WARMINSTER >> Jack Waltrich rose up and hammered the ball down with authority.
His punctuation kill capped an Archbishop Wood win over visiting Lansdale Catholic Wednesday night but he wasn't finished. Making his way over to the huddle to talk to LC, he got pulled into the huddle to help break it before the Crusaders headed to the bus.
In a match full of energy and plenty of club ball teammates, Wood bounced back from a first set loss to top LC 3-1 (19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-15).
"For us, our big thing this year has been patience,' Vikings coach Brendan Ledwith said. "We know we have the weapons but if we rush, we can drop a set and that's what happened. (LC) had great energy coming out at the beginning and it kind of surprised us.'
For LC, it was a competitive game but a friendly competition as many of the players on both sides are on the same club teams.
"We came out strong and did what we wanted to do,' Crusaders coach Kathy Arnow said. "I said to the boys we lost our offense a little bit but the bottom line is, Wood is a great program. We have a great relationship with them, it's a fun matchup and we're walking out with heads held high.'
The Crusaders jumped to an early 8-3 lead in the first game and kept Wood at arm's length even as the Vikings crawled back. LC got contributions from a number of hitters as it eventually took a 24-15 lead late in the first game.
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But something important happened for Wood. The Vikings ran off four straight and forced LC to take a timeout. While the Crusaders got the winning point on a Wood error, that late run got the Vikings going into the next set.
"That second timeout, I said to them we're playing well right now but we're probably going to lose this one,' Ledwith said. "They had game point, but you want to use those last couple of points to really gain your momentum.'
Wood gained plenty of it. Arnow said Wood's serving was key in the Vikings taking control of the match. In the second game, Wood had two serving spells that blew it open.
Libero Sean Emrich turned a close game into a 9-5 lead, then back row Chris Montague blew it open by serving Wood on a 9-0 spurt to make it 19-5.
The Vikings closed out that game 25-15 but got a stiffer challenge in the third game, with LC hanging right in until 17-15.
From there, Wood's heavy hitters in middle blocker Robby Russell and outside hitter Waltrich heated up. Wood closed on a 9-5 run with Waltrich and Russell chipping in seven of those points.
Russell was a key player on both sides, his height and jumping ability helping get Wood's formidable block set.
"The kid jumps through the roof and can touch almost everything,' Ledwith said. "He's got a great head on his shoulders and he's very good at seeing the game and getting his hands on everything.'
LC's Brendan Shovlin and Matt Plummer did all they could to keep their team hanging around. Both hitters kept pounding the ball and went pole-to-pole, but Wood's block was enough to outlast their assault.
"The triple block is a lot, it's intimidating and it makes you think twice about where you're going to put the ball,' Arnow said. "They got on a big serving run. We also missed some key serves, we usually serve 90% in our wins and I'm likely not going to see that in my stats. But that's OK, we're already better than we were last year.'
Waltrich saved his best for last, crashing down seven kills in the final set to give Wood the win. Again, LC stayed tight until a long serving spell by Chris Quaglia turned the tables in Wood's favor.
From there, the senior captain hitter brought it home.
"Jack does take a little bit of time to warm up and get acclimated to what we're doing,' Ledwith said. "We make adjustments on the fly but he's our leader and he's doing a great job for us.'
Both teams brought it, with guys diving and flying all over for digs. So it wouldn't be a stretch to expect the same on the return leg at LC in May.
Both coaches were complimentary of each other's teams, but there's still a competitive streak there.
"These are great kids, I wanted the win for them but come May, I think the tide will turn, that's my plan,' Arnow said. "We'll have home gym.'
Follow Andrew Robinson on Twitter @ADRobinson3.


Roman Catholic

 Wood took on Roman Catholic in it's 3rd match of the week and second in a row against the top half of the PCL. The Vikings came away with the win (25-21, 25-11, 25-21).

Next week we play at Saint Joseph's Prep on Monday, Home against Archbishop Ryan on Wednesday (5:15 Varsity ONLY), and away at Neshaminy on Friday