JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
Final assignment before vacation: Cover an excellent L-L League boys’ volleyball matchup, pitting the final two undefeated Section 2 teams, Lancaster Mennonite and Garden Spot. And the Blazers and the Spartans did not disappoint, going five action-packed games to decide it. And let me just say that it sure looks like Mennonite isn’t quite ready to surrender domination of Section 2 play just yet. Here’s my story from Wednesday’s New Era. Enjoy it; it’s my final story until I return on Monday, May 5.
Jeff Kindrew got his wish.
And his team delivered.
Lancaster Mennonite’s boys volleyball coach wished aloud to a passerby Tuesday night that his Blazers could push host Garden Spot – the sixth-ranked Double-A team in the state – to five games in their Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 showdown in New Holland.
Not only did Mennonite take Garden Spot to a fifth game, but the Blazers knocked off the Spartans 3-2 in a battle of the last two unbeaten teams in the section.
More impressively, with eight key contributors gone from last year’s team, and with two fresh-faced sophomores in the starting lineup, Mennonite bumped off the team many thought would unseat the Blazers as the reigning two-time outright Section 2 champs – and maybe even give Section 1 heavyweight Hempfield a run for its money in the league playoffs.
For now, Mennonite is 6-0 and sits alone atop the section, one game ahead of Garden Spot, which suffered its first loss this season.
“Coach said he wanted to see how well we could perform under pressure,” said Mennonite senior Kendall Garber, who piled up a team-high 19 kills Tuesday.
“We all dug down a little deeper and we played well,” he said. “It’s a really good feeling because I’m not sure how many of us really thought we were going to win this one.”
Mennonite proved it was in it to win it right out of the chute Tuesday, taking the first game 25-23 in front of an overflow crowd – including a packed Garden Spot student section.
Undaunted, the Spartans finally sprang to life in the second game, getting powerhouse kills from senior Dan Smucker on the final two points of a 25-18 win to knot the match at 1-all.
The Blazers went back ahead 2-1 with a nip-and-tuck 25-21 win in the third game, highlighted by supersonic kills by senior Joe Lab and Garber to close it out.
Garden Spot forced a fifth and deciding game with a clutch 25-18 win in the fourth game, with senior Guaying Kha capping the game with a service ace, much to the delight of the Spartans’ cheering section, which erupted.
In the first-to-15 fifth game, Garden Spot jumped out to a 10-7 lead after four services winners in a row by junior Derek Eberly. But Mennonite took the lead for good when Lab blocked the Spartans’ Dean Wanner at the net to make it 11-10, and Garber provided the exclamation point with a kill and a perfectly placed drop shot and the Blazers won 15-12.
“It’s incredibly disappointing,” said Garden Spot coach Scott Garman, who noted that his team had a lackadaisical practice on Monday.
“We just didn’t bring our ‘A’ game,” he said. “And I think the pressure might have gotten to us a little bit.”
Sophomore T.J. Mentzer had three blocks for Garden Spot, while Justin Lapp, one of those new sophomore starters along with Zach Smith, had three blocks for Mennonite.
“Gutsy,” Kindrew said. “Our kids had the heart and the guts to keep pushing and fighting. We have kids with big hearts, and they played big when they had to. You can never count them out, and I think they proved that tonight.”
While grabbing the solo lead in the section chase in the process.
“Winning the section again would be great,” Garber said. “But the section title isn’t where it ends. We want to go further than that. But it would be nice to win it again, sure.”
