READING — The Chambersburg boys volleyball team will arrive back in town late Thursday night, but they’ll be a happy bunch.

Cole Myers

The No. 9-seeded Trojans wrapped up a two-hour-plus, 3-2 victory over No. 8 Exeter Township by taking a 15-12 win in Game 5 in a District 3 Class 3A first-round playoff match against the Eagles on the road.

Chambersburg (13-6) will now face Mid Penn Commonwealth rival Central Dauphin, the No. 1 seed at 16-1, at CD on Monday night at 7 in a quarterfinal match. Exeter finishes with a 15-3 record.

“It was nice to play somebody we hadn’t seen (this year), so we could just focus on our own side,” Trojan coach Marta Helfrick said. “Then, after seeing them, we could alter what we were doing.”

Helfrick said the key was a good passing game and strong service.

“We focused on passing and serving and when we did those well, we played very well,” she said. “But when we struggled with them, that helped them, and they had a big crowd that helped them a lot, too.”

Chambersburg lost the first game 25-18, but rallied to win the next two, 25-17 and 25-19. Exeter pulled even with a 25-18 win in Game 4. In Game 5, the Trojans led early, the Eagles pulled closer, and at the end, it was point-for-point.

The match-winning point was a block kill by Kyle Ganoe.

Helfrick said, “The guys did a really good job at the end of Game 5. We had some tough serving and kept them from getting into their system.”

Riley Laite led Chambersburg in kills with 15 and in aces with three, and also had 13 service points. Ganoe had 12 kills and nine digs, while Luke Pogue (5) and Cam Etter (2) led in blocks.

Cole Myers racked up 22 service points and Jackson Stahl had 14. Stahl also had nine digs and Wyatt McMullen had a pair of aces.

“It seems like we always have trouble with the first set when we travel,” Helfrick said. “It was  rollercoaster, and the guys hung in there.”