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WILKES-BARRE — Mike Gatusky called it frustration.
Chris Mennig said there were nervous moments, playing in front of a nice crowd with television cameras capturing every move.
After a tight opening set, Holy Redeemer showed how dominating it can be – and those two hitters helped fuel the powerful attack.
Gatusky had a match-high 18 kills and Mennig chipped in with seven spikes in the final two sets, leading the Royals to a 3-0 victory over North Pocono in a battle of Wyoming Valley Conference boys’ volleyball titans.
Match scores were 25-23, 25-12 and 25-16.
Redeemer (6-0) – which already has victories over top WVC teams Crestwood and Greater Nanticoke Area – is in the driver’s seat toward another conference crown and a possible top seed in the upcoming district 2A postseason. The loss is the first for North Pocono in 2015.
“For me, personally, I was frustrated because I felt that we could play 10 times better,” Gatusky said. “We played real well at a tournament over the weekend, and I think that first set really motivated us. We wanted to play to our potential”
After the first set, few probably saw what would happen.
Pocono and Redeemer traded shots. The Trojans had a four-point lead and effectively used a double-block to bother the Royal attackers.
Rarely do you see a set where Redeemer has more than a handful of attack errors, but the Royals had seven with three violations whistled in between.
Mennig’s cross-court kill tied the score at 23-23 in the first set. A Trojan attack error gave Redeemer a 24-23 edge, its first lead since 11-10. A middle spike by Gatusky ended the set at 25-23.
Just like that, Redeemer was off and running.
“I got off to a slow start,” Mennig said. “And when you start off slow, you have to build up and that’s what I think I did. I think that we settled in after that first set and played Holy Redeemer volleyball. We always pick each other up, and I just want to help my team out the best that I can.”
The second and third sets were a textbook on volleyball fundamentals.
Mike Conlon spread the ball around to four attackers – Gatusky, Mennig, Adam Zipko and John Carr.
Kenny Rexer and Alex Kotch were pinpoint behind the service line and in the back row.
North Pocono’s double-block was figured out by attackers. And with the middle of the court wide open, it opened up floaters over the defenders and timely one-overs by Conlon, Redeemer’s setter.
Basically, the Royals were firing and Pocono didn’t have an answer.
“I changed my lineup a little bit, and I never should have,” NP head coach Jud Holdredge said. “That was my fault, and I told the kids that I felt I blew this game for them. We knew that we could play with them. I told the kids this one was my fault. It hurts.”
Redeemer jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the second set on Kotch’s serve, and scored eight of the final 11 points en route to a 25-12 win.
Rexer one-upped his teammate with a 7-0 run to start the third; a set the Royals led by 13 at one point.
“The first set, we kind of went vanilla running a lot of high balls,” Redeemer head coach Jack Kablick said. “They did a better job with the block than we expected. The second and third set, we really kicked in our offense. I thought our servers did a great job hitting spots, and that really helped us. And our four attackers are starting to get confidence, and our setter is starting to get confidence in all of those kids.”
Conlon and Carr each added five kills in the win, while Rexer had five aces.
Matt Morris, who had back-to-back blocks in the opening set to help build that four-point Pocono lead, finished with seven kills and five digs.
“It’s possible we could see them down the line, maybe in a district final or semifinal,” Kablick said. “I like the position we are in. It was a great win for our program.”
Holy Redeemer 3, North Pocono 0
N `23`12`16
H `25`25`25
NP Leaders: Matt Morris 7 kills, 4 blocks, 5 digs; Nick Linko 5 digs; Sean Coles 9 points.
Redeemer Leaders: Mike Gatusky 18 kills, 1 ace; Chris Mennig 7 kills; Mike Conlon 5 kills, 32 assists.