Central Dauphin 3, Chambersburg 1

Of note: The Rams swept the third and fourth games 25-23 to close out the match ... Justin Baer had 13 kills and 16 digs for the Trojans and Kyle Diller passed out 43 assists ... CD got 21 kills from Jon Lutz.

Records: The Trojans (8-5, 4-3 MPC) travel to CD East on Thursday, 7 ... The Rams are 13-0, 8-0 MPC.

By JOEL RINEER

Staff writer

It was a match that left you wanting more.

Facing unbeaten Central Dauphin in front of a raucous home crowd Tuesday night, the Chambersburg boys volleyball team played like it belonged with the No. 7-ranked Class AAA team in the state.

But the Rams held their poise on the key points, pulling out a white-knuckle 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-23) Mid Penn Commonwealth Division victory at the CASHS gym that cemented a league title for Central Dauphin.

The Trojans now need to win their last two league games -- at home Thursday vs. CD East and Monday vs. Cumberland Valley -- to have a chance to make the Mid Penn Conference playoffs.

Outside hitter Justin Baer popped 13 kills and had 16 digs and setter Kyle Diller passed out 43 assists. Freshman Ray Frazer also chipped in with 11 kills.

"I disappointed tonight because I thought we should have beaten them," Trojan coach Kirk Crouse said.

"We needed to communicate better," Baer said. "When we do that we can't be stopped, but half the time we don't talk and that's when we hit a slump."

"We just didn't call

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the ball tonight," Crouse said. "The entire season that's been my talk in timeouts and we're still not doing it. When you get a good team like Central Dauphin that serves tough, they'll pick you apart."

Trailing 24-19 in the fourth game, Chambersburg made one last push, as two CD errors, a block kill by Hoby Carson and Diller and a putaway by Carson pulled the Trojans within 24-23. On the ensuing point, play went back-and-forth before Diller tried to sneak the ball over on the second touch.

The ball caught the tape and Central Dauphin, behind 21 kills from 6-5 junior Jon Lutz, survived.

CD coach John Barrick said, "We want to thank Chambersburg -- this is exactly the type of crowd we need to play in front of. We have big aspirations this season and we need to hear the noise like this. This is what it's going to be like in the playoffs."

Chambersburg fed off the crowd support early, breaking a 21-21 tie by scoring four of the final five points of the first game. Frazer had a kill during the spurt, Josh Leedy served up an ace and Nathan Sollenberger put the game away with a powerful spike.

The high didn't last long, however, as the Rams proved they were battle-tested by rolling to a 25-16 game-two victory.

For the first half of the match, Trojan middle blocker Tyler McCoy (12 kills) hurt the Rams with the quick set. Central Dauphin closed that up down the stretch.

"We moved our outside block in and that seemed to slow them down," Barrick said. "They are so good at it and it comes so quick, we needed to take that away and make their other kids beat us."

Crouse said, "When our passing is off, it's hard to keep running that. Central Dauphin has a big front row and when you have a small team like us, we rely on speed and accuracy with our ball control."

The third game proved to be pivotal, as Chambersburg scored three straight points with score tied 20-20. The Trojans looked to be on the verge of pushing Central Dauphin to the brink.

But they committed three straight errors and a block kill by CD's Mike Kobucar suddenly had the Rams in front 24-23. On the prior play, Crouse was given a yellow card for disputing a call.

With a yellow card, a coach is required to stay seated on the bench for the rest of that game. After the 24th point, Crouse inadvertently stood to talk to his players and was hit with a red card, giving the final point to Central Dauphin.

"Like I told them afterward, I feel like we're a better team physically than Central Dauphin," Crouse said. "But they beat us tonight mentally. That's why they are undefeated in the Mid Penn."

Baer said, "We're disappointed we lost. Everybody thinks we could have pulled it out, but also we improved on some things against a good opponent."

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Joel Rineer may be reached at 262-4819 or jrineer@publicopinionnews.com.

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Cent. Dauphin 3, Chambersburg 1

First game: Chbg 25-22. Second: CD 25-16. Third: CD 25-23. Fourth: CD 25-23.

Chambersburg stat leaders -- Kills: Justin Baer 13, Tyler McCoy 12, Ray Frazer 11, Nathan Sollenberger 8, Kyle Diller 4. Blocks: Baer 1, Diller 1, McCoy 1. Assists: Diller 43. Digs: Baer 16, Diller 12, Spencer Taylor 7, Frazer 6, Josh Leedy 5, Colby Stouffer 4, Hoby Carson 3. Aces: Leedy 1, Baer 1.

JV: Chambersburg 2, Central Dauphin 0.