WILMINGTON — Archmere opened its boys volleyball season at perennial contender Wilmington Charter on March, 23, and while the Auks hung tough with the Force, Charter’s height and experience eventually carried the day. The Force swept the Auks, 3-0, with set scores of 25-12, 25-19, and 25-17.
Charter’s big hitters, Mike Johnson and Ido Rosenblatt, helped get Charter out to a small lead in the first set. Johnson started with a blast, and Christopher Zhaung followed with an ace. Johnson added a few more kills along the way, as did Rosenblatt, but after a block by Archmere’s Joshua Hanson, Charter’s lead was just 11-7.
Zhuang ended up back on serve, and he and Rosenblatt led the way as the lead grew. Rohit Karthik had a block to send it to set point, and an error ended the set.
Robinson started the second set with a block, but the Auks did a better job handling the Force’s attack. Charter took a 6-2 lead, but the Auks got back to within one at 7-6 on a kill from Waden Chen, and they tied it on a Force error. Archmere took a 13-10 lead with a 5-0 run midway through the set and were tied as late as 16-16 following another Chen kill.
Archmere cut a late Force lead to one at 20-19, but Charter finished the second with a 5-0 run. That included another blast by Johnson.
Archmere was competitive again in the closing set. Aidan Frenck opened the set with an ace, and they rebounded later on after the Force had taken a 9-7 lead to go back on top, 12-11, after Hanson won a 50/50 ball at the net. The play of the match happened shortly thereafter, as Liam Oster chased a ball down near the scorer’s table, bumped it blindly over his head and over the net at a sharp angle, and the ball fell. That put the Auks on top, 13-12, and prompted a Charter timeout.
The Force put the set and match out of reach with a 9-0 run, with Johnson on the serve and at one point delivering consecutive aces. Rosenblatt ended the activities with a back-line smash.
Rosenblatt led the Force with 15 kills, while Johnson had 14 kills and six digs. Charter (1-0) hosts Newark Charter on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
For the Auks, Gabriel Candeloro had six kills and nine digs. Archmere (0-1) is home on Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Aspira.
Photos by Mike Lang.
