Johnny Moran, Cade Palmer lead high-energy Palmyra in reverse sweep over Lower Dauphin

HUMMELSTOWN — Energy is real in sports.

When it’s on your side, it can be infectious and game changing. When it’s not, well, things can go bad quickly.

In the Mid-Penn boys volleyball Keystone battle between Palmyra and Lower Dauphin Thursday evening, the energy was on one sideline and it made all the difference.

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Palmyra (6-2, 5-1 Keystone) suffered tough losses in the first two sets. A jolt of energy helped the Cougars secure their fourth-consecutive victory with a reverse 3-2 sweep over Lower Dauphin (4-5, 2-5).

The first two sets mirrored each other.

The Falcons came out hot, building a significant lead. Palmyra then responded thanks to a service run, but ultimately fell short 27-25 by the end of the set.

Palmyra came out in the next three sets firing.

The Cougars served well, passed well and turned their energy up to 100 en route to a reverse sweep against the defending Keystone champions.

Here’s how it happened.

The stars

 Johnny Moran was clutch for the Cougars.

The star setter led the team with 50 assists and served the ball well. Moran went on multiple service runs and recorded 3 aces.

“I couldn’t do it without him,” assistant coach Joey McInerney, who was filling in for head coach John McInerney, said. “He’s a fantastic setter. He’s consistent on the end line serving and a nice calming force for the team.”

His hitters didn’t let him down either.

Logan Oum (18), Andrew Martin (15) and Cade Palmer (12) combined for 35 kills on the night.

Lower Dauphin’s Henry Smullen played just about as well as anyone on the Falcons. Every time a point needed to be scored Smullen was the guy.

He finished with 8 kills and 2 blocks.

Game-winning moments

Lower Dauphin came out swinging in the first two sets, building leads that were as large as seven points.

Palmyra fought back in both instances, but LD battled back to secure wins in sets one and two.

Now down 2-0, Palmyra needed a spark.

The Cougars opened set three with a 12-2 run that energized the entire squad. Palmyra rolled to a 25-14 set three win.

Not that Palmyra needed it, but a member of the bench yelled “stay confident” as the Cougars took the court for set four. The Cougars then built an 18-8 lead in set four, cruising to a 25-13 win.

Palmyra’s 11-3 start to set five was too much for LD to overcome, and the Cougars walked out of the Lower Dauphin gymnasium with a victory.

They said it

“We try to practice hard everyday. We get our kids loud in the gym, making sure they have high energy. We started a little slow, but once we got in our groove the energy got loud and you saw the results.” - Palmyra assistant coach Joey McInerney said about why this Cougars team has so much energy.

“When things aren’t going great we start pointing fingers and blaming each other, but then one of us starts giving energy and everything else just piles on. We start playing well, lifting each other up and playing our game.” - Palmyra’s Johnny Moran on what the Cougars do when things aren’t going like they planned.

“Personally, when I’m up at the net blocking, I struggle a bit. But I know my back row, no matter what happens, they’re not going to yell at me… We never get mad at each other, we combine our strengths to the best of our abilities.” - Palmyra’s Cade Palmer on the team’s defense.

“We talked to them. We got them going a couple times. I told them during sets three and four when we were far behind, ‘you have to want to have fun and play the game and willing to show some emotion.‘” - Lower Dauphin head coach David Machsmer on the Falcons’ energy after dropping the third and fourth sets.

Scoring summary

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