Nanticoke agrees to take out $3M loan

Local College: MU cruises past King’s 12-2 in women’s lax

NANTICOKE &#8212; Eddie Lukowski has known Justin Casey for a long time.Yet, the Greater Nanticoke Area senior setter has never seen a particular side of his teammate.&#8220;I rarely saw him get that fired up in basketball, and that&#8217;s one of his sports. To see him that emotional, that just fired me up,&#8221; Lukowski said.Casey didn&#8217;t lack enthusiasm &#8211; and his game certainly matched his level of emotions.The outside hitter was big with his swings, killing 15 shots, but it was the way he deflected and blocked several balls at the net as Nanticoke Area clawed past undefeated Delaware Valley, 3-1, in Wyoming Valley Conference boys&#8217; volleyball Wednesday.Set scores were 25-23, 22-25, 25-19 and 25-13.Nanticoke has now won six straight since a season-opening loss to state-ranked Holy Redeemer.&#8220;Justin was on fire today. He was everywhere on the court,&#8221; Nanticoke head coach Debbie Gavin said. &#8220;He was moving well. And when we ran into trouble, I thought that Eddie did a good job getting us back on track with dumping the ball. When we needed people to step up, I think everyone did their job.&#8221;Gavin admits she didn&#8217;t approach the game any differently. Yet, just one glimpse of Casey, and you could tell how much this one meant to him.Constant fist-pumps. Yells that bounced off the gym walls after a monstrous block. Slaps of bare skin hitting off the hardwood floor after an errant shot.On one sequence alone in the fourth set, Casey traveled almost the width of the net &#8211; deflecting two Warrior shots back to their side of the court before his third touch on the possession ending up as his seventh block of the match.&#8220;Coach counts on me for the big blocks,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;She is always telling me that I should be No. 1 in this conference in blocks. And I think that set in for me in this match. I knew that the team was relying on me to get them.&#8221;It&#8217;s funny what happens with a little emotion flowing through the court.With Nanticoke up 2-1 after three sets, senior Brett Piontkowski stepped behind the service line to start the fourth. Casey adjusted his red headband, and went to work. He took a perfectly-placed middle set from Lukowski and drilled it right at the back line. Following a DelVal attack error, Casey blocked three straight shots for the early, 5-0 lead.Before Piontkowski lost his serve, Nanticoke was up seven points.&#8220;A few years ago, I remember NFL player Richard Sherman talking about getting in a zone and kind of sensing what a quarterback is doing. That&#8217;s what I try to do on a block. I just try to get into his head and see what he is going to do and feed off of that,&#8221; Casey said.Emotionally, the Trojans were able to battle through the peaks and valleys.Nanticoke had a 24-17 lead in the opening set, and had to fight off a huge Warrior rally; one where DelVal almost erased the entire seven-point deficit.After dropping the second set and in a danger spot &#8211; down 9-8 in the third &#8211; senior Brinton Ball and Piontkowski ignited a much-needed rally.Nanticoke scored six straight points on Ball&#8217;s serve, four of those six coming from Piontkowski kills, as the Trojans jumped out to a 15-9 lead.It was an edge Gavin&#8217;s group never lost, taking the all-important third set, 25-19.&#8220;This team, I think we do a good job of just keeping cool and keeping our emotions in check,&#8221; Lukowski said. &#8220;In the second set, we kind of got down on ourselves. Our coach told us that we needed to build up some kind of energy.&#8221;DelVal attempted a last-ditch comeback in the fourth, trimming the early, seven-point deficit to 12-9. That&#8217;s when the Trojans slammed the door &#8211; winning 13 of the final 17 points.&#8220;We were tested. I was proud that the guys stood focused,&#8221; Gavin said. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t make any big, crucial mistakes. The mistakes we made came in the flow of the game. It was nothing that turned the momentum one way or another.&#8221;Wyoming Valley West 3, Hanover 0Tyler Klienbach had 12 kills and four blocks in the Spartans&#8217; 25-8, 25-10, 25-14 win.Sam Nogin chipped in with 11 service points and three digs and Nick Klimchok had three service points and 17 assists.Hanover (0-7) was led by Trek Brodgimski&#8217;s two service points, one kill, one dig and one block, Dom Gurnari&#8217;s one service point and four digs and Sean Connelly&#8217;s one service point, eight digs and one assist.Coughlin 3, Lake-Lehman 1Coughlin defeated Lake-Lehman by scores of 25-13, 24-26, 27-25, 25-23.Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Jack Corey had 13 kills and 14 blocks, while Zack Corey finished with 11 kills, seven blocks, seven service points and two aces and Bernard Karlowicz had 2 kills, 15 digs.Nanticoke Area 3, Delaware Valley 1DV `23`25`19`13 &#8211; 1NA `25`22`25`25 &#8211; 3DV Leaders: Rafael Alexandke 13 kills; Tyler Smith 9 kills, 2 aces; Daniel Plaxe 9 kills; Liam Naturale 37 assists.Nanticoke Leaders: Justin Casey 15 kills, 7 blocks; Brent Piontkowski 9 kills, 5 blocks; Eddie Lukowski 7 kills, 27 assists.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 o</shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Boys Volleyball: Justin Casey, Eddie Lukowski pace Nanticoke past undefeated DV