SMYRNA — Wilmington Charter came out firing in the DIAA boys volleyball championship match on May 23 at Smyrna High School, opening up a 7-0 lead over Salesianum before some of the fans had even reached their seats. The Sals, however, took over after that, overpowering a talented Force team, 3-0, for the program’s first state championship.
Set scores were 25-17, 25-16 and 25-17. With the sweep, Salesianum completed the season without dropping a set in 16 regular-season matches and four more in the state tournament.
“It wasn’t perfect, but we did not lose a set all year. That part was perfect,” Salesianum coach Jeff Gricol said.
One first for the Sals this season was winning an out-of-state tournament. Salesianum captured the Kennett Classic in March.
“That kind of set the tone for the season,” Gricol said.
Junior Reid Maas said the Sals made some mistakes in the early going against Charter, “and we knew we just had to come back and fire it right at them, and just take our time and breathe for a second, just reset. Once we tied it up, we knew we were good.”
Maas untied the set, giving the Sals an 11-10 lead with an attack from the back line, and after a hitting error on Charter, Christian Sullivan blasted a kill to put the Sals ahead, 13-10. Their attackers kept the Force defense busy. Popp sent it to set point with a bomb, and a Charter violation ended the first set.
Salesianum established a small lead in the second, and they were able to keep the Force from getting too close. The big hitters — Andrew Mahoney, Popp, Sullivan, Maas and Dylan Ortega — were busy, and a block from Sullivan midway through gave the Sals a 14-9 lead. Charter closed to within four at 16-12 on a block by Ido Rosenblatt, but Salesianum responded by scoring nine of the final 13 points of the set. Another Popp kill got it to set point, and this time, the Sals won on a service winner.
Wilmington Charter took a 7-6 lead in the third, but Salesianum was not about to let this one go to a fourth set. They went on a 10-2 run to take a 21-12 lead, with Maas serving up consecutive aces to close out that run. As Gricol subbed in various players, Popp finished his night with a final kill for point 23.
Senior Declan McDonnell, fresh into the game, picked up a quick kill to send it to match point. Charter saved one before Colin McLaughlin, on the 34th set of the evening from Ronan Landis, split the defense to clinch the championship.
All season, and continuing throughout the state tournament, the Sals got contributions from all over the roster. Maas said they knew the team was talented; the key was using it correctly and not trying to make every play one for the highlight reel.
“Our coach always says it doesn’t need to be an exclamation point, just a period,” Maas said. “We don’t need to get the ‘oohs’ and ‘woahs’ from the crowd. A point’s a point.”
Popp finished with 13 kills and 12 digs, but he watched the final point from the bench. He was happy to see his teammates get a chance to play in the final.
“Even though some of us are on the court all the time and some of us aren’t, it’s still a family and we still love each other so much. That’s what allows us to work so well together,” he said.
Gricol said he is fortunate to have so many options on his roster.
“I think that’s the big plus to our team,” he said. “Everybody does their job, and everybody contributes.”
Landis, one of five seniors, said Gricol deserves as much credit as anyone.
“He’s been the man these past four seasons. I really appreciate all the work he’s done, and to give him the state chip means everything,” he said.
Maas and Mahoney had seven kills and nine digs. Libero Aiden Dietrich was solid defensively, leading the way with 28 digs, while Dylan Ortega was a wall on defense, finishing with six blocks.
Photos by Mike Lang.
