Delaware Valley rallied in the third set of Wednesday’s first round playoff match to eliminate girl’s volleyball from the Group 2 tournament.
The Pirates dropped the match 2-1, losing the final two sets to the Terriers.
“This was the best match they played all season and they played a lot of good matches this year,” head coach Sara Skvir said. “They didn’t leave anything behind today. They left it all on the court.”
The match was the first-ever in the playoffs at the new Cinnaminson High School gymnasium.
“It was really exciting, having a lot of firsts in this gym,” Skvir said. “We had the first home opener, first win and now first playoff game.”
“It’s a shame we couldn’t get the first playoff win, but they played great for me and they shouldn’t have any regrets.”
Cinnaminson won the first set 25-21 after the Pirates scored the final four points.
The Pirates then raced out to a 5-0 lead in the second set before the Terriers tied the set at 6-6.
Delaware Valley took a 24-23 lead before the Pirates tied it at 24.
The second set went back and forth until the Terriers evened the match with a 27-25 win.
The third and final set saw the Pirates once again race out to a 5-0 lead.
Cinnaminson led by as many as eight points at 11-3, but the Terriers never backed down.
Delaware Valley whittled the Pirates lead down to one at 18-17 and finally tied the third set at 20-20.
The Terriers took their first and only lead of the third set at 21-20 before eventually winning 25-22 to eliminate girl’s volleyball 2-1.
“Each day leading up to today’s game I kept saying to them don’t go out like previous seasons,” Skvir said. “They hustled, they listened and they played their hearts out.”
“I know they are beating themselves up on a couple of little mistakes, but I told them not to. It’s a total team effort and they did what we asked them to do today.”
The #13 Pirates finish the season 12-12, while the #20 Terriers move to 15-7 and advance to take on #4 Tenafly in the second round.
“We told the seniors to keep playing if they can,” Skvir said. “Don’t beat yourself up over this one loss. There’s only one team that ends their season on a win. I think that kind of lifted their spirits a little bit.”
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