Spring-Ford holds serves to top Strath Haven

ROYERSFORD » As Alexis Palucki was lining up her serves during the third set Tuesday night, the last thing on her mind was the severity of each moment.

“I just thought to myself, ‘Let’s just serve to (spot) No. 5,’” she said of the defensive position she was aiming for on the court. “I was keeping all my serves away from the libero and keeping the ball up high.”

The Spring-Ford senior led the Rams on a 12-point service run during the momentous third set that paved the way to her team’s 3-1 win over Strath Haven during the opening round of the District night.

With the win, No. 11-seeded SpringFord (14-6 overall) advances to the second round of districts for the second straight year. The Rams will travel to face No. 6 Abington Thursday night in the second round.

Strath Haven’s season comes to a close at 8-8 overall as the No. 22-seeded Panthers lost their district opener for the second straight season.

Spring-Ford opened up the match with a commanding 25-14 win in a first set that never felt close. The sneaky-athletic Strath Haven team then came storming back in the second set where the Panthers jumped out to a 5-0 lead and rode it out to a 25-22 win. 1 Class 4A playoffs Tuesday

The third set looked to be more of the same as Strath Haven jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Only that’s when Palucki toed the service line.

Her tide-turning service-run erased the early six-point deficit and gave the Rams a 13-7 lead that they’d ride out to a 25-15 set win. Spring-Ford then closed out the match with a 25-19 win in the fourth set.

Strath Haven head coach Kevin Haney was quick to note that the Panthers’ inexperience in the big game may have proven the difference.

“We have a good core of seniors, but we also have a lot of younger players,” he said. “The inexperience of being in a big-time situation kind of showed on our end.

“Through Game 1, we kind of got acclimated with what was going on. Game 2 we were able to build on that. We just couldn’t keep it going the whole way.”

For Strath Haven, Ellie Fisher had 15 kills and 12 digs while Abby Clarke posted 12 kills and 20 digs. Emma Golato posted 34 assists and six digs while Gabby McGinn had 13 digs and four kills.

“It’s been a growth experience all year long for our team,” said Haney. “We’ve been finding ways to get out here and compete — the season really got a lot better as we went along.

“We’ve got some younger girls, some freshmen and sophomores who picked up a lot of good experience this season.”