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Now all that stands in the way of the Trojans and a PIAA Class AA title is Bethlehem Catholic.
Suburban survived a match-point in Game 4 against Ambridge in the semifinals at Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Arena Saturday morning. Trailing by a 24-23 margin, the Trojans rallied to win four of the final five points to earn a 27-25 triumph and send the match into Game 5.
After a slow start in rubber game, York Suburban rallied from a 10-8 hole with an impressive 7-0 run to claim a 20-25, 25-17, 29-31, 27-25, 15-10 victory over the Bridgers.
The up-and-down nature of that epic clash had Suburban coach Jamie Evans looking for a bottle of aspirin.
"It's my head," Evans joked. "I almost had an aneurysm."
Ambridge won the first game pretty comfortably as the Trojans looked flat. But once Game 2 started, it was like a switch was turned on. Suburban led by as many as 11 points in Game 2.
The games turned into a back-and-forth battle from that point on. Game 3 featured six different game point chances between the clubs until Ambridge's Lee Smith smashed home back-to-back kills to cap a 31-29 triumph.
"We knew about him coming in," said Evans of Smith, who's just a sophomore. "We saw them two other times earlier this year."
The Bridgers looked to set it to Smith no matter where he was on the court. But at key moments in Games 4 and 5, the Trojans were able to neutralize Smith's effectiveness.
After falling behind 10-8 in Game 5, the Trojans and their senior leadership took over. A passing error and a big block by Jacob Kauffman on Smith evened the match and forced Ambridge to call a timeout.
That gave Evans the chance to relay a message to his squad.
"I just told them that we don't panic," Evans said. "Let them make changes...we'll just keep doing what we do."
In the other semifinal Saturday, Bethlehem Catholic rebounded from a slip-up in Game 2 to oust Dover 25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 25-11.
The Eagles performance against the Hawks was nothing like the impressive showing they put on Friday in pool play action. BeCa blocked, served, and passed at will throughout the match with their only hiccup coming late in Game 2.
Dover rallied from a 22-16 hole to tie the match up, but the momentum from that comeback didn't carry over to Game 3.
"There really isn't much to say," Dover coach Chris Kennedy said. "Coming out flat in Game 3...you don't really want that there, especially after you toughen out a 26-24 win."
All in all, Kennedy felt like his team never found the rhythm that worked so well for them en route to winning Pool B Friday night.
"We gave them a game in that second game there, but we were flat. It's just like everything seemed to go right for them and not a whole lot for us."
The Hawks aren't overly flashy, but they are a team that doesn't have a lot of shortcomings either, according to Kennedy.
"We knew they were going to be good," he said. "They blocked very well and it just didn't seem like we had an answer to their hitters."
Despite the disappointment, Kennedy had nothing but high praise for his senior-laden squad that has made back-to-back appearances in the PIAA tournament.
"Our goal was to make it to this day," Kennedy said. "It wasn't just to get to states. I thought we had a legitimate shot of playing today and we did. I'm proud of the guys that we got this far."
Semifinal stats
York Suburban: Ted Hinnenkamp (19 kills, 3 blocks, 5 digs, 1 ace); Jaryd Eshler (15 kills, 1 block, 21 digs, 2 aces); Fred Gard (13 kills, 3 blocks, 28 digs, 1 assist); Jacob Kauffman (11 kills, 5 blocks, 6 digs, 2 aces); Brad Hartshorne (5 kills, 6 blocks, 5 digs); Kody Deiter (18 digs, 2 aces, 58 assists); Justin Corsa (17 digs, 2 assists); Wyatt Grossman (5 digs).
Dover: Ryan Lamparter (13 kills, 3 blocks); Brendan Warren (5 kills, 2 blocks); Tyler Lehman (9 kills, 1 blocks); Ean Julius (4 kills, 2 blocks); Derek Stern (1 kill, 3 blocks); Brandon Krone (30 assists)
