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BUTLER TWP — Butler's girls volleyball team was just one win away from the WPIAL playoffs, but an old nemesis stood in the way.
Seneca Valley's 3-1 win Thursday night at Butler High School dashed the Tornado's hopes of postseason play.
The Raiders triumphed by scores of 25-19, 17-25, 25-22 and 25-18, as Butler finishes the season at 8-8 overall and 6-6 in section play.
A Butler win would have tied the team with the Raiders (12-5, 8-4) for the third and final playoff spot out of Section 3. In that scenario, both teams would have made the WPIAL tournament.
“This was my first year with the team,” said Butler coach Dan Mountain, who previously coached at Mars. “I met all the girls for the first time back in the spring and could tell it was a special group. It's been a while since Butler made the playoffs and that was our goal. To see us come up short, it's tough.”
SV senior outside hitter Morgan Chapman did not play in the first two sets Thursday, but made a big impact in the third and fourth.
“She's been battling some back problems,” said Raiders' coach Karen Martini. “But we lost Sydney (Martini) after she split open her chin early on tonight. That's two of our outside hitters out, but I told Morgan that we needed her. She goes out and gets 10 kills in two games.”
“The doctor said it's muscle tightness,” Chapman said of her back. “When I went in tonight, I just focused on playing smart.”
It was one of Chapman's four kills in the third set that put SV up 24-22 and gave the serve back to the Raiders. Moments later, Maddie Beck's block ended the set and gave the Raiders a two-sets-to-one edge.
“The biggest thing for us was we cut out the service errors in that third game,” said Coach Martini. “In the first two games combined, we had eight of them. I really don't think we played all that well tonight. We had a lot of different lineups in there and I think the girls were a bit nervous.
“Nobody clicked tonight, but credit to Butler,” she added. “We always seem to have trouble up here and they played so well on defense tonight.”
Chapman added six more kills in the fourth and final set.
“Neither team wanted to let the ball hit the floor and it was crazy,” said Mountain of action late in the match. “But in the end, I think Seneca's defense was the difference.”
Led by Kristen Knass' five kills, Butler tied the match by taking the second set earlier in the evening. In all, the Tornado tallied 13 kills in the set.
“That was our best game of the night, getting big hits at the right time,” said Mountain.
Middle hitter Abbie Trzeciak led the Raiders with 14 kills and Katie Brown added 11 while Angela Seman had 35 digs.
Gabriell Carney had 14 kills and three aces for the Tornado. Kiana Green had eight kills, Erin Hilderbrand 18 digs and Rachel Rebmann 20 assists.
Along with Seneca Valley, North Allegheny and Pine-Richland also made the playoffs from Section 3. The WPIAL brackets will be released next week.
