With one final serve, one final set, one final swing, the regular season has come to an end for Centre County girls’ volleyball teams.
Teams will wait to see the draw announced later this week for the District 6 playoffs, which begin Oct. 29 and run through the week.
Before that, a few more matches had to be played to complete the schedules.
Bald Eagle Area
Even though they didn’t leave with a title, the Lady Eagles still made a statement about its status as a state contender with its performance at the North Allegheny Invitational on Oct. 20. BEA advanced to the semifinals before bowing out 25-20 to Baldwin, which is ranked seventh in Class 4A in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s weekly state poll. The Lady Eagles opened the playoff bracket with a 25-7 win against Class 4A Altoona 25-7, then won 25-22 over Freeport – ranked second in Class 2A, the defending state champions and the team that knocked BEA out of last year’s PIAA tournament. In morning pool play, BEA beat Class 3A Thomas Jefferson 25-19, 25-21, split with Class 4A No. 1 and host North Allegheny 22-25, 26-24, beat Class 2A Avonworth 25-7, 25-21 and split with Baldwin 27-25, 18-25.
For the day, Grace Hugar knocked down 44 kills to go with 30 digs, Taylor Kilmer added 29 kills and four blocks, Lacee Barnhart had 21 kills, Lexi Skripek tallied 72 digs, Katelyn Smitchko had five blocks and Madison Rockey did a little bit of everything with 113 assists, 10 aces, six blocks and 36 digs.
“We played really well,” said coach Larry Campbell, whose team is No. 8 in Class 2A. “We opened a lot of eyes and the kids played very clean all day.”
BEA finished its regular season with a 16-0 dual-match record and 14-0 mark in the Mountain League with a 25-14, 25-13, 25-13 victory over Central on Oct. 23, with nine kills from Hugar, eight kills from Barnhart, 28 assists for Rockey and two blocks each for Kilmer and Elita Brown.
Bellefonte
The Lady Red Raiders saw their season close at (3-14) with a 3-0 win at Clearfield on Oct. 23.
Bellefonte also fell to Tyrone 25-16, 25-20, 25-14 with six kills from Chelsea Robson and 15 assists and two aces for Shaelah Pepperman. In a 23-25, 25-23, 25-14, 25-13 loss to Huntingdon, Phoebe Rowland had eight kills, Robson posted four kills, Alexia Mishock delivered two aces and Pepperman had 23 assists
“I think we have progressed very well this year,” coach Teri Kerr said. “We have seen some great improvements in each one of the players in all areas, and we couldn’t be more proud. As for next season, we will miss our three senior leaders from this year, but are excited to have so many athletes returning that can step into those roles. We are looking forward to continuing to see improvements with the players as we dig deeper into the skills and talents of each individual and continue to grow as a team.”
Penns Valley
The Lady Rams swept Huntingdon 25-11, 25-23, 25-22 on Oct. 23 to complete a 16-2 season record – the best in program history. Emma Butler’s 15 kills, Bella Culver’s eight kills and 5.5 blocks, Jadyn Butler’s 23 digs, Cammie Upcraft’s four blocks and Brooke Emel’s 24 assists led the way.
“The girls are so excited about districts,” coach Jayme Ishler said, expecting her team to be hosting district matches next week.
Penns Valley also swept Central 25-19, 25-14, 25-14 with 11 kills, 13 digs and four aces from Emma Butler, seven kills for Marissa Stecko, six kills and four blocks for Bella Culver, 24 assists for Brooke Emel and 11 digs for Jadyn Butler.
On Oct. 17, the Lady Rams swept St. Joseph’s 25-12, 25-14, 25-11 behind Emma Butler’s 15 kills and three aces, Stecko’s six kills, Emel’s 25 assists, Jadyn Butler’s 18 digs and Culver’s seven blocks.
Philipsburg-Osceola
The Lady Mounties hosted Tyrone on Oct. 23 to cap the regular season, falling 21-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-21 to close with a 20-11 record overall and 6-8 in the Mountain League. CeCe Hite’s eight kills, Kalista Butler’s 20 assists and four aces, Janey Johnson’s 11 digs and Kyleigh Kennedy’s five blocks led the way.
In a 25-17, 25-10, 25-10 loss to BEA, Kalista Butler distributed 12 assists and picked up six digs, CeCe Hite had five kills and Kyleigh Kennedy had four blocks.
As the regular season closed, P-O sat on the bubble to make the 12-team Class 2A district playoff field. But coach Dave Eckberg was happy with the progress of his young team, which starts three freshmen and has several more freshmen and sophomores seeing major court time. He also saw his daughter, Jadyn, surpass 600 career digs to reach No. 3 in program history.
“At times, we have shown great potential,” he said. “Being able to sustain a high level of play throughout a full match has proven challenging. Unfortunately, we lost Jadyn to injury a couple of weeks ago which took our most experienced player off the court. The other upperclassmen have had to step up as leaders.”
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
In the loss to Penns Valley, Michaela Maynard had five kills, Emma Mallison added four, and two aces each came from Mallison and Ruthanna McMurtrie to close the season at 8-6. If they are selected to the district Class A bracket, it will be a first for coach Cori Donaghy.
“It’s been gratifying to see the positive progress that the team has made this year,” she said. “Offensively, this is the best team we’ve had since I started coaching in 2016. We’ve encouraged them to approach offense not only with power, but with intelligence, and they’ve managed to put them both together well.”
Donaghy also noted senior Anna Griggs has played every point of every match for the last three seasons.
State College
The Lady Little Lions scored a pair of wins Oct. 20 to lock up the Mid Penn Conference title – the second for the program in three years. The conference tournament matches the champions of its four divisions competing for the overall conference crown.
State College swept Palmyra 25-23, 25-19, 25-14 in the semifinals, then dropped Trinity 18-25, 25-4, 25-13, 25-18 in the finals. Leah Henderson posted 26 kills, 40 assists and six aces, Kate Lachendro notched 22 kills and Jess Irwin had six aces and 19 digs over the two matches. Kacy Sekunda posted 36 assists and 17 digs, and Vanessa McGhee had four blocks in the two wins.
The Lady Little Lions also closed out a perfect 14-0 Mid Penn record with a 25-10, 25-8, 25-15 win over Mifflin County, with four aces, 17 assists and six digs for Sekunda, nine kills for Henderson, eight kills for Irwin, seven digs from Lachendro, a pair of blocks for Lauren Arnold and nine assists for Kayla Moran. State College added a 25-19, 25-14, 25-7 win against Clarion, with eight kills apiece for Henderson and Sekunda, 19 assists and 10 digs for Henderson, eight assists and four aces for Sekunda, seven kills for Irwin, nine digs for Lachendro and six blocks for Arnold. In the win, Irwin reached 1,000 career kills and Henderson notched her 1,500th career assist.
