Germantown Academy volleyball head coach Chuck Dougherty, now in his fifth season with the Patriots, has steadily upgraded GA’s nonleague schedule to prepare his charges for Inter-Ac League competition.

The Pats opened their season last Tuesday with a 3-1 victory over Villa Maria Academy, traditionally one of the stronger programs in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies. The following day, Germantown hosted a brand-new opponent, Spring-Ford Area High School from Royersford in northwestern Montgomery County. Spring-Ford is a large school district and competes in the highest division of the Pa. Interscholastic Association’s District 1.

Wednesday’s contest was indeed a valuable challenge for the GA squad. They won two close sets at the start, 25-19 and 25-21, then the visiting Rams rallied to capture the next two fiercely-fought sets, 25-21, 25-23. Spring-Ford gained some separation early in the fifth round, winning 15-8 to leave Fort Washington with a 3-2 victory and a 2-0 record.

GA started the match with an experienced lineup consisting of one junior, opposite-side hitter Delaney Schwartz, and five seniors: Kat Kou (middle blocker/opposite), Emily Pokorny (outside hitter/middle blocker), Pilar Presson (outside hitter), Nicole Ward (setter), and Abby Traina (libero). Sophomore Sylvia Parker (middle/outside) regularly rotated into the formation.

In the opening set, the two sides seesawed up to 6-6, then the Patriots began to create a gap. They got hits and tips up front from Presson and Pokorny, and the Rams were also making some errors with overly aggressive hits that sent the ball out of bounds.

A four-point stint at the service line by Traina helped the hosts go up 15-8, and when they reached 20 points, Spring-Ford was still back at 13. The visitors extended the set with four kills by sophomore Elle Sossong. The other hitter, senior Lila Olsen, would come on strong later in the match with a total of 30 kills.

Spring-Ford returned within five points of GA at 24-19, then Presson put the set away for the home team with an off-speed hit that took the Rams a bit by surprise.

Ward would be the first server for Germantown throughout the match. She is the only one of the GA seniors who currently has set plans to play in college: beach volleyball at Tennessee Tech. Spring-Ford’s Sossong also excels on the sand.

The second set, like the first, featured an early 6-6 tie, until the Rams forged ahead with a four-point run. The Pats came back and were down by only one when a Presson kill got them a side-out at 12-12. Ward went to the service line for a six-point stay that included kills by Presson, a scoring tip by Kou, and several Spring-Ford miscues.

Behind the front row, the GA setters and defensive specialists were diving and sacrificing their bodies to make some impressive digs and saves just millimeters above the surface of the court. If someone had applied some floor wax to their uniforms before the match, they would have polished the hardwood to perfection.

The Patriots appeared to have set two well in hand when the count reached 24-16, but then the Rams battled back, with some belts by Olsen helping them close things up to 24-20 and forcing a GA timeout. In these huddles assistant coach Eli Porr, the team’s “X’s and O’s” man, does a lot of the talking.

When play resumed, the visitors got one more point, then Ward finished the set for GA with a “quick” misdirection on the second touch that fooled the Rams.

After several exchanges in set three, the teams were once again even at 6-6. Later, the scoreboard was level at 14-14, then Spring-Ford gradually moved ahead for good, benefiting, in part, from some flubbed service returns by the Patriots.

The visitors attained a 20-16 advantage, and from there they pretty much traded points with the Patriots until they prevailed, 25-21.

Neither side led by more than a few points at any stage of the fourth set, and near the end a kill by Presson nudged Germantown ahead, 23-22. The visitors drew even with a strike by Olsen, then blocked a GA hit to reach set point. Olsen drove the ball down to the floor again for a 25-23 Rams win that forced a fifth set.

After a 2-2 tie early in the truncated fifth stage, Spring-Ford went on a 6-1 run and the Patriots never recovered, finally going down 15-8. Coach Dougherty’s Germantown Academy squad got a real workout, as he’d anticipated, and would be better off for it going into the heart of the season.