TOWAMENCIN – The atmosphere in the North Penn High School gymnasium was light-hearted as the Knights boys volleyball team played their Senior Night match against Quakertown on Monday night. With a boisterous crowd in the background hollering supportive cheers and affectionately teasing their favorite players, the team played their way to a quick victory, scoring 25-21, 25-22, and 25-12 to neatly finish the match and move on to celebrating their seniors.
The Knights kept good offensive momentum throughout the match, turning to dependable outside hitters like seniors Kyle Sucro, Eric Mellman, and Gabe Stoler to refocus the offense during momentary lulls. Coach Tim Moyer was pleased with his team’s performance, especially that of many of the more experienced seniors.
“Kyle [Sucro]’s been our team leader pretty much all year,” said Moyer, “so I know the guys, when they get down, they look for him to rally around in a serving run or offensively. And we’ve got plenty of good supporting cast…We hit the ball up in the back row and we can pretty much put it away at will.”
Serving was also a strong point for the Knights, as several impressive serving runs carried them to significant leads over Quakertown, especially in their final game, in which a substantial point gap topped off an already-successful night with a clear victory.
The win was made especially sweet by its being North Penn’s seniors’ final home game at the high school level. Senior Joe Grundy reflected on his Senior Night, commenting that the close-knit team would find it hard to move their separate ways after high school.
“[It’s bittersweet] knowing that this is my last home game, but it’s going to be one of those memories that’s always great…We have seven seniors right now, and it’s going to be tough leaving each other after we’ve been playing with each other for the past three years.”
The seniors do still have one last match before playoffs to finish out a successful season, during which they lost only three games: one to Pennridge, who they had beaten earlier in the season, and two to Central Bucks West. Moyer is satisfied with their efforts over the course of the season as they shift focus toward playoffs.
“I’m very happy with how we’ve been doing,” he said. “We’re coming down to the home stretch here and trying to balance getting ready for playoffs and at the same time trying to get some of the younger guys a little bit of experience without overlooking the seniors who put in their time here. We’ve only got one more match left this season, and then we’ll get ready for playoffs.”
But before the team launched into preparation for their postseason, the night called for some well-earned celebration of the team’s senior players. The match and the win could not have been a more fitting end to the seniors’ North Penn volleyball career, and as friends and family cheered them on, the upperclassmen seemed to enjoy their last hurrah on the home court.
“Obviously we have a really great group that’s been together now probably three years, kind of coming up the ranks together, so they’re a pretty tight unit,” said Moyer. “It’s nice seeing them relax and have a little fun out there tonight.”