DOWNINGTOWN – Due to having to make up a game, the Bishop Shanahan girls volleyball team faced a congested end of the regular season slate. But it has not fazed them as the Eagles collected their third straight sweep by defeating Oxford, 3-0, on Wednesday.
Shanahan improved to 10-2 in the Ches-Mont League National Division and 14-3 overall. They lost the division title tie-breaker to Downingtown East after losing the head-to-head matchup.
The Eagles started their week by beating Kennett, 3-0, on Monday and followed that with a victory by the same score over Sun Valley before Wednesday’s sweep of the Hornets. They will finish the regular season Thursday by hosting Trinity of District 3.
“The last two days, we’ve been getting a lot of our younger players in to give our starters some rest knowing what this week was going to be like,” said Shanahan coach Greg Ashman. “They’ve all stepped it up really well. Brynn Hungerford got on the court today and stepped it up the last couple of days and Cecilia Bebarberi did the same.”
Oxford took its first lead of the first set at 5-4, but it didn’t last long as the Eagles scored six straight points to take a 10-5 lead. The last in that run came off a kill by Mia Mascherino.
She was one of seven seniors honored before the contest.
“I feel like we got a lot of the emotions out of the way during the ceremony,” Mascherino said. “When we started to warm up, we just wanted to have fun with everyone and just enjoy it.”
The lead stretched to 18-9 when Oxford coach Justin Webb called his second time out of the set. It did little to stop the Eagles, however. They went on a three-point run before a long hit made the score 23-10. After getting the serve back, Makenna Ott’s kill caught the line to give Shanahan the first set.
The second set was much closer as the Hornets (6-6, 11-8) got their footing and forced six ties during the set. The last tie came on a kill by Chloe Sisson that made it 21-21. Shanahan eventually got to set point when Mascherino’s kill attempt found an open spot to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead with a 25-23 victory.
“We started to get a little too comfortable, making a few mistakes and being a little undisciplined,” Ashman added. “We got out of the second set and got back to our roots in the sets, strong defense, strong discipline.”
The Hornets are 21st in the District 1 4A rankings and are looking to continue their historic season with their first appearance in the 24-team postseason. They have already set school records for most Ches-Mont wins and most victories overall in a season.
“Very happy with the way they fought back,” said Webb. “We’ve been working for this all season with the mental toughness and the physical toughness and that’s exactly what you saw tonight. All year, we’ve been building to this and that second set was tremendous for these girls.“This is a record for us. This school has never had a winning record and this puts us at 11-8 and into our first playoffs in history. Playing in the Ches-Mont has really taught us to be mentally tough.”
Ashman was also very complimentary of his opponent.
“Oxford threw everything at us,” he said. “They’re becoming a really good team. I told the coach at the end of the night that he’s doing good work. They are a lot better than they were last year. They work hard and they are going to give some team trouble. They’re young, so next year, they may be a team to watch out for.”
Shanahan had just a 5-4 lead before going on a 6-1 run to take a 11-5 advantage. They stretched it to 17-6 before Oxford took its final time out.
With a comfortable 21-8 lead, they scored three consecutive points before Liz Detweiler found an open space in the Oxford defense to close out the match, 25-8 to send the crowd home happy.
“They’re our go-to players for sure,” Ashman said of Mascherino and Tori Bonacci. “Brooke (Sivera) stepped up and was able to do well on the front row, so that’s something we have in our back pocket in case we need it in the postseason. And my daughter Ciall, I thought she played really, really well. She started out like gangbusters. Everything she did was gold, it got away in the second set. She brought it back in the third set along with everybody else.”
Source: Berkshire mont