Holy Redeemer apparently wrapped up the Wyoming Valley Conference boys volleyball championship with Tuesday’s 25-14, 25-18, 25-17 sweep of Crestwood, which entered the night in a second-place tie.
The Royals went 9-0 in what was originally an 11-match WVC schedule. Two matches went unplayed when agreement could not be reached on mask usage.
Under Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association rules in place during the coronavirus pandemic, teams that choose to compete without masks and those that compete with masks are not forced to comply to the other’s wishes. If an agreement cannot be reached on how to conduct the event during the regular season, it is ruled a “no contest,” rather than a forfeit.
Therefore, with the no contests, Holy Redeemer has completed a perfect league season and every other team in the league has at least one loss.
Second-place Tunkhannock (8-1) and Hazleton Area (3-2) were not willing to wear masks against Holy Redeemer, which has a school policy requiring them in volleyball, the only spring sport played indoors.
Holy Redeemer beat all nine of its opponents by three-set sweeps, including a victory over Delaware Valley, which inflicted the only loss on Tunkhannock.
Matt Spiccioli led Tuesday’s clinching victory with 12 kills. He also led the team in that category on the season.
Matt Albrecht had 10 kills, five service points, four digs and a team-high three blocks.
Matt Prociak, the season leader in blocks, had eight kills and a block.
Will Wasiakowski had 24 assists, seven service points and three digs. Wasiakowski is the team’s season leader in assists, service points and aces.
Matt Williams had a team-high 11 points Tuesday along with four kills.
Holy Redeemer returns to the top of the conference after Delaware Valley ended its streaks of 78 straight wins and five straight titles in 2019. Boys volleyball was among the sports lost when spring competition was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The Royals are the number-one team in the Riverfront Sports Boys Volleyball Power Rankings.
