It's not how you start: Salesianum rallies for DIAA Boys Volleyball championship

SMYRNA – Seven points into Thursday night’s DIAA Boys Volleyball Tournament championship, Salesianum didn’t look like a team that hadn’t lost a set all season.

Because seven points into the first set, the Sals were trailing Charter of Wilmington by … seven points.

But if there was a panic button, the state’s No. 1 team didn’t reach for it.

“We trust each other,” junior Reid Maas said. “Right when that happened, we took a deep breath, settled, took a deep breath and talked.”

Sallies quickly got in gear, then shifted into overdrive. The Sals wound up overwhelming the Force 25-17, 25-16, 25-17 at Smyrna High to win their first DIAA title in the tournament’s second year.

“At 7-0, I was definitely concerned,” Sals coach Jeff Gricol said. “But they fought back really hard. They calmed down.”

It was impossible not to think of last year, when Salesianum came into the final undefeated and watched Cape Henlopen romp away with a 3-0 sweep.

“We were nervous coming into this,” senior Ronan Landis said. “We played here last year and lost here last year. So we were just a little bit shaky, but eventually we all settled down.”

Landis was one of the keys, consistently setting up his teammates on the way to 34 assists.

MEET OF CHAMPIONSSalesianum junior Ethan Walther collects 800 record; 2 more Delaware records go down

“What we did extremely well is pass the ball,” Gricol said. “We did a great job of putting the ball where it had to be so our setter could make some great sets.”

Maas had a big all-around game with seven kills, two aces, five blocks and nine digs. Junior Cody Popp added 13 kills and 12 digs, and senior Christian Sullivan chipped in five kills, three blocks, an ace and a dig.

The Sals (20-0) also served well, earning four aces and often keeping the Charter attack off balance. The second-seeded Force finished 16-2, with both losses coming to Sallies in three sets.

“We hit our serves to the spots we wanted to,” Gricol said. “That gives us a slight advantage when we can hit the area that we want to hit on the other side of the court.”

“It’s very special. It’s a testament to how hard the boys worked this year,” Gricol said. “It was a great work ethic, and it all came through tonight.”

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on X (aka Twitter): @BradMyersTNJ