BRANDYWINE HUNDRED – Salesianum’s volleyball team lost one match during the regular season, and now the Sals will have the chance to gain a measure of revenge on a bigger stage. The Sals swept Wilmington Charter, 3-0, in the semifinal of the boys’ state tournament on May 20; set scores were 25-15, 25-23, and 25-16.
The win set up a rematch with Indian River later this week. The Indians, the top seed in the 10-team bracket, defeated Conrad, 3-0, in the other semifinal on Monday in Dagsboro. IR will try to complete an undefeated season against No. 2 Sallies, a team they beat, 3-1, on April 9.
The Sals, who moved the game to Brandywine High School since their own gym was not available, opened up a 19-10 lead in the first set. Consecutive errors by the Force put the Sals up 11, and another unforced error on Charter ended the set.
The teams put on quite a show in set number two. The Force got off to a 3-0 start, but a kill from Matthew Watmuff and a Michael Stenetz ace helped the Sals get on to the right track. Salesianum ended up scoring seven straight to take a four-point lead. But Charter, behind an ace from Max Ufberg and a stuff from Tomasz Mroz, climbed back into it.
The Sals used their height to score on a couple of blocks, keeping the team’s lead in the three- to four-point range, but Andrew Furman’s left-handed kill after a long rally brought the Force to within one at 19-18. Charter tied it at 22 on a block of their own, but an overpass by the Force proved costly when Patrick Williamson smashed an overpass down to restore the Sals’ lead. Christian Valdes tied it one more time with a kill that ticked the back line, but two hitting errors by the Force put Sallies over the top.
The Force hung around for a while in the third, but the Sals had too much.
Final statistics were not available. The date, location and time of the final has not been announced.
