Hempfield serves up gut-check win over Conestoga Valley to capture 25th L-L League boys volleyball crown
May 14-It's safe to say George Agadis has the clutch gene.
Hempfield's standout outside hitter - and freshly minted Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 volleyball MVP - stepped up to the service line with the Black Knights trailing Conestoga Valley by four points late in the fourth set of the league's championship match on Thursday night.
Cool as a cucumber and with ice water in his veins, Agadis proceeded to rip four aces in a 9-0 blitz - all with him on the service line - when Hempfield rallied to take the lead for good on its way to beating the tough-out Buckskins 3-1 in a riveting title showdown at Ephrata Middle School.
"That's an MVP doing MVP things," Hempfield coach Kenny Eiser said about Agadis, who served up eight aces, had 10 digs, and blistered 13 kills.
Set scores were 25-15, 25-13, 20-25, 25-20, as Hempfield hoisted the L-L gold trophy for the 25th time - but for the first time since 2021.
That was a pretty long drought in Landisville. But it's over.
"They've been putting the work in left and right for years now," Eiser said about his crew. "It's been a pretty awesome atmosphere in the L-L the last few years, so I'm glad they go to do this."
A lot of Thursday's final outcome had to do with Agadis, who simply shined in crunch time.
"He went back there, he put his team on his back, and he served," CV coach Hunter Davis said, tipping his cap to Agadis. "If they don't make that run, I think we win the fourth set. But we battled and we fought for every single point. We wanted to make them earn it. And we did that."
Hempfield, the outright Section 1 champ and now 15-0 overall this spring, was appearing in a league final for the 31st time, and after rolling to a 2-0 lead, the Knights had to pull some teeth and withstand CV's mad-dash comeback.
The Bucks, who were in a league championship for the first time since falling to Hempfield back in 2008, took a 4-3 lead in the third set and never trailed again in that game, getting monster kills from Andy Bonhomme and Ashton Judy down the stretch to stay alive.
"We really battled back there in the third," Davis said. "I told them before the match that it was David vs. Goliath. They're tall. They're big. They have a reputation. We weren't our best tonight, and we didn't get the job done. But our guys really fought."
CV, the outright Section 2 champ, kept the momentum going deep into the fourth set, grabbing a 19-14 lead on Judy's kill.
That's when Hempfield put on its rally caps, and Agadis absolutely took over. Mason Koehler's kill stopped CV's run and Agadis, who possesses a wicked jump serve, went to work.
"I still had all the confidence in the world," Eiser said. "We just had to execute. George was on the whole night. Without him, that could have been a very different outcome."
After Koehler (13 kills) had consecutive slams to cut CV's lead to 19-18, Agadis slammed an ace to knot it up at 19-19. Cam Crawford's kill gave the Knights a 20-19 lead, and then Agadis - rising to the challenge - blistered three straight aces to push Hempfield's lead to 23-19.
CV, which dipped to 17-1 after suffering its first setback this season, used two timeouts during the run. But that didn't stop Agadis, who kept drilling serves.
"I tried to relax and reset and just get in the right mindset," Agadis said. "That's big for me; just relaxing and not feeling rushed when I'm serving the ball."
He boomed one big serve after another during Hempfield's 9-0 spree, and the Knights went 11-1 to cap the match, with Crawford clinching it with back-to-back kills for Hempfield.
Spencer Troyer had four blocks, Ethan Ashba sparked the defense with 15 digs, and Marcel Boyreau teed up 32 assists for Hempfield, which will head into the District 3 playoffs on Tuesday as the No. 2 seed in Class 3A.
Judy slammed 13 kills, Colson Erb had 13 digs, Austin Zimmerman whistled four aces and Micah Sauder set up 31 assists for CV, which was minus Section 2 MVP Charlie Krcmar.
The Bucks' setter was in a walking boot after sustaining a lower right leg injury in the L-L semifinals on Monday. Davis is hoping Krcmar will be back Tuesday, when CV opens districts as the No. 5 seed in Class 3A.
As for the L-L portion of this season, Hempfield stands alone atop the mountain.
"Pretty big for us," Agadis said. "We were down that whole fourth set, but we were able to get back in it. That put the pressure on them. We had all the momentum early and then we lost it. It was pretty difficult for us to get out of that. But we got it back. We really wanted to win this badly. So this is a really big deal for us."
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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 11:06 PM.