No tiebreaker necessary.
The Lancaster-Lebanon League boys volleyball Section 1 championship trophy is heading to Cedar Crest.
The Falcons clinched their first section title in program history Thursday night when Cedar Crest blanked Elizabethtown 3-0, and when Warwick — which started the night in a tie for first place with the Falcons — was tripped up 3-1 at longtime rival Hempfield.
The Black Knights played spoiler on the last night of league play, beating the Warriors 25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20 in a match that featured a little bit of everything — including a long medical delay — in Landisville.
Had Cedar Crest (11-1 L-L, 16-2 overall) and Warwick (10-2, 10-2) finished in a tie for first place, the Falcons and the Warriors would have shared the section crown, and the L-L League playoff seeds would have come down to District 3 Class 3A power rating.
Warwick had that nod coming into Thursday. But Cedar Crest ended up clinching it outright, snapping the Warriors’ three-year reign over Section 1.
Hempfield (9-3, 10-4) didn’t make the league playoffs, but the Knights, who shared the section title with Warwick last spring, delivered in crunch-time spoiler-mode, and picked up some momentum heading into the district playoffs on May 20.
The match turned in the third set, when Hempfield went 7-0 after a 16-16 tie to seize control. Marcel Boyreau (41 assists) and Spencer Troyer had key blocks and George Agadis had two kills and a block down the stretch, and Mason Koehler capped it with a monster spike.
Agadis (20 kills, 5 blocks) and Koehler waffled must-have kills late in the fourth set, helping Hempfield clinch it. Brady Rigard had 11 digs and Mitchell Orth had a pair of aces for the Knights.
Thomas Mejia boomed 22 kills, Brenin Buckwalter had 29 digs and Carter Walls set up 44 assists for Warwick.
The match was halted for nearly 30 minutes between the third and fourth sets after a fan needed medical attention, and was eventually taken from the gym by an ambulance crew, but sitting up and fully alert.
The L-L semifinals are set for Monday at Manheim Central.
In the opener at 5 p.m., Cedar Crest will square off against Section 2 runner-up Cocalico. In the nightcap at 7 p.m., the host Section 2 champion Barons will take on Warwick in a rematch of the last two league championship matches — both won by Central, which will be angling for a three-peat.
The title match is next Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ephrata Middle School.
Warwick has been to five L-L championship matches in a row.
In Cedar Crest’s triumph over Elizabethtown, Ryder Rohrer teed up 29 assists and Aidan Vukovich had 10 kills for the Falcons.
Central (14-0, 16-0) closed it out Thursday with a 3-0 win over Lebanon, the Barons’ 38th section victory in a row. Dylan Musser had 19 assists, seven kills and four aces for Central.
Cocalico (12-2, 16-2) blanked Conestoga Valley 3-0 on Thursday to lock up second place — and deal the Buckskins a gut-punch setback in the District 3 Class 3A power ratings. Jacob Wambolt had 30 assists and Colson Hildebrand had 10 kills for the Eagles.
X: @JeffReinhart77 | INSTAGRAM: JeffReinhartLNP
MORE L-L LEAGUE VOLLEYBALL COVERAGE