TOWAMENCIN- Energy. Pure energy. It didn’t flow, instead it pulsated. Erratic and strong with every kill.

The North Penn Knights Boys Volleyball Team (8-4) beat the William Tennent Panthers (8-12) in the first round of district playoffs.

“I think we just again came together as a team and we really brought a lot of very positive energy and ultimately it really helped us to mesh together well and play like the team we are.” said senior right side Hitter Isaac Lambert.

William Tennent’s Connor Berndlmaier started off with a serve that led to his team getting the first point of the night. The Panthers went into the first timeout of the game up 9-5. Immediately coming off of the break, North Penn Senior Middle Blocker Kevin Abraham’s hit, got one point for the Knights. By the second timeout the Panthers were still leading 14-11, but the Knights were working to close the gap and win. Shortly after this, Lambert’s ace propelled the Knights to 14 points, however William Tennent won the first set 25-19, but this didn’t squash the Knights’ energy.

The Knights started off the second set strong. A kill from senior outside hitter Michael Wang  helped the Knights dominate the game 4-0. Right before the first timeout of the second set, Lambert along with senior middle blocker Zach Jayes blocked William Tennents hit to get the score to 12-6. Abraham’s kill that got the Knights to 17 on the scoreboard electrified the crowd. The energy rippled tenfold through this to the stands and back to North Penn, hungry to do it again. Junior outside hitter Evan Rothmann’s ace finished the second set, as he got the Knights the 25th point they needed to win 25-11.

Neither team slowed down in the third set. They both came in with one win under their belt. Any nervous energy that might have been felt was overpowered by the positive and eager energy teammates fed off each other as they both looked to clench another set in their favor. The Knights and Panthers stayed neck and neck for the majority of the game. By the third timeout of the set, North Penn was only up one point as the score was 15-14. After a faulty rotation on the Knights behalf slowed them down, Abraham’s kill that followed got North Penn going again as he shocked his team when he gave them the 17-16 lead and made the crowd go crazy. Rothmann’s kill ended the third set with another win, 25-24.

William Tennent started off the fourth set with the lead. Lambert’s kill early in the game elevated North Penn to 6-4. Abraham’s kill made up for Jayes’ missed serve to get North Penn up 11-5. As soon as it seemed like the crowd couldn’t get louder, the players couldn’t get hyper, and the kills couldn’t get harder, the energy bouncing from player, ball, then crowd amplified everything all over again. Jayes kill won the first round of playoffs for the Knights, as they won the third set 25-18.

The Knights go into their second game of district playoffs against the Council Rock North Indians, on the road, Thursday the 16th.

“Consistency. Yeah we were very up and down and we need to be more streamlined into our emotions and our level of play and that is what we’ll work on.” said Head Coach Ryan Genova.