Undefeated Mars boys volleyball beats Armstrong to reach WPIAL championship goal

By: Ted Sarneso
Friday, May 24, 2024 | 11:43 PM

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Coming into the season, the Mars boys volleyball team had a goal of going undefeated and winning a WPIAL championship.

On Friday night, the top-seeded Fightin’ Planets accomplished their goal with a 3-0 sweep of No. 6 Armstrong in the Class 2A title match at AHN Arena at Peters Township.

“It was really helpful that we only lost one senior from last year,” said junior setter Kyler Robinson. “We had good chemistry all year.”

“This is one of the coolest things I’ve done in my athletic career,” added senior middle blocker Ryan Ceh. “First WPIAL championship I’ve played in and the first one I’ve won.”

Mars (20-0) had a chance to be immaculate this season, going the first 16 games without dropping a set. Their first lost set came May 2 against Latrobe.

“We were upset when we finally lost our first set,” said Robinson, “but it was good for us to get a taste of losing and know we didn’t want to feel that way again this season.”

The Planets lost just three more sets the rest of the way, dropping one to Gateway in the WPIAL quarterfinals and coming back from down 2-1 against Ambridge to get to the title match.

“The kids have been working hard since November, and it showed for the first half of the year,” said Mars coach Mike Nypaver. “We came out rolling and in good form. As teams started to catch up and present challenges, we were still getting better and showed a lot of heart through the rest of the season.”

Coming into the title match trying to preserve their unblemished record, Nypaver noticed his team was a little nervous.

“It wasn’t nerves for the perfect season, just nerves in general,” said Nypaver. “But I give them credit, they came out strong and showed some resilience in the tight first set.”

Armstrong (11-9) came out loose and put the clamps on Mars’ three major hitters in Ceh, junior Derek Piatek and senior Kaden Gratton.

“As a coach, you strategically try to block them,” said River Hawks coach Andrea Lasher. “There were little things we tried to do, and it worked for a little bit, but they flow very well and are quick.”

Try as it might, Armstorng could only hold off Ceh’s attack for so long before he made his presence known. Ceh finished the first set with three kills, a couple of blocks and quite an outstanding play.

Mars senior defensive specialist Amir Ali dug a ball that flew high into the air in the opposite direction of the net and looked like it was going to go out way in the corner. Ceh hustled from the front court, no-looking the ball over the net.

River Hawks defensive specialist Alec Formaini let it go, thinking it was going out, but it dropped in for a 16-13 Mars lead. The Fightin’ Planets took the first set 25-19.

“He does things a lot of people can’t do,” said Nypaver.

In the second set, Armstrong stuck with its gameplan of stopping Ceh, even blocking him a couple of times, but once again, he was able to find a way to get points, whether it was a spike or lightly tapping it to open floor.

“He has great court vision and has been hitting those tip shots for the three years he’s been a starter,” said Nypaver. “He’s a different kind of kid and a heck of a competitor.”

“They’ve seen us a lot, so they had a good double block up on me from the start,” said Ceh. “I tried the tip early in the first and the second sets and was able to drop it in, so I figured, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

The River Hawks recorded six total blocks in the second set and stormed back from a 17-14 deficit to tie the score 18-18.

Junior outside hitter Brendan Savinda had two of his eight kills and fellow senior outside hitter Nathan Rosenberger had two kills and a block.

Ceh, who finished the night with 15 kills and four blocks, brought Mars back with two blocks and a kill as the Fightin’ Planets won the set 25-21.

Kyler Robinson had 26 assists and Piatek had 15 kills, three block and a pair of digs.

Both teams traded points in the third set and the score was 5-5 before Mars went on an 11-4 run behind three kills from Ceh, a kill and block by Piatek and an ace by senior Liam Quinn.

“The first two sets, we were a bit uncomfortable,” said Piatek. “By the third set, we had seen how worn down they were, the crowd knew the win was in sight, and we just played our best volleyball to get that win.”

Mars won the final set 25-16.

Despite the loss, Armstrong had a great year, coming from out of nowhere and making the finals as a six seed.

“The message coming in was to enjoy the game,” said Lasher. “All of us never thought we’d get this far. What these boys have accomplished to get to this point speaks volumes. These kids have heart, love the game of volleyball and have fun.”

For the River Hawks, junior setter Sam Dosch had 15 assists and six digs, junior defensive specialist Alec Formaini had nine digs, and Rosenberger finished with seven kills.

With the championship, the Fightin’ Planets joined the school’s boys and girls lacrosse teams in bringing home three WPIAL championships in three days this week.

The Planets will take their undefeated record into states, where they hope to keep up this incredible run.

“We’ve done a great job all year of buying in to doing whatever we have to do to win and doing our jobs,” said Ceh. “If we continue to do that, we’ll keep rolling and stay up on this hill we’ve been on all year.”

Ambridge 3, Thomas Jefferson 2 – Karson Merlina had 27 kills to lead No. 4 Ambridge (14-4) to a five-set victory over No. 10 Thomas Jefferson (13-6) in the Class 2A third-place match to earn a spot in the PIAA tournament. Set scores were 19-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 15-13. Donovan Bober added 13 kills and eight digs and Sam Miller dished out 46 assists for the Bridgers.

Tags: Armstrong, Mars