Eastern makes early splash
"The warm-up didn't go so well in terms of the hitting," Thompson said. "But it turned out I think that was just the depth perception. Once they settled down after the warm-up, they were ready to play."
Indeed. To the tune of a 25-20, 25-10, 25-19 sweep of District 7 second-place finisher Greater Latrobe to climb to the top of Pool A of Class AA after one of three matches along with Wyomissing, which took down Northern York in its first match.
The top two teams from each of the two pools advance to Saturday's semifinals and the 3-0 sweep puts Eastern in a strong position with two more three-game matches left to play.
"I was really pleased with the way we blocked," Thompson said of her District 3 championship team. "Our blocking was outstanding in that match. We keyed on that Wednesday and Thursday and they just went back to basics in that game. It would be hard-pressed to say Latrobe hit more than a half-dozen balls in three games cleanly with no touch against our block."
Eastern senior Mike Kraft, featured in this story from Thursday's paper, led the way for the Golden Knights with 12 kills, 10 digs and eight blocks. Setter Eric Chronister had 16 assists and Mike Knapp and Levi Myers contributed eight kills apiece.
Next up for the Golden Knights is Northern York at 12:20 p.m. If the Knights take down the Polar Bears and Wyomissing knocks off Greater Latrobe, Eastern is ensured a spot in the semifinals no matter what happens in its 3:20 contest against Wyomissing.
In Class AAA action, Central York just took the floor for its first pool play match against District 7 third-place finisher Penn Hills. Check back for the results of that match and further updates throughout the day from State College.
