Holy Redeemer avenged its only defeat and Blue Ridge bounced back from a loss.
As a result, both left Thursday’s conclusion of the District 1-2-11 Class 2A Subregional boys volleyball tournament with reasons to celebrate.
Matthew Prociak asserted his presence at the net with 12 kills and 12 blocks and had plenty of help in leading Holy Redeemer past visiting Dock Mennonite, 13-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-20, in the championship match.
Freshman Connor Cranage had 18 kills as Blue Ridge defeated host Tunkhannock, 25-15, 26-24, 23-25, 25-22, for third place and the subregional’s final berth in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament.
Matt Spiccioli, Will Wasiakowski, Matt Albrecht and Dominic Alberti all joined Prociak in putting together impressive statistics in the win.
Prociak had missed the first Holy Redeemer-Dock Mennonite meeting, a non-league battle of then-unbeaten teams that resulted in the only loss of the season for the Royals.
By the time they met again, Holy Redeemer had already advanced far enough to be acknowledged as district champion, but the subregional final victory allowed the Royals to win a district or subregional tournament for the 10th straight year.
Wyoming Valley Conference champion Holy Redeemer was in trouble early when Dock Mennonite won the first set decisively and had the lead late in the second set.
The Royals, however, came back to win the second set and took control from there.
Spiccioli had 11 kills and 2 blocks. Wasiakowski contributed 20 assists, 4 blocks, 5 digs and 3 kills. Albrecht had 9 kills, 3 blocks, 10 service points and 4 digs. Alberti finished with 11 service points, including 2 aces, and 4 digs.
The Royals are ranked first in the final Riverfront Sports Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Blue Ridge made the state tournament with three freshmen among the seven players it used in the match.
Cranage, who also had 12 digs, was joined by classmates Carson Gallagher and Nicholas Laude.
Gallagher had a team-high 32 assists and 15 digs. Laude had six kills.
Garrett Conklin led the team with 24 digs. Calvin Scheideler had 11 kills and 2 blocks. Gerald Welsted had 6 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks and 12 digs.
