Springside Chestnut Hill Academy's Blue Devils hosted the Patriots of Germantown Academy last Tuesday in the final Inter-Ac League volleyball match for both squads.

Since GA came into the contest with a 5-2 league mark and SCH was 4-3, a win by the Devils would've tied them with the Patriots for second place. SCH played the Pats tough in all three sets, but in the end, Germantown won them all, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19.

Champions in both the Inter-Ac and in the Pa. Independent Schools tournament a year ago, the Patriots lost a pair of 3-2 matches to longtime power Academy of Notre Dame this fall, as the Irish swept through the league at 8-0. GA (17-5 overall) hopes to have a third crack at Notre Dame in the upcoming PAIS tourney.

Springside wound up 4-4 in the league for a third-place finish and was 10-5 overall.

Last Tuesday junior Pilar Presson and senior Liv Reynolds were the first servers for GA as the Patriots got away to an 8-1 lead, getting a strong kill from junior Emily Pokorny during this stretch. Host SCH then broke the string with a successful block by senior Bethany Haughton.

Later, junior Bridget Flannery's block had GA leading 14-6, then the Blue Devils scored for a side-out and sent senior Ava Lanzetta to the service line. The Marist College recruit delivered some serves the Patriots could not return, including a true ace near the baseline on the left side.

Lanzetta's serving stint trimmed GA's lead to 14-13, and a little later an errant hit by the Patriots allowed SCH to pull even at 15-all.

A kill by Caroline Smith provided the first of three straight points for the visitors. Smith, a senior who had recorded her 1000th kill the previous Friday, will sign with Carnegie Mellon University.

Still, with a score on a hit by freshman Chloe Roberts, Springside was just two points behind at 18-16.

Some skillful serving by sophomore Sidney Smith, along with a kill by Caroline Smith, helped Germantown pull away again. SCH would score just one more point (on a GA error) before the Pats put the set away, 25-17.

In the second set, kills by GA's Pokorny and senior Hadley Evans helped the Patriots gain an 8-1 advantage. SCH showed signs of life with a kill by Haughton and a service ace to the right rear corner by freshman Maddi Moynihan.

After that, a scoring tip and a kill by Mabagunje, unreturned serves by junior Madigan Wallach, and a few GA miscues reduced the SCH deficit to a single point at 11-10.

SCH gave up some points on errors during the next few minutes, but also got several kills from Moynihan before a Mabagunje serve that flummoxed GA allowed the Blue Devils to pull ahead, 18-16. When an SCH kill by Lanzetta and some Patriots mistakes led to a 21-19 Springside advantage, GA called a time-out.

Caroline Smith drove the ball down the left sideline for a GA point and then Pokorny served a ball that never came back, knotting up the score at 21-all. Each team then served into the net to make it 22-22.

The score inched up to 23-all, then an SCH serve went long over the baseline to bring up a set point for the visitors. A hit by Presson was stopped by an SCH block, but the ball dropped down on the Devils' side of the net to end the set at 25-23. The Patriots were now up 2-0 in the match.

For a change, SCH would take an early lead in set three, with a block by Haughton helping the hosts gain a 3-0 advantage. GA caught up at 4-4 thanks to a kill by Evans. Neither squad could acquire a significant lead, as the scoreboard seesawed up to 14-14.

Springside's offense then faltered, and back-to-back kills by Caroline Smith gave the visitors a five-point advantage at 20-15. The Pats then committed a serving error and a hitting error, then a hard, deep serve by the Blue Devils' Wallach was touched by a GA player before it traveled past the baseline.

The Devils had closed up the score to 20-18, but they gave the serve back to GA with a short pass that went into the net. A Caroline Smith kill was followed by an SCH hit that went long. A side-out occurred when the next Patriot serve burrowed into the net, making the score 23-19.

The visitors approached match point when junior Abby Traina stuffed the ball down over the net onto the Blue Devils' court. Sophomore right-side Delaney Schwartz wrapped up the affair with a crosscourt kill that closed out the set at 25-19.