The Garden Spot Spartans, playing in the opening round of the District Three Class 2A boy's volleyball playoffs, may have looked back to a regular-season match played right on their home court early in May as a source of motivation when they hosted the very same opponent - Cocalico.

The match was played on May the Fourth - the one day out of 365 that evokes punny posts across social media pertaining to an epic science fiction movie quote.

On that particular evening, the force was with the Spartans in the opening set as they ran away with a 25-9 win. However, the Imperial Forces foiled the quest for a win as Cocalico won the next three for a 3-1 victory.

The sequel opened on Tuesday, May 23 at the same theater - the Garden Spot gymnasium.

The plot twist, this time was for the Eagles to open with a win and for Garden Spot to put together a relentless comeback for a 3-1 victory.

"We split with them during the regular season," senior outside hitter Tanner Laukhuff stated. "I think we came out wanting revenge and proving that we were the better team."

"We wanted to take care of business, especially with what happened here two weeks ago," head coach Ben Rutt added.

The Cocalico Eagles, who ended their season at 11-6, overcame an early 8-6 deficit in the first set and scored the next six points. They had another five-point run a few minutes later. In all they had a seven-point lead twice at 18-11 and 20-13 before finally wrapping up a 25-18 victory.

Rutt explained that the team needed to get back to its usual style of play, which included avoiding errors, in order to turn the momentum.

"In game one, we gave up five or six points in a row and we lost by that many," Rutt noted. "It wasn't so much what Cocalico did as what we did with our servicing."

Though there were still half a dozen service errors in the second set, the Spartans fought to stay in the lead. The Eagles did get to within one point at 22-21 only to see Garden Spot score the next three points for the match-tying win.

Laukhuff poured in a match-high 28 kills while also finishing with nine digs, which tied Justin Mininger for the team lead in that category. Laukhuff was asked about how the blocking by the Garden Spot front line seemed to take the Eagles out of their rhythm.

"Every team gets frustrated when they can't put the ball away," Laukhuff replied. "I think it's even more frustrating when you can't get it over the net. The moment their big hitter, who is used to putting away every ball, stops being productive, they didn't know what to do anymore. They were scrambling trying to find someone to step up."

"Two weeks ago we beat them bad in the first game and we fell apart because we couldn't get those blocks," Rutt explained. "They were setting them up inside and we couldn't make the adjustment."

Rutt also addressed how the Spot blocking helped swing things in his team's favor.

"Early on our serving was very inconsistent," Rutt said. "We had too many service errors. I told them to focus on a couple of their guys and try to get them out of system. I thought we did a better job with our serves late, which got them out of system more and allowed us to set up our blocks well. We got some really good touches on a couple of their big guys."

Cocalico's big hitter on Tuesday night was senior Chase Stark, who finished with 12 kills. Giovannie Perez dished out 19 assists while Mason Lesher led the squad in digs with 10.

The Spartans withstood another six-point run by the Eagles in the third set. Cocalico, trailing 18-12, battled back to even the score in the pivotal third set. The Eagles stayed close, nipping at the home team's heels until Garden Spot increased its 22-21 lead once again with three straight points. Second set: 25-21.

"The third game was very pivotal," said Rutt. "I told the guys 'We don't want to go down 2-1.' We took it to them. We played really well, starting to get under their skin a little bit and getting them out of their team system."

Also coming through with crucial kills in the third and fourth sets was junior Ezra Hubik, who also earned two assists. Hubik also addressed the issue with the early service errors.

"Yes, that's been a problem in some of our past games as well," he said. "I'm sure we can get it going."

In the fourth and final set, the Spartans led by as many as nine points, using a five-point run to grab a 17-9 lead and later holding a commanding 19-10 advantage.

The Eagles had two brief spurts, especially when they scored three straight while facing match point at 24-15.

"They had a little run in the end," Hubik said. "But we knew we needed just that one to finish it off. We gave it our all."

"You'll play quality teams in the playoffs," Rutt explained "The further you go, the better the teams are. You're not going to blow anybody away; you'll have to win games by two, three or four points. And getting a team out of system, so they lose focus, can be the difference."

TRACK & FIELD

Angela Nuse sprinted to a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter dash at the District Three 3A track & field championships. The Spartan senior did trim some time off from her prelims where she ran a 12.67 and finished fourth. In the finals of the 100-m, she posted a time of 12.63.

The championships were held on Friday and Saturday, May 19-20, at Shippensburg University.

Kaleb Zimmerman, another senior, came through with another outstanding performance in the shot put. His throw sailed 48 feet 10.5 inches, only one inch shy of Lancaster-Lebanon League rival Weston Nolt of Ephrata. Nolt took sixth place at 48-11.5 while Zimmerman earned seventh.

In the girls' field events, Nuse recorded a 15-10 long jump to earn 13th place.

Also representing Garden Spot in districts was sophomore Megan Hechler. She took 24th place (17.07) in the 100 hurdles.