Cape volleyball reaches state championship
The No. 2 Cape boys’ volleyball team entered uncharted territory May 18 in the sport’s first sanctioned DIAA state tournament, advancing to the state championship match with a 23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-13, 15-5 victory over No. 3 Wilmington Charter.
The Vikings (16-1) will face No. 1 Salesianum Tuesday, May 23, at Smyrna High School. Sallies garnered a 3-1 win over Delaware Military Academy in the other semifinal. It was the first time this season Sallies (17-0) dropped a set.
Cape’s lone loss of the season came to Sallies April 14.
Talan Stephens continues to be the glue holding the team together, spreading the wealth of sets to his front line. He put up 36 sets in the match. Billy Cerf slammed 13 kills, while Dylan Henry and Odin Potemski knocked down 11 and nine kills, respectively. Senior libero Niko Panyko bumped nine digs, while Brady Lamb bumped seven.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Panyko. “There are no words to describe the feeling. We are very excited and happy. I’m so proud of everyone. I’m at a loss for words.”
“I’m so blessed to be with this team and have this opportunity,” said Cerf. “I want to give thanks to my teammates who have done such a great job supporting me.”
Sophomore Kieran Morrisey served an ace and numerous winning points during key rallies in the fifth set.
“It’s a crazy situation to be in,” he said. “I just got up there and trusted myself, trusted my team, trusted my coaches. I’m super happy.”
Cape head coach Tyler Coupe, who graduated from Sallies in 2011 and was Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011, reflected on his team’s success this season.
“It feels good, man,” said Coupe. “It’s been eight years here and we haven’t had this kind of success with the girls’ or boys’ program. To do this in our third year of a boys’ program, it’s awesome. We preached really heavy at practice yesterday and really heavy during the match today that our culture is really good here within our program. It’s not how energetic we are, but how hard we practice, how much we care for each other. It’s how much we’re willing to fail to grow, and I think our culture came through tonight 100% in sets four and five.”
Charter was led by Aleksandr German with 44 assists, while Joe Mancuso bumped 30 digs and Kalen Shahan garnered 24 kills.
