AJ Sports

November 18, 2009

Lady Comets volleyball team goes down swinging

By Don McGlynn dmcglynn@theabingtonjournal.com
Reporter / Photographer

The Abington Heights High School girls volleyball team fell 3-0 to Hatboro-Horsham in the first round of the PIAA – Class AAA girls volleyball state playoffs held Tuesday, Nov. 10, at Nanticoke Area High School.

The Lady Comets entered the game after clearing their tallest hurdle of the past few years, which was Delaware Valley.

After facing the Warriors three years in a row, Abington claimed the District II Class AAA volleyball title by defeating its long-standing rival 3-1 on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The team’s enthusiasm was high as they entered Tuesday’s match-up for a chance to attend the state tournament on Tuesday, but Hatboro-Horsham ended their season defeating the Lady Comets 25-12, 25-11 and 25-10.

“That’s a very good team that we played tonight,” said head coach Dan Phillips. “That’s how we want to play our offense. Once you have that quick attack, it frees up the outsides… They had great ball control, they serve very well. Tonight they played better than we did.”

Despite the loss, the girls’ enthusiasm never dropped, even on the last point, of the final game, the team could still be heard from the bleachers cheering each other on and trying to turn things around.

“They never gave up,” said Phillips. “Obviously we got frustrated, but even at the end I think they were up on us like 23-4 and we fought back to bring it into the double digits.”

Phillips added that while the team would have liked to compete in the state tournament, he is hoping this loss doesn’t overshadow what he feels was a stellar season with a Lady Comets finish of 13-4 and district title.

He feels what the team has accomplished this year is a testament to its talent and raises the bar and expectations to get back and compete next year for another shot at the state title.

“There’s a lot of very good AAA teams,” said Phillips. “I graduate five seniors, so we’ll see in the off-season if people do some work to fill those shoes, but I feel can confident we can make it back.”

For the Comets, Meghan Fraley finished the game with 10 assists, five digs, one kill and one block; Nichole Heil finished with seven digs, five points and one ace; Shelby Morgan finished with four kills, one block and one dig and Maggie Fruehan finished with three kills, five points, one ace and one dig.

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