Abington Heights captured its first District 2 Class 3A boys volleyball championship.
Tom Robinson | Abington Journal
SOUTH CANAAN TOWNSHIP – Abington Heights was responsible for reversing history in two ways May 25.
The Comets ended Delaware Valley’s six-year run as District 2 Class 3A boys volleyball champions.
To do so, Abington Heights remained unbeaten and captured its first title, avenging a loss in the same matchup a year ago.
Abington Heights swept the final by scores of 25-12, 25-18, 25-16, leading from start to finish in both the first and third sets.
“We took a big loss last year to this team in the district championship,” said Nico Bossi, who had a team-high nine kills and provided the title-clinching ace. “We didn’t really need to rebuild.
“We had the players coming back and we knew we were going to do something special.”
That special season included a Lackawanna League championship with a sweep of home-and-home matches with Blue Ridge, the league’s other qualifier for the state tournament, which opened May 31, after presstime for this edition.
Bossi had a kill and a block in the match’s first four points.
“We were hyped for this one,” Bossi said. “This was the biggest one yet.”
After Delaware Valley took a 12-10 lead in the second set, the Comets outscored the Warriors, 40-22, the rest of the way.
Colin Jenkins had a team-high 15 service points.
Nate Steenback led in digs with nine along with eight kills and three aces.
Quentin Birch, who had six digs, and Jamison Bessoir, who had two blocks, had six kills each.
James Brust finished with 26 assists, along with 3 kills and 2 blocks.
“We scrimmaged them in the start of the year, but they obviously got better,” Bossi said. “We watched a lot of film of them during the week. We know they had a couple of big hitters and we had to find a way to block them.
“We just had to keep getting better as they did, too to make sure we stayed in front.
Abington Heights 3, Hazleton Area 0
Bossi also had nine kills during a 25-13, 25-16, 25-10 semifinal sweep of Hazleton Area.
He also had five aces.
Steenback added eight kills and five digs while Birch led the Comets in both aces and digs with seven each.
Brust had 22 assists.
