No Need To Panic
CRANBERRY TWP — Members of the Knoch volleyball team stood in a huddle after dropping the first set against Elizabeth Forward and shared a simple message.
“Trust each other,” junior libero Kenzie Kerkan said.
Knoch was standing on unfamiliar ground at that moment. The defending PIAA 3A champions and winners of their last 46 matches faced a deficit after squandering a 14-7 lead in a 28-26 first-set loss.
But Knoch regrouped to win the next three sets, including another tense affair in the fourth, to emerge with a 26-28, 25-20, 25-12, 29-27 victory over the Warriors in the first round of the PIAA playoffs Tuesday at North Catholic High School.
“I'm so proud,” Kerkan said. “We talk so much about not getting down and never giving up. It shows we can go for long stretches and not get down. We lost a game and we came back stronger.”
Kerkan had a hand — literally — in helping the Knights to a win in what was one of their stiffest tests of the season.
Kerkan slid her hand under two hits for digs in the match, the second leading to a key point for Knoch in the decisive fourth set.
Knoch calls them “pancakes” and when a player gets one, Knights' coach Diane Geist makes pancakes for the team.
Kerkan is single-handedly feeding her team.
“It's just a natural instinct,” Kerkan said. “Even in practice we just talk all the time about never letting a ball touch the floor.”
Knoch (23-0) looked as though it would have no trouble dispatching Elizabeth Forward early.
But the Warriors stormed back after falling behind by seven, eventually tying the first set at 23-23.
Despite Knoch breaking Elizabeth Forward on three set-points, the Warriors eventually won.
“I knew they were a really good blocking team and really good hitters,” Geist said. “I was expecting this. I was not surprised.”
Knoch had trouble with the Warriors' middles, who clogged up customary hitting lanes for the Knights' two big attackers, Kennedy Christy and Hannah Rowe.
The strategy was to hit to the corners to avoid the middles, but that didn't always work for Knoch, either.
“When you play a good team, they make you do things that make you not play as well,” Geist said. “It was tough. I'm just glad it worked out — I didn't want to go to a fifth game with these guys.”
Neither did the players, who overcame a 22-18 deficit in the fourth set to outlast gritty Elizabeth Forward, which was playing in the first state playoff match in school history.“We didn't always play our best game tonight,” Geist said, “but people came through when we needed them.”Like Kerkan, who had 15 digs, but also kept points alive with her reflexes and knack of keeping the ball off the floor.Rowe also had a monster night with 17 kills, eight blocks and 21 digs.Her block put an end to the marathon fourth set.“We never lose faith in each other, but we have to keep pushing,” Rowe said. “We just can't lose focus and we have to stay calm. Sometimes we get too tense.”Christy was also big for Knoch with 14 kills and 19 digs.Knoch will play District 3's Dover Saturday in the next round at a site and time to be determined.“They dug deep tonight,” Geist said. “All we talked about was trust each other and trust yourself.”
