Perfection!

The Parkland Trojans won the PIAA Class 3A boys volleyball championship with a perfect 23-0 record after knocking out Shaler High School in straight sets this past Saturday at Penn State.

The straight set victory was apropos for a team that lost just five sets all season. Parkland took the match with 25-15, 25-18, and 25-17 wins in the three sets.

After taking a 4-3 lead on a serve by Luke Smith, Parkland pulled away quickly in the first set and opened its lead to 10-4. Smith led the Trojans with five kills in the opening set and his first kill led to Parkland opening its lead after being tied.

Smith took over on serves and with Parkland up 4-3, served an ace and then saw Chase Robbins and Owen Rodgers add kills as he put his team up 8-3, a deficit that the Titans would not be able to overcome.

Smith produced four more serves in the set while Robbins and Josh Nation each had three and Rodgers finished with two.

“I can’t say enough about how the guys played today,” said Parkland head coach Scott Trumbauer, who led the team to its second state championship in eight seasons. “The way they came out fast and looked comfortable, I truly don’t have the words for the way they played, the way they carried themselves and how they responded when Shaler was putting pressure on us.”

Parkland has lost two opening sets all season and the Trojans knew that not allowing Shaler (19-2) to make it three would go a long way toward setting the tone for the match.

“If we won that first set, then we would have all the momentum to keep going and especially when the sets are good, the defense is good and the hitting is good, we have all the momentum,” said Smith.

Parkland opened with the serve to start set number-two and Will Stiles opened the set with a strong serve. Nation finished off the volley with a block. After two kills by Rodgers and a block by Smith, Parkland was up 4-0 before Shaler could steal the serve.

Even though they were able to get serve back, the Titans were unable to get any service points until much later in the set. Parkland opened a 14-6 lead with Brady Hayward picking up two kills along the way to help Parkland expand its lead. Hayward finished with four kills in the set for the Trojans.

Shaler did look to make a comeback and got its first service point of the set when Logan Schimmel took over on serves. Shaler worked their way back from a 14-6 deficit to trail 14-10 before the next side out for the Trojans. In all, the Titans picked up just four points off serves in the set and fell 25-15.

Shaler refused to give up on its chance at winning a state championship. The Titans played their best volleyball in the third set but were down 8-6 when Dunnovan Ronel took over on serves.

The volley was the most exciting one of the match as both teams had impressive saves to keep the battle going. Kumayl Soonasra finally had enough and added a kill to his scoresheet and the Trojans got the next point to go up 10-6. From there, Parkland was able to take control and made it 13-7.

The six-point margin might have appeared to be comfortable, but the Titans cut the margin slightly and trailed 15-10 as Cam Miller took over on serves and brought his team to within three at 15-12 before Parkland broke serve. With Soonasra serving, the Trojans saw Robbins deliver an impressive kill as Parkland moved its lead to 18-12 before a service error sent the serve back to Shaler.

Parkland moved the game to 22-14 and with the score at 23-16, Rodgers delivered a kill to move Parkland within a point of gold medals. The Titans broke serve but a kill from Robbins ended the set and the match for the Trojans.

“It was only fitting that he had that final kill for us,” said Trumbauer. “I think everybody knew it was going to him. Everybody knows that Chase is the go-to in many offensive situations and he came up huge today for us in the back row.”

Parkland had 33 kills, three blocks, and an ace in the game, with Robbins leading the way with nine kills and Smith second on the team with eight. Shaler was only able to manage 11 kills, four blocks and an ace.