YAIAA boys’ volleyball tournament to begin, softball to continue Monday

The York-Adams League boys’ volleyball tournament champion has worn orange and black in every season since 2006. And the league’s trio of premier programs — Central York, Northeastern and York Suburban — comprises the top three seeds once again this spring. But there’s more competition than ever.

The league has expanded its playoff to six teams in 2025, and the bracket was officially revealed Friday for the three-day tournament that opens serve Monday. Central York High School will host matches on three straight nights, including the finale Wednesday.

Regular-season co-champions Central York (12-1, 12-1) and York Suburban (14-2, 12-1) are seeded first and second, respectively, and received byes to Tuesday’s semifinals. Central — which dropped its regular-season finale to Northeastern but held the tiebreaker due to its head-to-head sweep of Suburban — will face either No. 4-seed Dallastown (12-4, 10-3) or No. 5 Red Lion (9-6, 9-4). The Trojans will await the winner of No. 3 Northeastern (11-3, 11-2) and No. 6 New Oxford (9-7, 8-5).

Spring Grove also finished 8-5 in league play (10-8 overall) but dropped a five-set showdown at New Oxford on April 24, which ultimately kept the Rockets out of the bracket.

For the bottom two seeds, this tournament will mark the end of the season. Red Lion and New Oxford sit 17th and 19th, respectively, in the District 3-3A power rankings, but only 16 teams will make the tournament and all D3 squads have completed their regular-season schedules. Central York is expected to be seeded sixth, Northeastern 13th and Dallastown 14th when the bracket is finalized. York Suburban is No. 2 in the D3-2A rankings behind unbeaten Manheim Central.

Red Lion helped its cause last Tuesday with a five-set triumph over Dallastown in its YAIAA finale; the Lions can secure a season sweep of the Wildcats with a win Monday’s first match at 6 p.m. Northeastern and New Oxford will take the court next, with a scheduled start time of 7:30. Tuesday’s semifinal doubleheader and Wednesday’s championship match are both scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

Central York swept Red Lion in the 2024 league final after doing the same to Northeastern in 2023. York Suburban captured the crown in 2022 and Northeastern won gold medals in 2021. The Panthers appeared poised for a three-peat as they rolled through their first 12 league matches with only one dropped set, but Northeastern’s 25-19, 28-26, 25-20 road upset of Central York provided the latest reminder that there are no guarantees when top teams square off.

THE WAITING GAME

The York-Adams League softball tournament was originally scheduled to crown a champion Monday afternoon, but Friday’s semifinal contests were postponed due to rain and pushed past the weekend. Those games will now be played at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Spring Grove and Susquehannock, with Spring Grove hosting the championship bout at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Division I and II champions South Western and Kennard-Dale (both 18-1) each received a bye to the semifinals. The Mustangs will face Susquehannock (13-5) at Spring Grove while the Rams, who last played May 2, will take on Littlestown (17-3) at Susquehannock’s field. Susky advanced by pulling away for an 11-0 victory over Biglerville in five innings Thursday; Littlestown held off Central York 9-7 after leading by as many as seven runs.

Littlestown still has seven of its top nine players from the 2023 squad that beat South Western in the most recent league final (last year’s tournament was canceled). Both teams are just one win away from setting up a rematch.

PAIRING UP

Dallastown boys’ tennis seniors Hayden Koons and Jacob Horn agreed more than a year ago to compete together in the District 3 Class 3A doubles tournament this spring, forgoing the singles draw in the process. On Saturday, the two close friends won a silver medal together and clinched a spot in the state championships later this month.

The two-time YAIAA champions — Horn played with teammate Ian Opitz at districts last year because Koons qualified for states in singles — won their first three district bouts Friday and Saturday at Hershey Racquet Club before falling 6-1, 6-3 to Hempfield’s Cooper Lehman and Braylen Garcia in the final. Lehman also opted for the doubles draw in his final year after winning three straight D3 singles titles, including beating Koons in the 2023 final.

Dallastown actually had three tandems in the tournament. The Wildcats’ regular No. 1 doubles team of Nathaniel Erickson and Sebastian Ruiz dropped a 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 battle to third-seeded Viseth Meng and Joe Shkreli in the opening round, while the pairing of Ryan LoPiccolo and Opitz dropped its opener to Manheim Township’s Ryan Palandjian and Julilan Clark. Northeastern seniors Loghan Eckard and Noah Mansberger fell in straight sets to Hershey’s Gabriel Yuan and Jason Lyn-Sue on Friday.

The league also had four representatives in the District 3-2A tournament, and the group went 3-1 in first-round matches before an 0-3 mark in quarterfinals. Hanover’s Cullen Nakielny and Yahir Corona — the league champs — dropped a 6-2, 7-6 second-round battle against silver medalists Truman Peters and Aaron Andrews of Wyomissing. Delone Catholic’s Collin Kuhn and Lance Keller fell to eventual champions Armaan Malik and Jio Garcia of Conrad Weiser, while Bermudian Springs’ Bryce Laughman and Gabe Crews won a three-set opening match. Susquehannock’s Dominic Dion and Jacob Iwanowicz drew a first-round tilt against Malik and Garcia and got shut out.

The state championships will be held May 23 and 24 at Hershey Racquet Club. The same venue will stage the team finals this week, as well as Dallastown’s first-round PIAA match against Downingtown East on Tuesday.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Northeastern became the York-Adams League’s first team tournament champion of the spring with its 9-1 victory over Kennard-Dale in Saturday’s final at Red Lion. The Bobcats were dominant over the weekend, beating West York 11-2 in Thursday’s semifinals and taking an eight-run lead early against the Rams. It’s the second league tournament title in program history, with the other coming in 2009.

Red Lion baseball received a forfeit victory against Harrisburg on Friday night, bringing the Lions’ 13-6-1 regular season to a close. All other YAIAA baseball and softball games scheduled for Friday were postponed or canceled.

Thursday night’s thunderstorms pushed the completion of the York-Adams girls’ lacrosse semifinal between Susquehannock and York Catholic to Saturday afternoon, with Susky holding on for a 10-8 victory. The Dallastown-New Oxford girls’ game was also cut short, although the Wildcats’ 15-3 win was ruled official because three quarters had been completed. New Oxford and Dallastown advanced to the boys’ lacrosse final, which will kick off Tuesday’s championship doubleheader at Dallastown High School.

This week’s schedule will feature a smattering of makeup baseball and softball games before District 3 brackets are finalized. District tournaments will begin Friday for some teams in baseball and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse. Top YAIAA track and field athletes will also compete in the District 3 championships Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University.