A season of firsts for Springside Chestnut Hill volleyball ended Nov. 3 in the Blue Devils’ home gym. In late October, SCH clinched its first outright Inter-Ac League championship with a 10-0 record. On Nov. 3, they played in the first Pa. Independent Schools championship game held on SCH’s Cherokee Street campus (the former Springside School).

Facing second-seeded Agnes Irwin School, the top-seeded Devils battled the visiting Owls through three tough sets, winning them all to seize the PAIS title and finish the season with an overall record of 17-0.

It was the school’s first Independent Schools volleyball title.

SCH head coach Dave Noll noted, “We got to the final last year, and we lost to a very experienced Notre Dame team. Coming into this season, our sights were always set here, to these championships.”

Noll has just wrapped up his 10th season at Springside Chestnut Hill; before that, he coached Agnes Irwin to multiple Inter-Ac titles.

Over the past few seasons, an influx of talented young players helped the Blue Devils dramatically improve their standing in the league. In the 2023-24 season, SCH had a discouraging 1-7 record within the Inter-Ac, but the next year the Blue Devils moved up to 4-4.

In 2025-26, there was a three-way tie for the league championship between SCH and two perennial powers, Germantown Academy and the Academy of Notre Dame, who all had 6-2 records. Springside Chestnut Hill reached the PAIS finals for the first time at the end of that season, falling to defending champ Notre Dame.

Episcopal Academy introduced a volleyball program this fall, making for a 10-match home/away Inter-Ac season.

After the Blue Devils’ 10-0 finish, the Inter-Ac coaches unanimously selected SCH junior hitter Maddi Moynihan as the 2026 league MVP. She had 13 or more kills in 14 matches, leading the team in that category with a total of 187, and in service aces, with 61. In the last two of the three matches against top rival GA, she had 24 kills in the regular-season finale and 23 in the PAIS semifinals.

While SCH’s number-one ranking for the PAIS tournament made sense, the rest of the seeding seemed peculiar. GA, which finished second in the Inter-Ac and was the only team all season to force Springside Chestnut Hill into a fifth set, was seeded fifth.

In the Independent Schools semifinals, the Blue Devils defeated the GA Patriots, 3-1, while Irwin won by the same score over sixth-seeded Notre Dame. SCH had knocked off Irwin by 3-1 scores in their two Inter-Ac encounters.

“They’re a good team,” Noll said of the Owls. “They serve very well, they’ve got some good blockers, and their outsides really keep the ball going.”

Asked how he approaches different opponents, Noll responded, “Our approach is pretty much the same in every game. We have some specific things we want to do for different teams based on their personnel, but we focus a lot on our side. Strategy-wise, we see how their defense is set up and make our adjustments from there.”

The PAIA final started with a four-point SCH service run by Moynihan that featured kills by fellow juniors Chloe Roberts and Simisola Mabogunje. A little later, Roberts combined with senior Sidney Smith for a successful block and Smith scored on a tip-over.

The Blue Devils appeared to be in control with a 10-4 lead, but a few minutes after that the Owls engineered a surge of six straight points to lead the set, 13-12. SCH rebounded, getting kills from Moynihan and senior Elijah McMullen (a team captain along with Smith and Kalyn Freund), as well as an unreturned serve by Moynihan that snaked over the net tape.

Irwin called time-out, now down 14-16. The visitors got a point back on an SCH error, but then the Blue Devils posted four of the next five points for a 20-16 advantage. Irwin kept battling, but eventually a kill by Moynihan brought up set point at 24-20. The junior then joined up with McMullen for a scoring block at the left post, closing things out at 25-20.

Early in set two, SCH put together a seven-point run as a hit by Roberts got a side-out and Freund then served for six in a row. Freund’s younger sister Lielle, a sophomore setter, had done a good job all season blending in with the older players, gaining their trust in directing the offense. Cora Zimmerman, member of the Devils’ strong junior class, is a defensive specialist who shifts wherever she’s needed to fill in behind the front row.

Despite dropping behind early in the second set, Agnes Irwin refused to fold, charging back to tie the score at 18-18 and later at 22-22. However, a pair of Owl errors got the hosts to set point. Irwin picked up one more point before a bash by Moynihan wrapped things up at 25-23.

Now facing a do-or-die situation, the visitors kept pace with the Devils during the early stages of the third set. Several Moynihan kills then gave SCH some separation at 15-11, but the Owls clawed back, catching up and then edging ahead, 17-16.

Hoping to force a fourth set, Irwin bumped its lead up to three points at 20-17; then SCH got a side-out with a swing by Mabogunje. Roberts scored on a tip and then the tally evened out at 20-20 when an Irwin hit went out over the baseline.

In the middle, Smith got some help on a block from Lielle Freund, and when an Irwin tip went out of bounds over the left sideline, the Owls called time-out with a 20-22 deficit. On a belt by Roberts, the ball struck an Irwin player and zoomed to the back of the gym, and when the Owls were unable to handle the next serve by the Blue Devils’ Mabogunje, match point came up at 24-20.

Irwin stayed alive thanks to an errant serve. Then, on the next point Smith, in the middle, tipped the ball over the net past the Owls to end the set (25-21) and the match.