DALLASTOWN — Central Dauphin advanced to the second round of the District 3-AAA boys’ volleyball tournament Thursday night, but it wasn’t easy.
Tenth-seeded Red Lion (11-5) out of York County gave the seventh-seeded Rams (12-3) all they could handle in CD’s 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 26-24 win at Dallastown High School.
Next up for CD is third-seeded Penn Manor, who claimed the Lancaster-Lebanon title with its second win over defending district champion Hempfield in the last several weeks. CD and Penn Manor will clash at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Hempfield.
A move Central Dauphin coach Josh Brenneman made a couple of weeks ago paid big dividends Thursday night.
He moved freshman Ozzy Hudson from libero to outside hitter and Hudson repaid his coach’s confidence by leading the team in kills with 12.
“For the last couple of weeks I’ve put [Hudson] in,” Brenneman said. “I was tempted to go back to our original lineup that got us as far as it did in the season in tournaments. But then I decided I was going to go with the team that I thought was the best blocking and gives me the most hitters.
“I think we have a lot more hitters running that lineup. We have five guys that can hit at any time.”
In the first game it looked as if CD would need those five hitters and more. Every time the Rams tried to hit or block, the Lions got a hand on it.
Scrappy doesn’t begin to describe Red Lion’s defense.
“We really focused on keeping the ball up,” Red Lion coach Ashleigh Reinert said. “I told them it doesn’t have to be pretty, but we have to keep the ball in play.”
The Lions did that to the tune of having four players record double-digit digs, led by Bennett Frey’s 15.
Midway through the second game, with the Rams down five points, things changed.
Jacob Kerschner had a crushing solo block, Mahlon Bender’s hits started to find the floor and CD’s defense started to get arms and hands under the ball.
Bender finished with 11 kills, Kerschner had 43 assists and Tim Callahan led the defense with 18 digs.
Central Dauphin 3, Red Lion 1 » Box Score
Here is a look at the rest of Thursday night’s first-round games:
Class AAA
Governor Mifflin 3, Hershey 0 » Box Score
Cole Carver had 10 kills and Ryan Crawford nine as the Trojans fell 27-25, 25-18, 25-22. Dylan D’Amour fed the offense with 26 assists and Malachi Long led the defense with 20 digs. Governor Mifflin advanced to play fourth-seeded Cumberland Valley at 6 p.m. Monday at Hempfield.
•••
Lower Dauphin 3, Wilson West Lawn 2 » Box Score
Lower Dauphin advanced to the second round against top-seeded Central York after the 16-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 15-12 win. Colten Nagy and Brian Stockton led the Falcons with 16 and 15 kills, respectively and John Wenger dished out 40 assists. Shannon Heckman and Nagy handled the defensive duties with 22 and 15 digs, respectively.
•••
Exeter Twp. 3, Warwick 1 » Box Score
Exeter will face second-seeded Hempfield in the second after defeating Warwick 25-20, 18-25, 25-20, 25-20.
Class AA
Cocalico 3, Fleetwood 0 » Box Score
Mitch Stauffer had 25 kills as Cocalico swept Fleetwood 25-14, 25-21, 25-17 to reach the second round, where it will play third-seeded Garden Spot. Garret Strunk dished out 43 assists to fuel the offense.
•••
Bethlehem Catholic 3, Brandywine Heights 1: Bethlethem Catholic won 27-25, 25-10, 22-25, 25-12 to reach the second round against Schuylkill Valley.
•••
Susquehannock 3, West York 0: Susquehannock swept West York 25-15, 25-19, 25-21 and its reward is earning a match against top-seeded and defending champion Northeastern in the second round.
Aces:
Dylan Sattazahn, Cocalico, 5 aces
Bennett Frey, Red Lion, 2 aces
Shannon Heckman, Lower Dauphin, 2 aces
Tim Callahan, Central Dauphin, 1 aces
Geidner, Fleetwood, 1 aces
Herrera, Fleetwood, 1 aces
Ozzy Hudson, Central Dauphin, 1 aces
Jacob Kerschner, Central Dauphin, 1 aces
Colten Nagy, Lower Dauphin, 1 aces
Brian Stockton, Lower Dauphin, 1 aces
John Wenger, Lower Dauphin, 1 aces
Kills:
Mitch Stauffer, Cocalico, 25 kills
Jared Warner, Red Lion, 17 kills
Colten Nagy, Lower Dauphin, 16 kills
Brian Stockton, Lower Dauphin, 15 kills
Ozzy Hudson, Central Dauphin, 12 kills
Mahlon Bender, Central Dauphin, 11 kills
Cole Carver, Hershey, 10 kills
Bennett Frey, Red Lion, 10 kills
Tim Callahan, Central Dauphin, 9 kills
Ryan Crawford, Hershey, 9 kills
Tommy Bowen, Lower Dauphin, 8 kills
Matt Peron, Central Dauphin, 7 kills
Gavin Flowers, Central Dauphin, 6 kills
Flannery, Fleetwood, 5 kills
Dan Longnecker, Red Lion, 5 kills
Chandler Ehrhart, Red Lion, 4 kills
John Wenger, Lower Dauphin, 4 kills
Jacob Kerschner, Central Dauphin, 2 kills
Hunter Klein, Red Lion, 2 kills
Shannon Heckman, Lower Dauphin, 1 kills
Assists:
Jacob Kerschner, Central Dauphin, 43 assists
Garret Strunk, Cocalico, 43 assists
John Wenger, Lower Dauphin, 40 assists
Dylan D'Amour, Hershey, 26 assists
Hunter Klein, Red Lion, 22 assists
Dan Longnecker, Red Lion, 17 assists
Matt Peron, Central Dauphin, 2 assists
Blocks:
Tommy Bowen, Lower Dauphin, 7 blocks
Jacob Kerschner, Central Dauphin, 5 blocks
Matt Lawver, Cocalico, 4 blocks
Cole Carver, Hershey, 3 blocks
Matt Peron, Central Dauphin, 3 blocks
Tim Callahan, Central Dauphin, 2 blocks
Chandler Ehrhart, Red Lion, 2 blocks
Gavin Flowers, Central Dauphin, 2 blocks
Erik Reiker, Red Lion, 2 blocks
John Wenger, Lower Dauphin, 2 blocks
Bennett Frey, Red Lion, 1 blocks
Dan Longnecker, Red Lion, 1 blocks
Colten Nagy, Lower Dauphin, 1 blocks
Brian Stockton, Lower Dauphin, 1 blocks
Wolfe, Fleetwood, 1 blocks
Digs:
Shannon Heckman, Lower Dauphin, 22 digs
Malachi Long, Hershey, 20 digs
Tim Callahan, Central Dauphin, 18 digs
Bennett Frey, Red Lion, 15 digs
Colten Nagy, Lower Dauphin, 15 digs
Jacob Kerschner, Central Dauphin, 13 digs
Dan Longnecker, Red Lion, 13 digs
Matt Peron, Central Dauphin, 13 digs
Erik Reiker, Red Lion, 13 digs
Jared Warner, Red Lion, 11 digs
Brian Stockton, Lower Dauphin, 9 digs
John Veli, Central Dauphin, 8 digs
Justis Lorah, Cocalico, 7 digs
Tommy Bowen, Lower Dauphin, 6 digs
Hunter Klein, Red Lion, 4 digs
Chandler Ehrhart, Red Lion, 3 digs