Fourth seed Brockport ran out to a two-sets-to-zero advantage, but dropped the next two before rebounding in the fifth set behind five kills and a match-clinching ace by fifth-year varsity player and senior Troy Leibert to defeat fifth-seed Irondequoit in the quarterfinal round of the Class B1 boys volleyball playoffs.
“We just said we had to push and that we’re not losing on our home court and we had to do it for the fans,” Leibert said about the hallway huddle after the fourth set.
“Mostly we just picked ourselves up and just stayed positive and we made our serves and that’s what counted.”
Leibert had six kills in Brockport’s 25-21 win in the first set with junior Owen Gardner also helping with three kills of his own along with aces from juniors Patrick Kiesow and James McArdle late.
The second set was tied 9-9 before the Blue Devils went on a 12-3 run with sophomore Liam Northrup registering two kills and junior Ryan Levcik one kill and one ace in the stretch of what became a 25-18 victory.
Irondequoit avoided a sweep with a late 16-6 run in the third set to win 25-14. In the fourth set, Brockport trailed by as many as four points several times before closing to within two points of the lead at 17-15 before the Eagles outscored them 8-4 to win 25-19 and send the match to a fifth and deciding set.
That’s when the Blue Devils disappeared into the back hallway for a team meeting and responded by jumping out to an 8-3 lead as junior Nicholas Johnson registered a block for point, Gardner a kill and junior Cody Huss a dig for kill along with Leibert’s two kills. They finished off the 15-8 win as Leibert followed an ace by Kiesow with kills for the 13th and 14th points before ending the match with his fifth ace.
“I think we got a little ahead of ourselves and we started to get down and tired, but once we realized we needed this, we picked ourselves up and we did it,” Leibert summarized.
“He’s been a leader the entire time – he’s basically our perennial senior with five years now on varsity, so he just told them to relax,” Brockport’s head coach said. “He knows what kind of game we can play and he was going to lead us there.”
Leibert finished with 18 kills in the match with five aces and 15 digs while Johnson added three kills and five blocks. Gardner had 12 kills, Levcik dished out 37 assists and libero Huss tied for the team lead with 15 digs.
Brockport advances to the semifinals against top-seed Churchville-Chili.
