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DALLAS — Berwick hung around.
The Bulldogs didn’t fold after a lopsided loss in the first set. Never let their heads hang after another 11-point setback in the third.
What Sarah Warner’s club did was grind it out – and take advantage of every Dallas error.
Four straight points on Ethan Potter’s serve to start the fifth set gave the Bulldogs an early 4-0 lead and Harsh Patel’s soft floater right near the sideline proved to be the game-winner as Berwick left Dallas with a 3-2 Wyoming Valley Conference victory in boys’ volleyball on Wednesday.
Match scores were 14-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-23 and 15-13.
The victory was Berwick’s first of the 2015 season, while Dallas falls to 0-3.
“It’s great for the kids,” Warner said. “We started off with two tough opponents in North Pocono and Nanticoke. It’s hard to come out with very little experience and play those teams because they are two of the best in the league.
“Our kids just held their composure tonight, which was phenomenal to see. I told them that we had to stay away from those long runs because that hurt us in our first two games. You give up seven or eight points in a row, and you are out of a set that maybe you could have won. Tonight, we didn’t give too many points away at one time.”
Sure, it would have been easy to hang their heads.
Berwick, an inexperienced group still trying to find its true identity, watched as Ryan Colleran and Steve Darling put together an 11-1 run to end the first.
Then, the Bulldogs gave up another huge spurt, an 8-0 run on Eric Pincofski’s serve in the third.
But sometimes, if you hang around, good things happen.
Especially with Potter behind the service line.
His 4-0 run to start the second set gave the Bulldogs just enough as a late kill by Trevon Simmons gave the Bulldogs the 25-23 win.
The sophomore setter, with his team’s back up against the wall, was clutch again in the fourth.
With the match tied at 23, Potter scored two points – both Dallas miscues – sending the match into a decisive final stanza.
Then came his big run to start the fifth set, putting momentum squarely on the Bulldogs’ bench.
“I was just trying to target one point on the court and let it go,” Potter said. “This one was big for our confidence. We have been fighting hard and battling with most teams, and we would sometimes stumble. It is just good to come back and get a victory.”
Dallas had a chance to crawl back in.
Behind the play of sophomore talent Jared Thompson, who had four kills and three blocks in the final stanza, the Mountaineers knotted the set at 9-9. But in the race to 15, it was Berwick that used a 6-4 run to close out the match – thanks to two big hits by Patel and Joseph Norce’s key middle block.
“So much of this game is mental,” Warner said. “If you can just hang in there, you can pull off a tough win. We had a good serving night. We didn’t miss many, and I thought each kid was aggressive. That was a big part of our team’s success.”
Offensively, Dallas dominated.
Thompson had 20 kills, and senior Brian Drouse had 16 spikes and seven blocks.
The Mountaineers’ biggest problem? Consistency.
Nick Diaco’s club handed Berwick 61 points in the way of violations, attack errors and service miscues.
And they were at the worst possible times – like the two straight miscues to end the fourth set; an attack error that sailed wide and a net violation.
In the fifth set, Dallas gave its opponent eight of the 15 points.
“You really can’t make excuses. We just didn’t play well,” Diaco said. “You can’t even blame inexperience because we work on these things in practice. It just comes down to discipline. We weren’t disciplined enough. This will be a tough one to push out of their minds because they know they could have won this, and they just couldn’t get it done today.”
Holy Redeemer 3, Hanover Area 0
The Royals won by scores of 25-12, 25-9, 25-12 paced by the play of Mike Gatusky, who had 15 kills and three blocks.
John Carr (11 kills, 3 blocks), Mike Conlon (13 points, 2 kills, 28 assists), Ken Rexer (22 points, 2 digs) and Adam Zipko 5 (kills, 3 blocks) also helped Redeemer to the sweep.
Derek Brodginski (3 kills, 4 digs, 1 block) and Dylan Luzny (4 kills, 3 assists, 2 blocks) paced Hanover Area.
Nanticoke 3, Crestwood 0
Nanticoke swept the Comets 25-15, 26-24, 25-19. Ed Lukowski had 31 assists, three digs and two kills.
Robert Burke added eight kills, two blocks and two digs for the Trojans. Matt Winters had eight kills and five blocks.
Chet Manship had 16 kills, nine points and six digs for Crestwood. Corey Manship had 15 kills, three points and two blocks. Chris Dexter posted 34 assists and three digs.
Berwick 3, Dallas 2
B `14`25`14`25`15
D `25`23`25`23`13
Berwick Leaders: Trevon Simmons 11 kills; Ethan Potter 4 aces, 10 assists; Joseph Norce 5 kills, 1 ace.
Dallas Leaders: Jared Thompson 20 kills, 2 aces, 4 blocks; Brian Drouse 16 kills, 7 blocks, 1 assist; Steve Darling 3 kills, 2 aces, 35 assists.