Parkland knocks off Shaler, takes PIAA boys volleyball title east

By: Jeffrey Kauffman
Saturday, June 17, 2023 | 4:09 PM

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UNIVERSITY PARK — For the first time since 2017, there will be a new PIAA Class 3A champion in boys volleyball.

Parkland moved the trophy east for the first time in years with a 3-0 sweep of WPIAL champion Shaler on Saturday at Rec Hall at the Penn State University. Game scores were 25-15, 25-18, 25-17.

“I am at a loss for words and that is not normal,” said Parkland coach Scott Trumbauer. “I couldn’t ask for anything more from our players. They played well and made few mistakes and did all of the things they needed to do. We spread the ball around and that was key. Will Styles moved the ball around and our hitters took advantage of their blocking style.”

Shaler (19-1) defeated Warwick, 3-0, Canon McMillan, 3-2, and Central York, 3-0 in the PIAA tournament. Shaler vanquished four-time defending state champion North Allegheny three times during the season. North Allegheny lost its first-round PIAA match to Central York, 3-2.

Parkland (22-0) defeated Cedar Crest, 3-0, Upper Dublin, 3-0, and Cumberland Valley, 3-1 to reach their spot in the championship match. The teams were the top two seeds in the state tournament.

Parkland was very active at the net in Game 1, creating blocks and keeping balls alive. They had a total of eight points that were directly off the Shaler block that went for points. They also had several big hits by Josh Nation, Luke Smith and Chase Robbins.

Shaler struggled a bit with digs, and when they did get sets, the Parkland blockers were right there. Both teams provided some good rallies, but Parkland had the moxie keeping the ball in play.

“It is so hard to come up to a state championship game and come up short,” said Shaler coach Paul Stadelman. “We didn’t play our offensive or defensive game, but give credit to Parkland as they took it to us. We were really never able to get into our offense and when we did, we were able to get some side outs and points, but we couldn’t get on that run.”

Game 2 was very similar as Parkland jumped out to a 12-5 lead. Shaler, however, finally got some momentum and cut the Parkland lead to 14-10, prompting a Parkland time out. A 3-1 run led to a Shaler timeout as Parkland extended its lead to 17-11. The Trojans were able to finish off the game with kills by Robbins and Nation.

“Joey Gannon was our only senior and to do that and all of the senior things by yourself is tough,” said Stadelman. He is special, and he helped our younger players with his leadership, and our younger kids gave it their best every day. Today just wasn’t our day but we are young, and we had the best support from our community and the school district.”

Parkland again took advantage of Shaler’s offensive struggles in Game 3 and maintained a three-to five-point lead throughout the game. The Trojans got blocks on almost every hit and had several spectacular rallies to keep balls alive to give their hitters a chance.

Shaler did an excellent job keeping balls in play. Cam Miller and Dunnovan Ronel were all over the floor in the back line, diving and getting hands on balls and returning hits by the Parkland hitters. Logan Peterson, Gannon and Zach Rosenwald did their best to keep the Titans in the match.

Shaler had a tremendous season and returns every starter but Gannon. The Parkland squad also loses only two players —one who played significant time. This could have been a preview for next year’s title game as well.

Tags: Shaler