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Three different paths. Three distinctive journeys. Three unique trails taken.Yet, come this afternoon, those three begin to intertwine as Holy Redeemer, Nanticoke Area and Crestwood all begin the postseason in the District 2 Class 2A bracket. Holy Redeemer, undefeated and state-ranked, is the top seed and will host Blue Ridge. Nanticoke and Crestwood each take a trip north on Interstate 81 to Clarks Summit Elementary School where Abington Heights hosts its home matches. Nanticoke, the No. 3 seed, faces off with Western Wayne in the opener there, while Crestwood takes on the undefeated Comets in the nightcap.&#8220;It&#8217;s a brand-new season, and everything you have done up to this point has been erased,&#8221; Redeemer head coach Jack Kablick said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a new beginning, and a new opportunity. And for us, that new beginning starts with Blue Ridge.&#8221;Each Wyoming Valley Conference team can tell a different story; one completely opposite of the other. But each can also find that one common denominator.Winning streaks.Holy Redeemer brings a 12-0 conference record into the 2016 postseason, and has won more than 30 games if you count tournaments. That includes first-place finishes at Warwick and Pottsville, and a third-place honor at the competitive Dallastown Tournament.As a matter of fact, the Royals haven&#8217;t lost to a district team since the spring of 2013.&#8220;Our kids, they understand what&#8217;s in front of them,&#8221; Kablick said. &#8220;You can sense their excitement. Our tournament schedule prepares us for this moment. We have played almost every team from the eastern half of the state with the exception of (defending state champ) Northeastern, but we had an opportunity to see them. Our boys understand the road ahead of them.&#8221;Debbie Gavin knew of the promise her boys made.Nanticoke Area lost to Holy Redeemer in its season opener. And the next day at practice, the oath happened. No more losses. Run the table for the remainder of conference play.Eleven straight wins later, the Trojans are 11-1, and arguably, the second-best team in the district.&#8220;That was their goal, and it&#8217;s great for the kids. They worked hard to make sure that they achieved it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Now, it&#8217;s time to press the reset button. We won those 11 games, but that&#8217;s over and done. We&#8217;ve had a good season, and it&#8217;s time to regroup and move forward.&#8221;Crestwood was written off.Mike Williams&#8217; squad was 2-5. Everyone seemed to be passing the Comets in the district standings.The veteran coach told them to keep their heads up.&#8220;We started off this season with all the heavy hitters, the Redeemers and the Nanticokes,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I knew the schedule was going to lighten up, and we would have our chance to get back into this race. It was going to be difficult in the beginning because we lost so much from last year&#8217;s team. We had to build that chemistry.&#8221;Five straight wins later, Crestwood is the No. 7 seed with a chance to upset Abington Heights, the undefeated Lackawanna League champion.&#8220;No doubt, you would rather be the No. 7 seed because if you are No. 8, that means you have to play Holy Redeemer right off the bat. They are ranked in the state for a reason,&#8221; Williams said. &#8220;I still feel that we have a lot of work to do. Because we have so many first-year players, you just don&#8217;t know how they will react. Honestly, I like that we have that winning streak because we needed it. Without it, we don&#8217;t make the playoffs. Hopefully, we are starting to get hot at the right time.&#8221;For Wyoming Valley West, play in District 2 is complete.Due to the lack of 3A teams, a subregional has been formed with District 11 for the postseason. And it won&#8217;t be an easy haul for the Spartans.Valley West is the No. 7 seed in the bracket, and will open up against District 11&#8217;s Emmaus Thursday afternoon in Lehigh County.No doubt, Emmaus is quality. The team has only lost once in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, and that setback was to Parkland, the No. 1 seed in the 2-11 bracket and currently ranked in the top 3 of the state.The two opponents are familiar with each other. Emmaus won 2-0 (25-17, 25-16) in pool play at the Gatorade Classic in Pottsville. The Hornets reached the final of that event, losing to Holy Redeemer, 2-0.Valley West&#8217;s offense is led by junior outside Tyler Klienbach and senior setter Nick Klimchok. The Spartans started off the season with four straight wins and was 7-1 at one point before ending with a 9-3 record. The Spartans&#8217; three losses have all come to playoff teams: Redeemer, Nanticoke and Delaware Valley.District 2 Class 2A Playoffs2015 champ: Holy Redeemer2016 Favorite: Holy RedeemerChampionship prediction: Holy Redeemer over Nanticoke AreaQuarterfinal predictions: Holy Redeemer over Blue Ridge, Southern Lehigh over Mountain View, Nanticoke Area over Western Wayne, Crestwood over Abington HeightsSemifinal predictions: Holy Redeemer over Southern Lehigh, Nanticoke over CrestwoodThird-place match prediction: Crestwood over Southern LehighUpset Pick: No. 7 Crestwood over No. 2 Abington HeightsWhat to know about Holy Redeemer: The Royals enter the tournament as the clear favorite to defend their title. Redeemer has two dominating attackers in seniors Rob Zbierski (154 kills) and John Carr (136 kills), and three others that are capable of hurting you at any time: Chris Mennig, Ben Rachilla and Luke Nealon. In addition, the Royals have junior libero Mike Mohutsky to anchor a solid back line.What to know about Nanticoke Area: The Trojans have been pretty dominating during their 11-game win streak, losing only two games &#8211; one to Crestwood and one to district 3A champ Delaware Valley. Senior Brent Piontkowski is having a tremendous year, leading the WVC in kills with 186. GNA has one of the best setters in the league in Eddie Lutkowski, and Justin Casey is a great compliment to Piontkowski with 92 kills and 46 blocks.What to know about Crestwood: The Comets are an interesting story, having graduated nine from a team that qualified for the state playoffs last season. Crestwood does have sophomore Michael Williams, one of the best servers in the WVC with 38 aces and 105 points, and two good hitters in Kyle Sanders and Mendell Foreman. In the 2015 district bracket, Crestwood defeated Abington in the quarterfinals.<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Defending champion Holy Redeemer will host Blue Ridge in the opening round of the District 2 Class 2A Championships on Wednesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_hsboysvolleyball02.jpg</photo0><caption0>Defending champion Holy Redeemer will host Blue Ridge in the opening round of the District 2 Class 2A Championships on Wednesday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>District 2 Boys Volleyball TournamentClass 2AWednesday(at Holy Redeemer H.S.)S. Lehigh vs. Mt. View, 5 p.m.Blue Ridge at Holy Redeemer (30 minutes after 1st match)(at Clarks Summit Elem. School)Nanticoke vs. Western Wayne, 4 p.m.Crestwood vs. Abington Hts. (30 minutes after 1st match)District 2/11 Class 3ASubregional ChampionshipThursdayDieruff at Parkland, 6 p.m.Whitehall at Del. Valley, 6 p.m.Nazareth at Liberty, 6 p.m.Wyo. Val. West at Emmaus, 6 p.m.</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

WVC streaking into the Distrct 2 boys volleyball playoffs