Hempfield boys' volleyball coach Mike Vogel summed up Wednesday nights' victory at Central Dauphin in four simple words, "We never gave up."

The Black Knights (19-1) won their third District Three Class 3A playoff game in a week's time by defeating the Rams 3-2. The victory in the semifinals came against the district's top-seeded team, earning the Black Knights a trip to the championship game.

The Rams (17-2) won the first two sets and saw a determined Hempfield side come back to win two in a row, forcing a tiebreaker fifth set.

"In the first game, we just made some errors," said Vogel. "The second game was almost a repeat of the first one.

"We reduced the errors in the third game and winning that was a confidence booster," continued the coach. "We had momentum and won the fourth won."

The Rams came to erase a four-point Hempfield lead on two occasions in that tiebreaker set.

"We were up 5-1 and 8-4 and they tied it 14-14," Vogel explained. "Our blocking shut them down in the most opportune times. It's a tribute to our kids. They never gave up."

Fighting an uphill battle with the aforementioned errors, the Knights fell 25-22 and 25-21 before claiming each of the next two sets by the same score - 25-20. They held off the Rams 17-15 in the fifth set.

Ryan Givens delivered with 22 kills on the night for Hempfield. Mason Orth led the team with four aces and 16 digs while Grant Lorelli topped the team in blocks with five.

Hempfield, which entered the district playoffs as the fifth-seeded team, had to travel to Palmyra for the quarterfinals last Monday. They won the opening set 26-24 as the Cougars continued to claw their way back. The second set went to Palmyra 25-18. The Knights held on for a 25-23 win and finished off the Cougars 25-19 in the fourth set.

"Palmyra is a very good team," Vogel said. "It was a hard-fought victory. All of the games were tight and you didn't know who was going to win until late in the fourth game.

"They did stuff we hadn't seen all year," Vogel added. "They jump-served us. We just couldn't handle their serves even though we pride ourselves on our passing."

What helped Hempfield, however, was the inconsistency in Palmyra's strengths.

"They couldn't string a bunch of serves together," Vogel said.

"Michael Keene and Chris Rivera came through with some huge points," added the coach. "Rivera had a thunderous kill at the most opportune time. Also, Givens had some key blocks."

Givens led the team in kills (18) and blocks (4). Orth had two aces and 22 digs.

Hempfield reached the quarterfinals, beating Conestoga Valley 3-0 on Thursday, May 20. The Knights wore down the opponent 25-18, 25-14 and 25-9.

Givens led with 18 kills. Orth came through with 24 digs.

"Winning this advanced us to the state tournament," Vogel pointed out. "Anyone who plays a sport, your dream is to play in a state championship. These kids are starting to realize that. I'm very proud of this group - we had only one returning starter and we are advancing to the state tournament."

BOYS' LACROSSE

Hempfield reached the District Three Class 3A boys' lacrosse championship game by upending Central York in the semifinals 13-11 on Monday evening.

However, two days after that, Hempfield had to deal with the suspending of the championship game due to rain.

The match was in a rain delay. With Wilson leading, 7-3, at halftime the district officials decided to suspend the game with play resuming Thursday, May 27.

As for the Central York match, the Panthers were one of only two teams (Manheim Township the other) to have posted a victory over Hempfield during the regular season - an 11-6 win on May 8.

The Knights had entered district play as the fourth seed while the Panthers were the top seed, earning a first-round bye thanks to that position.

Hempfield's sensational offense had outscored opponents 238-114 while the Knights went 16-2 through and including the district semifinal match.

The Knights took an 8-6 lead into the second half and increased their advantage to 11-8 by the end of the third quarter.

Max Grube led the scoring with six goals and two assists. Zack Antesberger notched a hat trick while Jason Hilton tallied two goals. A.J. McAlpine scored one goal and assisted on another in this close contest. Toby Marco also netted a goal.

Matty Weist was another key to the Knights' victory, grabbing 12 saves in front of the Hempfield net.

GIRLS' LACROSSE

The Hempfield girls' lacrosse team drew Manheim Township in its District Three 3A quarterfinals round match on Thursday, May 20. The seventh-seeded Black Knights traveled to face the L-L League champion Blue Streaks and were turned away by a 19-8 score.

Township out-shot Hempfield 27-14 as the Streaks advanced to the semifinals, assuring themselves a spot in the state playoffs.

Kelsea Dague scored four times for Hempfield. Brynn Axe added a hat trick while Whitney Hershey tallied one goal. The Knights ended their 2021 season with a 13-7 mark.

The Streaks were led by Sydney Witmer (5 goals) and Megan Rice (4 goals).

TRACK

The District Three Class 3A Track & Field Championships took place at Shippensburg University on Friday and Saturday, May 21-22. The Hempfield boys' team scored 15 team points and finished in a tie for 18th place with Lampeter-Strasburg.

Among the top finishers was Tanner Hess. He took sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.09. Hess was 12th in the 200-m semifinals (23.13).

Perhaps the top achievement of the weekend was the state-qualifying performance by the foursome of Owen Jackson, Aiden Hodge, Chris Titter and David Jackson. In the 4x800 relay, they posted a time of 7:56.39, finishing third and qualifying for the PIAA 3A championships.

In the 4x100 relay, Tom Minnich, Elijah Hinton, Diellon Trinaku and Hess took seventh place with a time of 43.59.

In the 3,200m race, Hodge was seventh at 9:33.37 while fellow sophomore Joseph Fahrney was 16th (9:5584).

Owen Jacksin (2:01.09) and David Jackson (2:02.02) were eighth and 12th, respectively, in the 800m while Titter's time of 2:04.05 was good for 15th.

In field events, senior Russell Hanes came through with a 164-foot-9 javelin throw, earning eighth place. Hess had a shot-put of 44-10.5, taking 12th place and Minnich's 40-0.5 triple jump was good for 15th.

The girls' 4x800 relay earned 16th place. The quartet of Lily Williams, Gabby Hollinger, Molly Siebert and Hiwat Wisotzkey had a combined time of 10:19.58.

Olivia Wentzel was 17th in the triple jump with 32-5.5.