There is an old saying in the sports world that not all wins are created equal with the general thought being that a late season or postseason win holds greater significance than an early season tilt. You would be hard pressed to find a sports fan that does not believe the statement to be true on some level but if you come across an individual that needs convincing, we have the Manheim Central boys' volleyball team. The Barons are currently rocking a 17-1 record and while back-to-back 3-0 wins over Elizabethtown (3A) and Cocalico (2A), both District 3 playoff qualifiers, to open the season were nice, they do not compare with the 3-0 victory Central picked up on June 6th.

The reason- the June 6th win came over Obama Academy in the PIAA-2A playoffs which was Manheim's fifth straight win in the PIAA-2A opening round and their 12th sweep of the season. Head coach Craig Dietrich mentioned discipline and serving as reasons for the 25-9, 25-9 and 25-11 throttling of the Eagles, saying, "We played very disciplined volleyball which is what we want to be doing this time of year. We had 22 service aces as a team which is unheard of."

Dylan Musser fronted the serving attack, tallying 11 aces to go with 18 assists, seven digs and two blocks. The Barons added 31 digs to their 22 aces with Colin Rohrer leading that pack with nine. Reagan Miller enjoyed four aces and three kills with his eight digs while Jacob Moyer added six kills and two aces to his seven digs. Logan Groff helped with five kills while Kevin Saengdara chipped in with three aces. Landon Mattiace joined the fun with a five block, two kill and one ace game.

Central earned that PIAA-2A game with another June win, this one coming on the 1st over York Suburban. The tightly contested 3-1 victory pushed Manheim into the PIAA field as the third and final District 3 entry while sending Suburban home for the summer. Dietrich mentioned errors as the cause behind narrow wins of 27-25, 25-23 and 26-24 as well as the 26-24 game three loss. "We didn't play our best (27 Attack errors) but when the score got into the 20's we played like the better more confident team."

Having the ability to lean on five members of this year's District 3-2A All-District team was a massive boost to the confidence that Dietrich mentioned. Of course, the team leaning on those five is not really accurate, Musser, Moyer, Mattiace, Frey and Groff were more like heavy lifters than leaning posts. Musser, a first team selection, finished the win with a staggering 51 assists while adding 14 digs, three blocks and two aces. Moyer, also a first team member, had 14 kills, seven digs and two blocks. Central's second team members, Frey and Mattiace combined for 10 kills, all by Mattiace, nine blocks (five for Mattiace, four for Frey) and three digs (all by Frey). Groff was the final All-District member, securing a place on the third team with the help of his 14 kill, five dig and two block game. The Barons also got big games from Rohrer (14 digs) and Peter Burkhart (14 digs, 11 kills and three blocks) while Saengdara added one ace.