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Berks Catholic knocks York Suburban out of title game


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LANDISVILLE - It was almost as if Berks Catholic didn't want to let York Suburban — or anyone else in the gym — forget it is a two-time defending district champion.

The Saints left no doubt early in each of the games it won against York Suburban on Thursday night. The Saints are headed back to a District 3 championship after a 25-20, 25-15, 20-25, 27-25 victory against the Trojans in a District 3 Class 3A semifinal at Hempfield High School.

York Suburban, which had already clinched a berth in the state tournament, drops into the Class 3A third-place match, where it will play the West York/Palmyra loser at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Late in Game 4, York Suburban looked like the team with momentum. And when the match was on the line, the umpire made calls disputed by both sides. Berks Catholic stopped play at 23-23 to pull a player off the bench to rotate in. A couple points later, Berks Catholic celebrated a point only to realize York Suburban had been awarded the point. Then on the match-winning kill, on a hard-driven attack by Berks Catholic the umpire whistled a lift or double-hit despite a dig by York Suburban's libero.

"This was down from the way that we had been playing," Suburban coach Sonia Guyer said. "I’m always proud of the girls, it’s hard when you dig a hole for yourself to come back out of the hole.

"But they're the type of team when (their) backs (are) against the wall, they are going to see it through."

READ MORE VOLLEYBALL: Title tilt lined up for York Catholic, Delone Catholic 

Suburban's Miranda Kauffman had 20 kills, and Ali Reinecker added 15 kills. Setter Georgia Dumars had 41 assists. Berks Catholic's Michaela Dungan had 15 kills and Caitlin Crespo added 13.

The Saints let the match look easy in the first two games.

Out to a 9-1 lead in Game 1, the Saints coasted.

Out to an 11-2 run to start Game 2, they breezed to another win.

Then everything changed. Game 3 didn't hold the exact form, with the Saints' early lead only running to 4-0 before York Suburban snapped out of its funk to score the next five points in succession. The Trojans won the back-and-forth affair 25-20.

Berks Catholic was back to its old tricks in Game 4, jumping out to a 7-2 edge and then a 12-6 advantage before Suburban made it interesting