and Section Two third-place Elizabethtown. First matches are at 4:30 p.m. at both gyms.
The Knights are about as sure a lock as you can get to move along to Thursday's semifinals, into the District Three tourney and points far beyond. Hempfield is 50-0-1 (tying C.B. West at the Lake-Lehman tournament), and that's more than enough to rattle opponents _ and draw comparisons.
"We have as much athleticism, if not more," Vogel said. "We still make some dumb offensive errors, and sometimes we get too far ahead of ourselves."
"I think this team can take it," outside hitter Patrick Shawaryn said. "We're going to be ready no matter what."
And so begins Hempfield's second step toward starting a new dynasty. The only question left is whether these past three seasons of disappointment can pave the postseason road through Shippensburg.
"We'll give it our best shot," Vogel said.
Final answer, Mike?