State College boys volleyball’s dominant season marches on with win over Central Dauphin
It wouldn’t come as much of a shock for people around State College boys volleyball to know that the team is 11-3 on the season.
Wednesday night’s matchup against Central Dauphin made the Little Lions’ record all of the more evident — sweeping the Rams 3-0 in consecutive sets. State College won the first 25-16, followed by a second set win of 25-19 and the team capped things off with a 25-12 victory in the third set.
Kieran Leahey has been one of the vocal leaders of the team, setting his teammates up in the right positions and preaching consistency. He finished with one ace, 12 kills, two blocks, three sets and eight digs. The win on Wednesday was all due to controlling the ball, he said.
It’s something that the team has done throughout the season.
“We can either be a great team or a very poor team depending on how we control the ball and keep it in play,” Leahey said. “(We have) to let the other team make mistakes.”
Fellow senior teammate Jett True sees a cohesive unit — one that has stood tall through the rigors of a season. It all starts with everyone believing and trusting in one another, the senior said.
No one is above the unit.
“We’ve got a lot of good players — guys that know what they are doing and we’re able to work well together,” True said. “It’s big because one big player doesn’t make a team, but we all play together and it works really well.”
State College head coach Larry Campbell sees a youthful team that has a number of starters from every class — freshman to senior. He also has a vision of a team that went .500 in two straight seasons that has developed a sense of belonging on the court with other teams in the Mid Penn Conference.
“It’s nice to see that we’ve finally gotten things built in the right direction and we play a lot of the top teams,” Campbell said. “Where we’re at, as far as the tournament, we’ve either lost by a couple of points or defeated them.”
The Little Lions’ next matches will come at the Shaler Tournament on Saturday. There, State College will continue to aspire to delve deep and continue its march toward a District 6 championship, which comes on May 16 against Altoona — and eventually, maybe even a state championship.
