SCRANTON — As Abington Heights boys volleyball players gathered for a group hug after receiving their individual medals and team plaque, parents and relatives captured the moment on their cellphone cameras for posterity.
First-year head coach Jesse Edwards watched the joyous celebration a bump pass away, sporting a toothy grin while exchanging back slaps, high fives and handshakes with his assistant coaches, fans and other well-wishers.
Their Comets were District 2 Class 3A champions for the second consecutive year, thanks to a nearly perfect performance in a 3-0 sweep of top-seeded Hazleton Area on Thursday evening at Scranton High School. Set scores of 25-17, 25-19 and 25-18 probably didn’t reflect how much the No. 2 seed dominated play for extended stretches, basically from start to finish.
No wonder everyone in Navy blue and white was downright giddy.
“I feel great,” said Edwards, whose team will play host to the District 11 runner-up in the opening round of the PIAA tournament on June 2. “The whole season we had some flaws here and there, but today was the total package through all phases of the game: defense, offense. Our passing was crisp … and our serving was tough. … I’m just happy they brought it all together at the right time.”
The Comets (14-5) didn’t trail in either the second or third sets. In the opener, a couple hitting errors put them in an early 3-1 hole, before Nolan Moore rattled off eight straight service points to send Abington Heights on its way. Moore also contributed one kill, Ben Reese and Dan Beck teamed for a block and Beck put down another kill during the run. The Comets also benefited from Hazleton Area’s uncharacteristically sloppy play.
While the Cougars’ nerves may have been a factor in their slow start, the Comets’ ability to offset Hazleton Area’s firepower at the net with a bunch of weapons also gave the Lackawanna League champions the upper hand.
“There’s no one guy on this team that stands out,” Edwards said. “Each game we have a different guy who will step up. I just told them (his players), ‘I don’t even know who leads the team in kills tonight.”
For the record, Beck finished with a team-best 10 kills and four blocks and Reese was right behind with nine kills and three blocks. Chris Cummins added 21 digs; Ryan Horutz contributed 27 assists and 15 digs; and Billy Johnson helped with five blocks.
Johnson’s back-to-back kills gave the Comets their largest lead (15-4) in the first set, ahead of big hits by Reese and Moore later in the set. Kendrick Ortiz’s blast inside the sideline, Jose Saladin’s kill, Tyler Vargas’ well-placed dink and a Sebastian Burgos kill off an Abington Heights block attempt tried to keep the Cougars close, but their deficit was too much to overcome as the Comets took a 1-0 lead in the match.
“There were a lot of rough spots that we weren’t able to bounce back from,” Hazleton Area coach Carmen Ramos said. “I think the kids were visibly nervous in the beginning. By the time they picked it up, it was a little too late for us.”
The Cougars (15-3) stayed at arm’s length over the first half of the second set, until a few Comet mis-hits and aces by Ortiz and Daniel Posada pulled Hazleton Area into ties at 13 and 16. However, Beck delivered two kills from the middle of Abington Heights’ front line to swing momentum back the Comets’ way. Later, Johnson twice found open floor space with his own kills to send his team to a commanding two-set lead.
“I’m just so glad our whole team was able to work together. … I’m so proud of everybody,” Beck said. “We were very confident coming into the match after our (semifinal) win against Wilkes-Barre and we knew we could beat Hazleton if really tried our hardest and played the best we could. I have to give credit to our coaches, who motivated us the best they could on the bus ride here and in the locker room before the game.”
Despite getting the Cougars’ best effort, the Comets didn’t relent in the third and what wound up as the final set. They got three straight service points, including an ace, from Beck at one juncture to snap a 3-all stalemate, before Johnson and Reese kills allowed them to keep Hazleton Area from generating any momentum. Not even Ortiz’s three kills and Gian Rodriguez’s sneaky two dinks could turn the tide the Cougars’ way, as Abington Heights’ lead fluctuated between three and seven points the rest of the way.
The match’s longest rally, which came late in the third set, served as a microcosm for how the evening played out for the two teams. Both made terrific digs and passes to keep the point alive, only to have it end when the Cougars hit the ball into the net.
By then, the Comets were only two points from the victory and accompanying district title. The first came on a Hazleton Area hitting error and the second on Johnson’s successful block.
“I’ve got to give credit to our entire team — Ben Reese, Nolan Moore, Chris Cummins, Chase Beermann, Ryan Horutz,” Beck said. “There are so many good players here. We all work together so well as a team. That’s the beauty of it. There’s not a single player who stands above anybody else.”
That made their postgame group celebration certainly fitting.
“There are some teams with guys that hit 20 kills, but we’ll have multiple guys with eight,” Edwards said. “I love that about our team.
“I was probably more nervous before this match tonight than they were,” he added. “I want them to be loose and have fun, play together, and they did. They’re kids. They just want to go out and play and have a good time.”
After the final point, too.
Meanwhile, the Cougars will have plenty to celebrate in due time as its season ended. They enjoyed their most successful campaign since winning their only district title in 2000.
“I’m so proud of our boys,” Ramos said. “I told them, ‘They have made me the happiest in all my years of coaching. They were the first ones to bring me here (to the championship game) as head coach. To be able to do this after winning only two games last season and flip this program around, I’m so, so proud of them.”
Ortiz totaled 11 kills, 10 digs and four service points in his final match in a Hazleton Area uniform. Posada added 11 digs and five service points, including two aces, and Sebastian Burgos had 17 assists, 10 digs, three service points and two blocks.