Evenly matched Whitehall and Freedom’s boys volleyball teams went to five sets on April 2 at Freedom where the Zephyrs prevailed over the Patriots, 3-2 (25-21, 23-25, 25-14, 18-25, 15-13).

“We’re a great team when we’re playing at the level we need to be, but when we get in slumps like in the last set, we can do whatever we need to do to win a match,” said Whitehall libero Brandon Bird. “Sticking together when it gets hard... That last set showed who we are. No matter what, we’ll always fight back.”

The Zephyrs dug out of a 0-6 hole in the fifth set after Whitehall coach George Cowitch called a timeout.

“We gotta play volleyball, our style of volleyball,” Cowitch said. “Guys weren’t doing their job, and that’s part of having young guys out there where they get caught in the moment, and that kind of hurt us a little bit, but 15-13 Set 5 win is all that matters now.”

Zephyr blocks by Elias Kamhia, Jayden Haik, and Omari Ratliff helped close the early fifth-set gap.

A point by Kamhia made the score 12-13, and the first tie came on a Freedom out-of-bounds ball at 13-13.

Whitehall won the next point when Freedom opposite hitter Ayden Willman was called for being under the net before the ball dropped, to the ire of Patriot coach John Yanek.

“Determination... We really wanted to win that game,” said Whitehall opposite hitter Cole Richards. “It was big for us. Fifth set, we stuck to the basics: get a pass, get a kill, and let’s keep moving.”

Richards had a tremendous first set, scoring the first two points of the match followed by two diving saves to make the score 4-1, and later, a kill through a Freedom block.

“I’ve got to give Kole Moyer a lot of props because he put me in a great spot,” Richards said. “With every single one of his sets, I was able to work with the ball and put it where I wanted to put it.”

A return by Julian Saba trickled over the net for another Zephyr point, Ratliff’s block put Whitehall ahead, 8-3, and Kamhia won the first set on a tip.

While Freedom maintained a four-to-six-point lead early in the second set, and with the score 7-13, Bird tallied his 1,000th career dig, becoming the first Zephyr to achieve the milestone in school history.

“A lot of my family came to this game, and that was important to me. I’m a big family guy, and I get to celebrate it with this team,” said Bird. “You know, a team that lost a few players and people said we’re not gonna be as good this year, and we’re trying to prove everyone wrong. I love that about us, the team mentality, and every team I’ve had helped push me, so I couldn’t have done it without everyone. That’s important to me.”

After a call against Freedom in the third set that seemed to throw the Patriots off their game, Whitehall scored five straight points to lead, 18-10, and ultimately go ahead, 2-1, overall.

The Zephyrs trailed for most of the fourth set, unable to capitalize on opportunities for scoring consecutive points.

“They are so good defensively,” said Cowitch of Freedom. “I think tonight was a matchup thing, so we got in a matchup in Set 5 that we wanted. I knew we weren’t gonna score right away, just because that’s our worst rotation, but when we got out of it, we knew we could push, so we got lucky.”