G-A volleyball team moves on in districts

The Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devil volleyball team shook off some rust and then plowed through the opening round of the District 3-AA playoffs Wednesday at Lower Dauphin High School.

The quarterfinal pool play had G-A up against Eastern York, Schuylkill Valley and Manheim Central. The Devils (19-2) handled each team. The 3-0 mark sends the Devils to Saturday’s semifinals where they will take on defending district champion Brandywine Heights (18-2). That match is set for 3 p.m. at Central York High School. Eastern York and Susquehannock will play in the other semifinal. The championship match will follow the semis.

G-A went 2-1 against both Eastern York (25-22, 25-19, 21-25) and Schuylkill Valley (25-16, 25-19, 17-25). The pool win then rested on the Blue Devil matchup with Manheim Central. The Devils jumped out quickly and won 25-13 in game one. The Barons fought hard in the second to put G-A that managed a 30-28 victory. Nakita Gearhart owned the net in the second set, tallying 16 kills on 24 attempts. Central claimed the third game 25-21, but it was too late to take anything away from the Devils.

On the night, Samantha Rudy accumulated 32 kills and Gearhart chalked up 29. Chloe Hoover had 20, Natasha Gibble 14 and Lauren Verhoef had a dozen. Erin Garns was busy at the setter position with 82 assists. In the dig department, Garns and Rudy each had 19. Jenny Fisher and Ema Bobbitt both notched 16. Gibble had 15 and Alex Baughman tagged 14. Gibble led with seven aces. Gearthart, Garns and Rudy had three each.

G-A is the top seeded team in the tournament and are ranked seventh in the state.