A pair of Centre County teams captured District 6 girls volleyball championships, and the dreams of a state title remain for one as the final days of the fall season arrived.
State College’s run of district crowns reached a dozen on Nov. 3 with a 3-0 sweep of Central Mountain in the Class 4A final. Philipsburg-Osceola earned its third consecutive Class 2A banner with a 3-0 sweep of Tyrone on Nov. 5.
The PIAA tournament opened Nov. 8, with the Lady Mounties advancing and the Lady Little Lions’ season coming to an end.
Bald Eagle Area also had a shot at a district championship, but the Lady Eagles lost a tight 3-0 match to Hollidaysburg in the Class 3A final.
PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA
Reese Hazelton delivered more huge performances for the Lady Mounties (18-1) with three more matches of at least 20 kills. She has notched 20 or more kills in 10 matches this season, is averaging 6.7 kills per set on .346 hitting this season, has 582 total kills and 1,691 for her career.
The junior outside hitter picked up 26 kills and 15 digs in a 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 victory over Tyrone in the district final at the Altoona Fieldhouse, putting the Lady Mounties into yet another challenging PIAA bracket.
“Once we get to this stage of things, we always talk about the importance of giving ourselves every advantage that we can,” coach Dave Eckberg said. “Things like mental preparation and extra focus on fundamentals can mean the difference between your season ending and advancing one step closer to your goal. When you know you are going to be playing the best teams in the state, the margin for error can be so small that the importance of even the simplest things is magnified. One thing that we talked about at our last practice is that you have to assume your next opponent is going to play their best game of the season.”
Sophie Granville had a big day from the back line, collecting nine aces among her 21 points on serve. Ava Ropert put up three blocks, and Natalie Betz and Maddy Lumadue distributed 17 and 14 assists, respectively.
P-O also had a 25-18, 25-15, 25-10 sweep of Bellwood-Antis in the district semifinals on Nov. 3 behind 20 kills, 15 digs and four aces from Hazelton. Granville added seven digs, three aces and two blocks, Lauren Dugan picked up nine digs, and Lumadue and Betz had 16 assists apiece.
The Lady Mounties opened the state tournament on their home court against Avonworth of District 7, earning a 25-11, 23-25, 25-20, 25-12 victory. P-O will meet District 7 runner-up Shenango in the quarterfinals on Nov. 12.
As was shown with the decisive first and fourth sets, P-O put on some big scoring runs to take control of the match.
“We were able to be effective offensively and go on scoring runs when our hitters played with confidence,” Eckberg said. “We have the ability with our defense to grind out points, but we can’t let an opponent off the hook with unforced errors. When we played clean tonight, we won points — it was that simple.”
Hazelton posted perhaps her best performance of the season in the victory, with 34 kills, 17 digs, four blocks and four aces. While the junior had huge numbers, there was balance around the lineup to help sustain the offense, with seven kills and two blocks for Megan Johnson, six kills and 18 digs for Granville, five kills and six blocks for Ropert, three aces and 10 digs for Annie Johnson, 14 digs for Dugan, 24 assists for Lumadue and 20 assists for Betz.
STATE COLLEGE
The Lady Little Lions celebrated their district title at Bald Eagle Area High School with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-12 sweep of Central Mountain. Even though every season has the expectation of a district championship and competing in the state tournament, coach Chad Weight said the girls want to show what they can do against the state’s best.
“I think they look to it as a challenge,” he said. “They embrace it and accept it.”
A balanced offense, like it has been all season, paved the way in the win. Ashlyn Arnold led with nine kills, while Sarah Tate added eight and Sophie Wales and Kate Lally posted seven apiece. Lally also gave out 21 assists, while Jessie Campbell contributed 13 to go with 10 digs, Emma Lally delivered five aces and Tate added three.
“The offense has been mostly balanced all season,” Weight said. “We don’t have a giant bopper, but a bunch of really good girls who have learned how to score.”
Defensively, Wales put up a pair of blocks, while Molly Thompson had 11 digs and Brynn Lally added 10.
The competition was decidedly tougher Nov. 8 in the PIAA opener, with defending state champion North Allegheny across the net. The Lady Tigers, who had been No. 1 in the state all season according to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s rankings until they stumbled against Pine-Richland in the District 7 final, had to take the long bus ride to State College’s North Gym.
State College (9-5) put up a good fight but couldn’t tame the Tigers in the 25-21, 25-20, 25-19 loss.
“The kids played with a ‘nothing-to-lose’ mentality,” Weight said. “At times we did really well following the game plan, and at others we didn’t or couldn’t. NA is good. They kept some plays alive that are usually a point for us.”
Kate Lally’s triple-double — of 11s — led the way. She had 11 kills, 11 assists and 11 digs. Campbell followed with eight kills and 12 assists, and Tate had six kills, 16 digs and three aces. Brynn Lally posted four aces and 11 digs, and Molly Thompson had 15 digs.
“I’m proud of our effort. We never gave in,” Weight said. “One of the best comments after the match was, ‘This was one of the most fun games we played all year.’ I would agree.”
BALD EAGLE AREA
The Lady Eagles (7-13) gave Hollidaysburg (14-2) — ninth in the PVCA Class 3A weekly rankings — a tough test even in a 3-0 loss, falling 25-18, 25-23, 25-23 in the Class 3A final at Tyrone Middle School.
“I was very pleased to see how well my girls played,” coach Zach Rote said. “They gave it their all each and every point and I can’t be upset with that. They gave maximum effort but just fell a little short.”
Ava Stere’s nine kills and 14 digs led the way, followed by Taylor Hall’s seven kills and two aces, Myia Brooks’ six kills, Leah Bryan’s two blocks and Taylor Habovick’s 27 assists and 14 digs.
Even with the season ending a little sooner than hoped, Rote was happy with the growth he saw through his first season as head coach.
“I was very pleased with the progress and how the girls were able to adapt to a new offense scheme,” Rote said. “Towards the end of the season I could see that they really bought into it and we started to really play well.”
