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UPPER MERION >> Upper Merion had no answer for the middle of Garnet Valley’s front.
Sam Mann and Ally Hartney dominated on the inside to lead the No. 3 Jaguars to a 3-1 win over the No. 2 Vikings, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-19 in the District 1 Class 4A semifinals Tuesday night at Upper Merion Area High School.
“The first time around we missed 20 serves,” GV coach Greg Wood said, referring to the Jags 3-1 loss against Upper Merion four weeks ago. “We still missed too many tonight again, but our team really came to play and our middles were just unstoppable. Sam Mann — I don’t know what the numbers were — just had a fantastic game.”
Mann’s numbers were impressive. She finished the match with 17 kills, five blocks, no errors and a .730 shooting percentage.
Hartney had eight kills, four digs and nine blocks.
“Ally Hartney and Sam Mann have just been unstoppable for us all year,” Wood said. “Our pins have as well, it’s just I know that (Upper Merion was) keying on the middle, but they still had no answer for Sam. She played unbelievable, as did Ally. They both did, across the board.”
“Both of them (are tough),” Upper Merion coach Tony Funsten said. “It’s tough to play against somebody who is 6-3, 6-4 (Mann) and you’re 5-10 and 5-8. It’s tough. We’ve done it before, it’s just that — once against it starts with the serve. When you’re not serving effectively, then the result is what you saw. They can get the ball to their middles and they played great.”
The Jaguars flipped the match in the second game. After dropping the first set, Garnet Valley scored the first four points of Game 2 and six of the first seven to take a 6-1 lead. Upper Merion battled back to get within three, 12-9, 17-14 and 18-5, but never got any closer. The Jags evened the match, 1-1, when Rachel Cain finished the second set with a ****, 25-20.
“I was really nervous at the beginning,” Mann said. “I knew this was going to be a great match. As we got further and further into the game we started to relax and have more fun and run more plays. It got better as the game went on.”
“We got off to a slow start in the second game,” Funsten said. “They gained that momentum and they just carried it from there. I thought we had a chance to make a play or two right at the beginning of that second set that would have been able to keep them off-balance, but they made them and after that — once it was 4-0 we never recovered from that.”
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Garnet Valley’s Sam Mann returns a shot against Upper Merion Kelly Moore Tuesday evening. The Jaguars won 3-1 in the District 1 Class 4A semifinals. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)
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