There are four areas you must have covered when it comes to constructing a championship volleyball team.
A handsy, see-the-whole court, traffic cop, pinpoint setter is a great start. Plus a defensive-minded, get-on-the-floor libero to dig everything out in the back.
Then you have the pin-hitters. The jumping-jack guys on the outside who can tee off and blast kill after acrobatic, power-swing kill.
But if you really want to go deep — think navigating a playoff bracket, littered with landmines — you better have a couple of sturdy middles. The tall guys in the front row who will sacrifice their hands to get all-important blocks, and chip in with some booming kills of their own.
Manheim Central is covered in all of those areas. Saturday, the Barons leaned on their trusty middles, who put on a show.
Blake Neiles, who goes 6-foot-3, dominated at the net with seven kills and five clutch blocks, 6-foot-4 all-star Landon Mattiace chipped in with seven kills and three blocks, and the Barons downed Dock Mennonite Academy 3-0 in a PIAA Class 2A quarterfinal at Cocalico in Denver.
Manheim Central’s Blake Neiles drives the ball past Dock Mennonite’s Gage White (left) and Micah Emr in the PIAA 2A boys volleyball quarterfinals, at Cocalico High School gymnasium, Saturday, June 7, 2025.
Set scores were 25-14, 25-17 and 25-12, as Central did, well, Central things. The Barons — who will take on familiar foe York Suburban in the state semifinals on Tuesday, site and time to be announced — got contributions from everyone around the rotation, particularly Neiles and Mattiace in the middle.
“For a middle, our main job is blocking and getting the ball out to our hitters, and then putting up a wall,” Neiles said. “I’ve had some ups and downs, and my blocking isn’t always the best. But I always try my best.”
Neiles was at his absolute best against Dock Mennonite. The Pioneers, out of Lansdale in Montgomery County, had very few answers above the net on Saturday — which featured a 10 a.m. start because Dock Mennonite had graduation later in the day.
“Blake blocked extremely well,” Central coach Craig Dietrich said. “And he got a lot of touches, even if he didn’t get the block. We got a lot of contributions in the middle from him and Landon.”
When those two are wreaking havoc up front, the Barons (22-1 overall) give everyone headaches.
“If we can get our middles going, we’re kind of unstoppable,” said Central libero Colin Rohrer, who had nine digs Saturday. “Landon jumps so high, and he can pretty much swing over anybody. And when Blake gets hot, he’s pretty hard to stop.”
Dock Mennonite, the District 1/11 sub-regional champ, which survived an 11-match losing skid to make the postseason, simply could not contain Central’s dynamic duo in the middle.
“If that block isn’t there, then they can swing wherever they want,” Rohrer said. “We happen to have a really good block, so that makes it easier to play defense. Blake had so many great blocks today. He was going crazy.”
Dock Mennonite (7-16) hung around early in the first set. It was 7-7 when Central, the District 3 champ, pounced. Reagan Miller’s kill got the Barons rolling. Then came back-to-back slams by Caleb Groff and Mattiace, and Central seized control.
The Barons — who fell to Dock Mennonite in the state quarterfinals in 2022 — pushed their lead to 20-11 on Neiles’ block, before Miller and Neiles had kills.
Miller (8 kills, 4 blocks) closed out the first set with a blistering ace and Central, the reigning L-L League runner-up and at No. 2 in the PVCA Class 2A state rankings, was quickly up 1-0.
It was 6-6 in the second set when the Barons found another gear. Mattiace had a kill, Neiles had back-to-back blocks — he completely bottled up the space above the net throughout — and Miller’s block polished off a 5-0 run and Central was up 11-6.
Later, the Barons had a 4-1 clip — featuring kills by Neiles and Mattiace and a block and an ace by Miller — for a 17-11 cushion. And Central, the three-time reigning L-L League Section 2 champ, closed out the second set when Mattiace had a kill, and Neiles had two slams for a cozy 2-0 lead.
Central went for the jugular in the third, with Neiles delivering consecutive kills for an 8-4 lead. Miller’s ace gave the Barons a 10-5 cushion. And Central sewed it up thanks to kills from Groff (7 kills), Neiles and Weston Longenecker, a setter dump from Musser — he had five of those, plus 25 assists — and Mattiace’s ace.
“I had one goal, and that was to help us get back to the state semifinals,” Neiles said. “That’s everyone’s goal. Now it’s one game at a time.”
Starting Tuesday against York Suburban, which topped District 2 champ Holy Redeemer 3-0 on Saturday. The Barons have already blanked the Trojans twice this season: 3-0 in a nonleague match back on May 5 in York, and 3-0 in the district title match on May 29 in Manheim.
The rematch is for a trip to the Class 2A state championship next Saturday at Penn State’s Rec Hall.
Tuesday’s other semifinal will pit District 10 champ Meadville — which topped Central in last year’s PIAA finale — against WPIAL winner Shaler.
Meadville KO’d Ambridge 3-0 and Shaler blanked Brandywine Heights 3-0 on Saturday.
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