By GORDON BRUNSKILL
sports@centrecountygazette.com
It was a week for Centre County’s girls volleyball teams to tangle with each other.
Bald Eagle Area met up with Bellefonte, Philipsburg-Osceola visited Penns Valley, and the Lady Mounties and Lady Eagles renewed their rivalry.
The BEA vs. P-O matchup always seems to bring out the best in both programs. The Lady Mounties (6-0) have had the upper hand in recent meetings, and that remained the case Sept. 20 with a 25-19, 25-21, 25-17 sweep in Wingate.
The matches between the teams have often been passionate regardless of the competitive balance, and even with a change in BEA coaches that did not make a difference.
“For so many years, our teams have battled,” P-O coach Dave Eckberg said. “I think it’s safe to say that Bald Eagle has been our main rival and, probably, we have been theirs. That’s a testament to both programs for keeping that rivalry alive. It was a little different not having my old friend Coach (Larry) Campbell pacing the sideline, but I think both teams feel a little extra excitement and probably nerves any time we play each other.”
P-O was led by 23 kills, 15 digs and three aces from Reese Hazelton. Maddy Lumadue had 17 assists, Natalie Betz added 12 assists and nine digs, and AJ Romano put up two blocks.
BEA (4-2) was led by Myia Brooks’ eight kills and three blocks, four kills each for Phoebe Fisher and Leah Bryan, Taylor Habovick’s 12 assists, Laura Ternent’s 11 assists, Olivia Boone’s 15 digs and Olivia Taylor’s 10 digs.
“We learned that we’re right there competing with one of the best in our league,” coach Zach Rote said. “We just need to clean some things on our end, but I was really pleased with how well our defense was tonight.”
BEA
The Lady Eagles swept the Lady Red Raiders 26-24, 25-20, 25-23 on Sept. 15. They were led by Brooks’ nine kills and four blocks, Bryan’s six kills, Ternent’s 13 assists, and two aces each for Taylor Hall and Peightin Brownson.
BELLEFONTE
During the Lady Raiders’ 3-0 loss to BEA, Carlee Pepperman collected 11 kills and nine digs, Grace Novitsky put down seven kills, Madison Melius gave out 19 assists and Sadie Ripka had eight digs.
Bellefonte (2-4) suffered a 25-10, 25-13, 25-19 loss at Hollidaysburg on Sept. 20. The Lady Raiders were held to six kills, three by Pepperman, and Melius had four assists. Pepperman and Melius had nine and six digs, respectively.
PENNS VALLEY
The Lady Rams opened a busy stretch of competition Sept. 15 with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-13 loss to Philipsburg-Osceola. Ellie Coursen’s nine kills led the way, followed by Ella Hadley’s eight kills and 11 digs, Julia Emel’s 24 assists and 11 digs, Maddie Butler’s 13 digs and Laney Aston’s nine digs and two blocks.
Penns Valley used a solid service game to defeat Juniata 25-7, 25-14, 25-9 on Sept. 19, with four aces each for Aston, Emel and Kendall Guisewhite.
The Lady Rams also got six kills from Hadley, five kills apiece from Coursen and Moriah Hurd, and 17 assists and five digs from Emel.
In between those matches, Penns Valley had a long day at Saint Francis’ tournament on Sept. 17, posting a 7-2 pool-play record before falling in the gold division quarterfinals to Elk County Catholic 25-17. The Lady Rams scored 2-1 wins against Somerset and Marion Center and 3-0 against Meyersdale.
Pacing the team were Hadley’s 19 kills, 17 digs and four aces, and Coursen’s 15 kills and five aces. Emel posted 50 assists and 15 digs, and Butler had 41 digs.
Penns Valley (5-4) took a tough loss at Tyrone on Sept. 20, 25-15, 21-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-13. Hadley picked up 16 kills and 22 digs, Coursen added 14 kills and five blocks, and Emel had 30 assists and 20 digs. Defensively, Butler had 22 digs, Aston picked up 15 digs, Guisewhite had 13 digs and Moriah Hurd had a pair of blocks.
The five-set marathon against the Lady Eagles ended a stretch of three matches and a tournament over six days, with a match against Clearfield on Sept. 22 and another tournament at Bellwood-Antis on Sept. 24 also looming, providing a challenge both mentally and physically to coach Brad Baldwin’s team.
“The team is excited to continue developing our skills and strengthening our bond with two busy weeks of competition,” said Baldwin, who gave his team extra days off before going to Bellwood.
“While exhausting, the tournament was a great learning experience for our players. … The coaches understand the pressure and fatigue that the players are feeling, so we are giving them days off on Wednesday and Friday to recuperate and focus on school.”
P-O
In the Lady Mounties’ 3-0 sweep of Penns Valley on Sept. 15, Hazelton racked up 24 kills, 16 digs and three blocks, and Sophie Granville added 13 kills, nine digs and a pair of aces. Megan Johnson put up three blocks, Lauren Dugan had eight digs and two aces, and the offense was directed by Lumadue and Betz with 15 and 14 assists, respectively.
STATE COLLEGE
The Lady Little Lions earned a 25-19, 25-12, 25-20 victory over Altoona on Sept. 14 behind Sarah Tate’s 10 kills, Kate Lally’s eight kills on .412 hitting with 14 digs, 13 assists each for Lally and Jessie Campbell and 11 digs for Molly Thompson.
State College (2-1) has a lot of travel time upcoming. After hosting Central Dauphin on Sept. 21, the Lady Little Lions have two trips to Cumberland Valley for a tournament Sept. 24 and a Mid-Penn Conference match Sept. 28, sandwiched around a visit to Chambersburg on Sept. 26, and trip to Cedar Cliff on Oct. 5.
SAINT JOSEPH’S CATHOLIC ACADEMY
The WolfPack used a strong showing from the service line in their first road win of the season, knocking off East Juniata 25-22, 11-25, 25-20, 25-18 on Sept. 15. The effort was led by seven aces from Jordyn Rose, five for Katie Pase, and three each for Monika Peters and Elle Ladlee. Leah Ridenour’s three kills led the offense.
Saint Joseph’s fell 25-16, 25-6, 21-25, 25-19 to Halifax on Sept. 17 with four kills for Rose and three for Peters. The Wolfpack lost 25-19, 22-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11 to Upper Dauphin on Sept. 20. Rose notched six kills, Amelia Posner delivered five aces and Gianna Folmar racked up 22 digs.
