The Whitehall’s boys volleyball season ended with a loss to Penn Manor in the state playoffs, closing the book on another successful year.

They lost in four sets to the Comets who were the Lancaster-Lebanon Section One champs. Last season the Comets lost in the 3A state finals to Hempfield, and had a roster containing many of those players who part of that state runner-up team.

Penn Manor won the first set 25-18, but the Zephyrs bounced back to take the second set, 25-19. With the match now tied at a set apiece, the Zephs were looking to ride that momentum in the third set, but the Comets had other ideas and won the next two sets to advance to the next round.

Head coach George Cowitch said that they had a pretty good scouting report on the Comets, and were prepared to exploit some favorable matches in their meeting, but it all went awry when Penn Manor came out with a different lineup in that first set. However, the Comets switched their alignment for the second set, and Cowitch said that decision was more in line with their preparation, paving the way for the Zephs to even the match at a set apiece.

From that point, Cowitch said that it was a chess match, with both teams looking to gain the advantage over the remaining sets. He said that Penn Manor’s ability to dig a lot of balls and set up their offense from those opportunities turned the tide. That was reflected in the stats. Dan Fry had 18 kills; Rueben Kemrer had 46 assists for the Comets. Evan Ressler had 23 digs.

“They just played really good defense,” said Cowitch.

He believed that his team was just as good if not better than the Comets. All the games were close, but the Comets ultimately found a way to win.

“We just weren’t good enough that night,” he said.

With the exit, the Zephs finished the year 19-5. They were also runners-up to Emmaus in both the league and district playoffs.

It was an extremely successful season for the Zephs who just happened to be in the same division, conference and district as Emmaus, who lost in the PIAA semifinals to eventual champs Central York. Any other year and Cowitch believed that this team could have claimed two titles.

“Reaching the two finals is awesome,” said Cowitch. “It’s so hard to get there. The boys were excited to get to where they got to.”

The loss marks the end of some sterling careers at Whitehall. Logan McGinley, a four-year starter, surpassed the 1,000 kill mark this season, while setter Joey Maamari was also part of that 1,000 club, his specialty being assists. McGinley was an EPC first team all-star selection, while Maamari was tapped for the second team.

They also lose libero Kyle Sayre who was Digmaster General, as well as frontcourt smashers Nick Herman and Devin Martinez.

Seniors Austin Dorward and junior Alvarado-Rosario, also departing this season

While that’s a substantial loss to graduation, with many of those members multiyear starters, the Zephs have a boatload of talent still on board. Sophomores Ethan Parvel and Joe Herman were integral parts of the team, and their junior varsity team just completed an undefeated season.

Other returning varsity players include Sami Barhoum, Aziz Atiyeh, Alexander Khouri, Richard Melosky, Dylan McGinley and Alex Rummel.

Cowitch said that having a strong unit in place that has already jelled together, means that they can slide into their roles on the varsity that much quicker. He said that with a whole class like that arriving together, they’ll be able to comfortably move into a spot.

“I’m really excited,” said Cowitch. “We hope not to miss a beat.”

Sometimes when a programs suffers that many losses there may be a drop off.

“That’s not the case here,” said Cowitch. “We don’t have to rebuild. We’ll just reload and be ready for next year.”