State College is often a popular convergence point in high school volleyball as a central location for some of the best teams in both the eastern and western parts of the state to meet.
East and west clashed Oct. 8 with the annual State College Invitational, drawing 16 teams to the all-day, doublepool-play tournament. Seven of the participants are in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s rankings, and three of the teams didn’t have far to go — the host Lady Little Lions, Philipsburg-Osceola and Bald Eagle Area.
The Lady Mounties are among the ranked teams, sitting third on the PVCA Class 2A list.
State College and P-O each posted 6-6 records during pool play, while BEA was 4-8.
The Lady Little Lions did advance to the elimination round, falling 25-23 in the quarterfinals to Unionville (No. 2 in Class 4A).
In the morning pool, State College split two-set matches with Maplewood (Class A No. 9) and Parkland (Class 4A No. 3) and swept Susquehannock. In the afternoon, the team lost 2-0 to Pittsburgh North Catholic (Class 3A No. 1) and Hempfield (Class 4A No. 6) and defeated P-O 25-15, 25-23.
“They did OK,” coach Chad Weight said.
“They kind of got bogged down but picked it up late. … We need a little higher level of consistency.”
For the day, State College was led by Kate Lally’s 28 kills, 39 assists, 35 digs and six aces, followed by Sarah Tate’s 27 kills and 31 digs and Jessie Campbell’s 18 kills, 39 assists, 38 digs and four aces.
Ashlyn Arnold had 12 kills, Sophie Wales notched 11 kills and four blocks, Molly Thompson collected 70 digs, Brynn Lally posted 30 digs and Emma Lally had four aces.
P-O beat Governor Mifflin 2-0 and split 1-1 with Unionville and Cumberland Valley in the morning, and in the afternoon beat Hempfield and lost to North Catholic before meeting State College.
Reese Hazelton had another big day with 61 kills, 31 digs, six aces and three blocks, while Sophie Granville added 14 kills, 32 digs and three blocks. Megan Johnson posted 10 kills and seven blocks, Ava Ropert also had three blocks, Annie Johnson delivered nine aces, and Natalie Betz and Maddy Lumadue distributed 39 and 35 assists, respectively.
“I thought we did well for the majority of the day,” coach Dave Eckberg said.
“Overall, it was a great day of competition for us. It was particularly valuable for our younger players who didn’t go to these high-level tournaments last year. To their credit, they didn’t seem awestruck or intimidated. They just went out there and competed.”
The Lady Eagles split with Hempfield and Shaler (Class 4A No. 9) and lost 2-0 to Southern Lehigh in the morning. In the afternoon, BEA surprised Cumberland Valley 2-0 and fell 2-0 to Maplewood and DuBois. BEA stats were not available for the tournament.
Parkland won the event, beating North Catholic in the title match.
BEA
The Lady Eagles held off Huntingdon on Oct. 6, 25-14, 25-19, 9-25, 23-25, 15-6, with 11 kills for Rachel Bryan, 10 kills for Ava Stere and eight kills and three blocks for Myia Brooks. Laura Ternent handed out 17 assists, and Olivia Boone collected 22 digs and four aces.
BEA (6-7) endured another five-set match Oct. 10 but could not upset West Branch (PVCA Class A No. 2) in the 25-23, 17-25, 25-22, 26-28, 15-13 loss. Stere’s 11 kills and five blocks, and Brooks’ nine kills and five blocks led the way, followed by Gabby Perry’s eight kills, Taylor Habovick’s 24 assists and Peightin Brownson’s six aces.
BELLEFONTE
The Lady Red Raiders (7-9) played only one match during the week but put in plenty of work during that single outing. They fell to Penns Valley 25-18, 16-25, 25-20, 25-14 on Oct. 5, led by Carlee Pepperman’s 20 kills on 65 swings and 18 digs. As a team, Bellefonte had 34 kills on 139 swings. Grace Novitsky added seven kills, Sadie Ripka notched 12 digs and three aces, Madison Melius distributed 27 assists and Aubrey Schreppel put up four blocks, two of them solo stuffs.
“We had a great and intense game with Penns Valley,” coach Monica Smith said. “We’re very evenly matched against them and both teams played well and fought hard. There were a lot of long rallies and tough battles. Even though we didn’t end up winning the match, I’m really proud of where we are and how we played against them.”
PENNS VALLEY
During the four-set win against the Lady Red Raiders, Ella Hadley had 16 kills and nine digs, and five kills each came from Ellie Coursen and Ella Aston. Coursen also had five blocks, Julia Emel gave out 21 assists, Maddie Butler picked up 14 digs, seven digs came from Laney Aston and Kendall Guisewhite delivered three aces.
The Lady Rams (10-5) pulled off a 26-28, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-7 reverse-sweep of Tyrone on Oct. 10, led by Hadley’s 13 kills and 10 digs, Coursen’s 12 kills and five blocks, Ella Aston’s seven kills, Emel’s 31 assists, Butler’s 24 digs, Guisewhite’s 11 digs and three aces and Emily Lawler’s 10 digs.
Penns Valley (10-6) was swept 25-12, 25-19, 25-15 at P-O on Oct. 11. Hadley’s five kills and 12 digs led the way, along with Ella Aston’s four kills, Emel’s 11 assists, Butler’s 14 digs, Laney Aston’s nine digs and Coursen’s two blocks.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
The Lady Mounties swept past Clearfield 25-15, 25-6, 25-9 on Oct. 6. They were paced by Hazelton’s 17 kills and 10 digs, Granville’s nine kills, Lauren Dugan’s five aces, Lumadue’s 21 assists, Betz’s 10 assists and Ropert’s two blocks.
During the sweep of Penns Valley, P-O (10-1) got 21 kills, 11 digs, three aces and two blocks from Hazelton. She was followed by Ava Ropert’s six kills and five blocks, Johnson’s five kills and five blocks, Granville’s 10 digs, Lumadue’s 15 assists and Betz’s 14 assists.
STATE COLLEGE
Kate Lally’s triple-double paced the Lady Little Lions in a 28-26, 21-25, 27-25, 25-23 victory over Cedar Cliff on Oct. 5. The senior setter-opposite racked up 16 kills, 17 assists and 11 digs in the win.
She was followed by Tate’s 11 kills and 26 digs, Campbell’s 23 assists and 14 digs and Thompson’s 25 digs. Campbell, Kate Lally and Wales also had two aces apiece.
State College (6-2) swept past Altoona 25-15, 25-13, 25-7 on Oct. 10, blasting to a 20-3 lead to open the third set. The Lady Little Lions’ service game was on target, with seven girls delivering at least one ace, led by Kate Lally’s six and Emma Lally’s three, while they had 16 as a team. Tate and Wales led the offense with six kills each and five each came from Arnold and Campbell. Kate Lally also had 12 assists and six digs, Wales matched those six digs and Tate led with seven.
SAINT JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC ACADEMY
The Wolfpack once again used its solid service game, delivering 19 aces in a 25-17, 25-12, 25-23 sweep of East Juniata on Oct. 6. Monika Peters led the way with 10 service winners, and Jordyn Rose put down six kills.
Juniata Valley handed Saint Joe’s a 25-15, 25-15, 25-21 loss on Oct. 10. Rose led with seven kills and Peters added three kills, while Sachi Ohmoto collected three aces.
The Wolfpack lost 25-17, 25-23, 25-11 to Millersburg on Oct. 11. Ohmoto knocked in three of the team’s seven kills, while two aces each came from Gianna Folmar, Katie Pase, Amelia Posner and Kaige Hutchings.
