Josiah Picard

READING — Chambersburg traveled a long way for its opening match in the District 3 Class 3A boys volleyball playoffs Thursday evening, but it was worth it.

The Trojans polished off No. 8 seed Palmyra 3-1 at Exeter Township by winning the first two games, 25-22 and 25-19, dropping the third 25-20, but ending it with a 25-20 victory in the final set.

Chambersburg (12-5), the No. 9 seed, will now face No. 1 seed Cumberland Valley (16-0) on Monday in a quarterfinal match. It is scheduled for 7:30 at CV, after No. 4 Central York (12-1) and No. 5 Hempfield (14-1) play a quarterfinal at 6:00.

“It was a good win tonight, and now we get to prep for CV (once again),” Trojan coach Marta Helfrick said.

At the net, Chambersburg hit at a robust .441 clip, with Steven Swain (14 kills in 21 attempts), Josiah Picard (12-for-18), Will Simmers (7-18) and Jayden Thomas (5-8) causing the most damage.

Thomas had three block kills and six blocks, while Simmers had two block kills and seven kills.

Helfrick said, “We had a slow start to each set, but the guys found the energy mid-set to pull through. In Game 3, we lacked energy and struggled to pass against one player’s serve, and Palmyra took advantage of it.”

But after the Cougars (14-2), who tied with Lower Dauphin for the Mid Penn Keystone Division title, got to within 2-1, Chambersburg won Game 4.

“I would have liked to pass better to take some pressure off the setters with the offense,” Helfrick said, “but we found a way around it.”

Wes Newman led the Trojans in service points with 18, while Trey Stepler had 15, Spencer Rajtik 14 and Picard and Swain 13 each. Picard added a pair of aces.

Newman, Rajtik and Picard each had eight digs and Swain had seven. Assists were fairly evenly split between Rajtik (20) and Stepler (19).

Chambersburg has now won four matches in a row, and six of its last seven. Cumberland Valley has defeated the Trojans twice this year, both times by 3-1 scores, and the teams have met in at least one tournament this season.