By Andrew Marcus
Sportswriter

FLOURTOWN – Sophomore Nici Bonacci had little varsity time this season for the Pennridge volleyball team, but with starting setter Carly Snider out of the lineup, Bonacci was placed into right into the rotation on Tuesday in the first round of District One Class AAA playoffs against Mount St. Joseph Academy. The team remained confident, but the nerves for the Rams got the best of them and the Magic swept, winning 25-7, 25-14, and 25-14.

“It was definitely tough, but Nici did a fantastic job,” Rams’ coach Dave Childs said. “From a confidence standpoint, it hurt, but she made some great plays. She’s done well all season setting on jayvee and she was the best for the job.”

When the Mount St. Joseph volleyball team saw the brackets for District One playoffs, and a match against their friends from Hatboro-Horsham looming the in the second round, the Magic made it more of a must-win game against the Rams than it already was.

The Magic wasted little time setting the tone for the entire match. They jumped out to a 13-0 lead in game one and never looked back. The Rams felt the jitters of playoff volleyball and made uncharacteristic mistakes.

“We didn’t play our game from the first point until the last point,” Childs said. “It was a little surprising we started like that. We shot ourselves in the foot. They executed and we didn’t.”

The first ball went flying all over the floor, making Bonacci scurry under wayward passes all night. With seven unforced errors in game one and nine unforced errors in game two, the Rams had found themselves down 2-0 to the Magic.

“My biggest warning was don’t ever look past your first round opponent or it will bite you,” Magic coach George Trabosh said. “We have some experience, we played in a tough league, and we executed well tonight.”

The Magic implemented multiple weapons and multiple ways to get the job done. With a unique formation that used their entire front row to set, swings came at the Rams from all different angles. Patrice Mulhern led the Magic with nine kills, Carlie Krill added five and Michaela McCrudden added four kills.

“We ran the plays well,” Mulhern said. “It’s the coaches’ own creation and everybody on the front row sets. We scrimmaged Pennridge and we knew we needed to come out hard and play our game.”

The Rams refused to lie down and the seniors Jen Moyer and Brittany O’Hara attacked until the final point. Moyer led the Rams with six kills and four blocks and O’Hara added four kills and two aces.

The experienced Magic kept their focus on the Rams and they did not look ahead to their friends over Hatboro-Horsham. The Magic were happy about the win on Tuesday, but already focused on the showdown with the Hatters on Thursday.

“We’re excited to play our friends from our club team,” Mulhern said. “It just adds more motivation. We know we’ll need to come out and play hard.”

The early exit for the Continental Conference champs is disappointing, but it doesn’t take anything away from a successful season. Moyer and O’Hara is a lot of offense to replace, but a strong sophomore class has Childs excited about the future at Pennridge.

“It would have been nice to advance in districts,” Childs said. “It’s been a good season. We bring back a great sophomore class and you saw a lot of them tonight.”