The Whitehall Zephyrs assured themselves of a spot in the district final after defeating Parkland, 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-17), in a District XI Class 3A boys volleyball semifinal on May 21 at Catasauqua High School.
“We just played good, Whitehall volleyball, swinging hard and playing hard,” said junior setter Kole Moyer. “I think our whole team believed that we were gonna win. We all had it in our minds that we were gonna win, and we knew we could get them, even after losing to them twice in the season. Even after those times, we felt like we were the better team. We could’ve done better both those games, and today was the day we came out and really showed it.”
The Zephyrs lost to the Trojans in the regular season and in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference final, so to prevent a loss from happening again, the Zephyrs did something different.
“We don’t usually watch the film when we lose to a team and we don’t play well, but we watched it yesterday, and we realized, wait a minute, it wasn’t as much as what they did to us last time as it was what we did,” Cowitch said. “We made some adjustments. We switched our rotation by two moving forward, which got better matchups, and we did a couple things on defense. We asked them to talk. You guys know what the game plan is. Call out what they’re doing.”
Whitehall’s coaches talked too. Fully engaged on every point, Cowitch and his staff gave specific instructions to players at any given time.
“They’re so coachable, and they got themselves to a championship,” Cowitch said.
The Zephyrs never trailed in the first set after an 8-8 tie.
Whitehall middle blocker Cole Rozycki scored four early points, and middle hitter Omari Ratliff extended the lead to 20-13.
Parkland tallied two quick points, leading to some frantic minutes, but with Coltan Tiburzi serving, outside hitter Jordan Haik’s kill won the set for the Zephyrs.
“Coltan got a shot, and he did well, so I’m proud of him for sure,” said Cowitch.
As Whitehall built up points in the second set, frustration mounted for Parkland, and again, Haik scored the set winner.
“That’s demoralizing to the other side,” said Cowitch. “You question yourself. What do I have to do to score a point against these guys? But we asked them in the beginning to give it everything they’ve got regardless of the result and you won’t regret it, and they did.”
Part of Parkland’s frustration stemmed from the way Whitehall put their bodies on the line as Haik flew over the Zephyr bench to attempt a save, and as libero Drew Sodl and opposite hitter Cole Richards kept balls in play from the ground.
“It’s just part of the game,” Richards said. “Doug’s (Barriner, assistant coach) one of the best liberos to come through Whitehall, and we go through diving and working on stuff like that, but it’s just heat-of-the-moment stuff, guys throwing themselves around, and trying to keep the point alive and earn those points. We just kept more discipline on defense, more discipline on offense, kept the ball in play, rallied, and made them earn the points and played harder volleyball.”
After a 3-0 Parkland lead to start the third set, Whitehall went ahead on a rally, 8-7.
Rozycki scored three straight points after which the Zephyrs couldn’t miss.
Ratliff had a nice kill to the corner, and outside hitter Elias Kamhia’s serve barely dropped over the net, catching the Trojans off-guard.
Kamhia followed up with a huge return, and another kill by Ratliff made the score 22-16.
Haik put down the 24th point, and Richards had the game winner from Moyer’s assist when Parkland missed on the block.
“We put pressure on them, and we saw that in the teams that beat them,” said Cowitch. “When they got pressure put on them, they struggled a little bit, and we did it the whole match which was really nice.”
Moyer achieved a personal record early in the second set when the Zephyr junior reached 2,000 assists.
“I looked to the bench, and I saw the manager start to hold up the signs on the play before, and then I think they realized I didn’t get it on that one, so as soon as I got that next one, I knew I had 2,000, and it was just great to hear all the fans cheering,” Moyer said. “When I started playing on varsity my sophomore year, I knew I would have a chance at getting high up there on the assists, and it’s been in the back of my mind a little bit, but I’ve been more focused on winning games.”
And on a personal note regarding Richards, the Zephyr senior returned to the team just a few matches before the post season after recovering from an injury.
“It feels like I’m getting my season, so it feels good to be back and being able to win these crucial games, and to be able to keep going and keep playing feels great,” he said.