Crusaders sweep past Carroll
It didn’t matter whether it was a Lansdale Catholic player or coach speaking. The words stayed the same.
Those words, not so coincidentally, matched the ones HPbODzRQHd DW WKH bRWWRP RI their black warmup shirts, a permanent reminder of the history the Crusaders set out to make when they took on defending league champion Archbishop Carroll in D CDWKROLF LHDJuH VHPLfiQDO Thursday night. Step Up. Step up to make school history by making it to the 3CL fiQDO IRU WKH fiUVW WLPH. Step up as a nod to all of the previous teams that fell short in their quest to beat this edition to that morsel of history. Step up to give themselves a chance at winning the CathROLF LHDJuH IRU WKH fiUVW WLPH.
Step up, LC did. Buoyed by 11 kills from Brynne Taylor and 11 digs and 10 kills IURP AOLFLD .UDdzLQVNL, WKH No. 2 Crusaders swept away the No. 3 Patriots, 3-0, by scores of 25-14, 25-21 and 25-22, to book their ticket to 6uQdDy QLJKW’V fiQDO DJDLQVW No. 1 Cardinal O’Hara, a 3-0 winner over No. 4 Archbishop Wood.
“It’s really great,” Taylor said. “Our team worked so hard to get here, and we pulled through.”
Pulled through might be an understatement. The Crusaders dominated from the bHJLQQLQJ, uVLQJ WKHLU VLzH disparity to bully around the smaller Patriots. Taylor, the runnerup in PCL MVP voting, was a big reason why. The 11 kills alone represented a solid night, but it was the fact that LC went to her every time it needed a
big point that made them all the more impressive. Taylor knew that if she wanted to help the Crusaders make history, she’d have to play a major role.
“, GHfiQLWHOy WRRN WKDW as an advantage,” Taylor said. “We all called each other and let each other know that we were looking for each other. I think the height advantage helped a lot (Thursday). We had a ORW RI FRQfiGHQFH FRPLQJ out and we were just relaxed. We didn’t have any pressure in this game, (Carroll) had all the pressure. We’ve never been to the PCL championships and everything was on the line for them to go.”
Kerry Duggan’s seven kills rounded out LC’s diverse offensive attack, while Ellie Greenhalgh paired eight digs with three aces.
On the other hand, this was a far cry from the experienced Patriots team that claimed the league championship a year ago when it knocked off O’Hara. With only two seniors, Carroll’s lack of experience showed a little bit, but the Patriots also showed off plenty of reasons why they’ll be a contender again next year. 6RSKRPRUH 6DUDK LDyfiHOG was her usual superb self with nine kills and 11 digs, while Emily McCann had 12 assists, six kkills and six digs, but Carroll could never put together a consistent string of points to chip away at the Crusaders’ leads.
“We just weren’t on our toes,” Sam Conboy said. “We didn’t have the energy. I think everyone was thinking too much and we just were all nervous, and we just didn’t play our game.”
LDyfiHOG, ZKR PLJKW KDvH been the third-best player on the Patriots as a freshman when they made it to the state tournament behind All-Delco’s Marina Sharkey and Rachel Pearson, is a big reason why Patriots coach Tim Storti can start imagining what he has in the future. Her court IQ and athleticism helped Carroll keep things interesting for a while, and she’ll be part of the foundation of a team that can build upon its loss.
“I think it’s a good experience,”Layfield said. “We all got to play, we all got to learn. We only lose two seniors, so we have almost the same team. This is practice for the next year.”
Fortunately for LC, though, it still has something to practice for this year.