D2 VOLLEYBALL: Redeemer sweeps West Scranton; Blue Ridge, Mountain View advance

WILKES-BARRE — Watching Donato Strish serve at practice on Wednesday, Holy Redeemer coach Jack Kablick admitted his senior was off.

While he wasn't worried too much about it, hoping it was just one of those off days behind the service line, Kablick didn't know how his senior would respond in the quarterfinals of the District 2 Class 2A boys volleyball tournament against West Scranton.

The head coach didn't have to wait too long to find out.

Strish led a 10-0 run in the opening set, and the Royals didn't look back as the second-seeded Royals swept the No. 7 Invaders, 3-0, on Thursday to advance to Monday's semifinal round at Blue Ridge.

Set scores were 25-9, 25-17 and 25-13.

“Obviously, it's great to start off with a win, but the job's not done yet,” Strish said. “We are really hoping to win districts this year. Anytime you get a win in playoffs is big, but we have still have work to do. Every win is more momentum.”

Admittedly, Strish isn't a normal jump-float server. Earlier in the season, he was more of a straight jump-server. But after some early-season struggles, the senior switched to more of a float for increased accuracy and better placement of the ball.

Thursday, he proved the hard work is paying off. Strish had four aces in the first set, a 25-9 Redeemer win, and finished with a total of five for the match.

“I switched it at a tournament to a jump-float. It's been working real well so far,” said Strish, who had 13 points and three digs. “I personally feel like the jump-float was been more effective for myself.”

As a team, Redeemer finished with a total of 11 aces.

“We are serving zones to try to keep it away from their best hitters, and we've been doing well with it the last few weeks,” Kablick said. “The serve is important every single match. If you don't serve, you are giving points away without the other team even doing anything. We have been hot lately, and I hope we stay that way.”

For Redeemer, Thursday marked the beginning of what it hopes ends with a district title next week.

For West Scranton, Thursday literally marked the beginning. This is the first year for West volleyball, which finished the regular season with a 7-5 record.

And it also marked the first time experiencing the postseason hype.

“We knew West Scranton was a pretty good first-year program,” Kablick said. “A lot of coaches that played them said they were an athletic bunch, and they were right. They were very competitive. It was a good way to start the postseason for us.”

For the Invaders, Redeemer's size at the net and the explosive power of Josh Rocha was too much to handle.

Johnnathan Rocha had two blocks within the first four points, and brother Josh had 13 kills as the Royals led wire-to-wire in all three sets.

The second set is where West Scranton hung close. Four straight points on Quienton McMillan's serve cut into the deficit as the Invaders found themselves down 16-14. West kept it within four, 21-17, but the Royals scored the final four points of the set – capped by Hayden Fleegle's ace.

Jose Benitez finished with four kills, and Jacob Muracco had three for West. Jonathan Camacho added five assists.

“I told the kids that it was an honor to make it this far, and we've had a good season,” West coach Mary Swift said. “We've lost to some really good teams like Wilkes-Barre Area, Abington and Mountain View. The boys were really excited to come down here and play. I thought they played hard the entire match.”

Redeemer wasted little time in the third set, jumping out to a 7-2 lead with Jack Wasiakowski behind the service line before stretching it out to 18-6.

Nine different Royals recorded a kill, led by Josh Rocha's 13. Johnnathan Rocha added nine kills, and Mike Dubaskas finished with six. Wasiakowski had a match-best 29 assists, and had two aces.

“We have a lot of athletes on this team,” Kablick said. “Every guy plays at least two sports and are good at them. Plus, we have some that play three, and are good at all three. We have an nice athletic team that doesn't want to fail."

Blue Ridge 3, Forest City 0

Connor Cranage had 21 kills to lead top-seeded Blue Ridge to a 3-0 win over Forest City to open defense of its District 2 Class 2A boys volleyball championship on Thursday.

Nick Laude added eight kills and seven aces, Morgan Thomas added eight kills and Carson Gallagher had 40 assists to lead the Raiders, who host the semifinal on Tuesday.

They play in the second game of the doubleheader against No. 4 Dallas (13-5).

Forest City (5-6) 15 5 14

Blue Ridge (17-1) 25 25 25

Mountain View 3, Crestwood 2

Isaac Drake had 24 kills and 10 blocks to lead third-seeded Mountain View past No. 6 Crestwood in a quarterfinal match.

Ryan Supancik had 36 assists, eight blocks, and six kills, and Joey Heller had eight kills for the Eagles, who advanced to play Holy Redeemer in the first game of a semifinal doubleheader at Blue Ridge on Tuesday.

Crestwood (9-7) 20 25 25 28 11

Mountain View (14-5) 25 20 19 28 15

DISTRICT 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS

CLASS 2A

Quarterfinals

Mountain View 3, Crestwood 2

Holy Redeemer 3, West Scranton 0

Dallas 3, Berwick 1

Blue Ridge 3, Forest City 0

Tuesday's semifinals

at Blue Ridge High School

3-Mountain View (14-5) vs. 2-Holy Redeemer (15-2), 5 p.m.

4-Dallas (13-5) vs. 1-Blue Ridge (17-1), 30 minutes after end of first game

Final, May 23

Semifinal winners at Scranton High School

CLASS 3A

Quarterfinals

Hazleton Area 3, Wyoming Valley West 0

Abington Heights 3, Scranton 1

Monday's semifinals

at Delaware Valley High School

3-Hazleton Area (9-4) vs. 2-Wilkes-Barre Area (15-3), 5 p.m.

4-Abington Heights (10-6) vs. 1-Delaware Valley (12-3), 30 minutes after first match

Final, May 23

Semifinal winners at Scranton High School, 5 p.m.