Devil netters end season in district quarterfinals
By JAI E. COURTER Echo Pilot

Jen Bear delivers a hit for the Blue Devils.

The Devils traveled to Lower Dauphin High School on Monday to begin the District 3- AA tournament with pool play. The Devils won two out of their three games including 3-0 victories in both wins.

The Devils opened with Mid-Penn Capital opponent Trinity. They swept the Shamrocks by scores of 25-19, 25-9, 25-22. Katie Lutz led the Devils with nine kills and two aces, while Kelsey Gearhart followed with six kills and two aces. Julia Stein added five kills and Kortney Eshleman chipped in with five kills and 23 assists.

They rolled past their second opponent of the night, Muhlenburg, 25-11, 25-15, and 25-5. Gearhart and Rochelle Christman rallied off the last five points for G-A including two Gearhart spikes and a block and a spike from Christ- man. Muhlenburg came closest to the Devils in game two but G-A won 25-15.

The Blue Devils finished off Muhlenburg 25-5 in game three including a 10-0 serving run from Katy Bobbit including two aces. The Devils finished with four points in a row, two of which were spikes from Stein. Christman had 10 kills, while Lutz added eight kills of her own. Gearhart contributed six kills and Eshleman had 21 assists and two aces.

Katy Lutz puts the touch on the ball for the Devil netters.

The Blue Devils came out slow in their third match of the night against powerhouse Delone Catholic. After finding themselves down 14-5 in game one, they put up a fight but fell 25-13.

They came back in game two to dominate the Squirettes in a game that ended 25-17. The Devils rallied four straight after being tied 9-9 forcing a timeout from Delone Catholic. The Devils continued to roll jumping to a 17-12 lead. Christman got the G-A crowd going on a powerful spike to give them a 20-12 lead. The Devils went on to win 25-17 and level the match at one game apiece.

The Devils couldn't carry over the momentum into game three. Delone Catholic rallied on an 8-0 run to end the third and final game at 25-14. Lutz had five kills and two aces, while Christman and Beth Berger each added four kills. Megan George contributed 11 digs and Gearhart added nine.

The Devils were looking to get back at York Catholic in the District 3-AA quarterfinals on Wednesday at Northern High School after losing to them 3-0 last year on the same court in the same round. After sticking around for the first three games including a victory in game one, the Devils fell to the second ranked Class-AA team in the state in four games (25-18, 19-25, 25-27, and 14-25).

After giving up the first three points in the first game, the Devils regained the lead on a block from Berger and kept it for the rest of the game. Berger and Christman each had quality blocks late in game one to add to their lead. Eshleman singleblocked the Virginia recruit Kelly Rhein to give them a 24- 18 lead. The Greencastle fans went crazy after an error from York Catholic as the Devils jumped off to a 1-0 lead.

The Devils found themselves down 5-4 at the start of game two. Rhein blasted a spike to start a 6-0 run by Catholic. After trailing 18-8, the Devils battled back but it wasn't enough to overcome York Catholic as they fell 25- 19 in game two.

The Devils were dominated early in game three falling behind 11-3. The Devils fought back to within four, but fell right back to an 18-10 deficit that called for a G-A timeout. The Devils came out hard with a spike from Lutz and a placement shot from Eshleman. Eshleman also had a hard spike a few plays later cutting the lead to 20-17 causing a timeout from York Catholic.

Megan George's diving save eventually led to a kill from Stein which was followed by a Catholic error to tie the game 22-22. Eshleman, Lutz, and Berger each scored to knot the game at 25. However, a spike put them down by one point and Gearhart's diving attempt went into the net to fall 27-25 and 2-1 in the match.

In game four, the Devils jumped out to 6-4 lead, but Catholic took over the lead and kept it for the remainder of the game. A 14-1 run by York Catholic put a dagger in G-A as they were forced to try to battle back from an 18-7 deficit. A Lutz spike on Eshleman's assist made the score 22-13. But Kelly Rhein blasted a spike to win game four and end the Devils' season.

Lutz led G-A with 10 kills and two blocks. Stein added nine kills and three blocks, while Eshleman chipped in with seven kills, 34 assists, and 14 digs. George had two aces and 26 digs. The Devils ended the season with a record of 21- 3.