Going down swinging
WEXFORD — Seneca Valley senior outside hitter Tyler Herrmann — much like the rest of his teammates — was red in the face and exhausted.
The Raiders spent five sets chasing after Fox Chapel Tuesday night in a PIAA Class AAA boys volleyball semifinal at North Allegheny High School.
Seneca Valley was forced to climb upwards after losing the first and third sets, clawing within two points in the deciding set before Jaysen Zaleski hit a screaming spike that stopped the Raiders from catching up.
Zaleski's match-high 16th kill landed in front of several sprawling Seneca Valley defenders, capping Fox Chapel's 26-24, 21-25, 27-25, 20-25, 15-12 win.
Herrmann was satisfied with how the Raiders (17-4) performed in their first-ever state semifinal appearance.
“We definitely gave our best. No doubt about that,” said Herrmann, who finished with nine kills. “Some calls, some points and some touches didn't go our way, but that's volleyball.”
It was Seneca Valley's third loss to the Foxes, who are ranked No. 1 in the state by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association.
Fox Chapel beat the Raiders 3-1 in the WPIAL championship match.
Seneca Valley coach Dan Follett embraced not being the favorite.
“I told them even if you go out, you are going to go out swinging,” Follett said. “We're not going to give in. We're going to show them what we are as a team and a program. They exhibited that tonight, coming back from one down, then 2-1 and coming back in that fifth set to make things interesting.”
The Raiders met Follett's expectations from the first set. After falling behind 24-19, Seneca Valley ran off a 5-0 run to even the score.Fox Chapel (19-1) stopped the momentum with consecutive kills from Zaleski and Andrew Tublin.“We worked hard, communicated and never gave up,” Raiders senior setter Anthony Sprentz said. “We always stayed up and worked together as a team. We're a tight-knit group of guys and that helps.”The Raiders evened the match behind 6-foot-5 junior middle blocker John Dolfi.Dolfi, who had a team-high 12 kills and three blocks, put down four kills in the second set to help the Raiders win 25-21.“He was fantastic all the way through and through,” Follett said. “From hitting from blocking and playing defense to get his guys back in the game. The thing is, I've seen him in practice for a couple years now and he's not 100 percent now.”Fox Chapel coach Phil O'Keeffe only saw Dolfi once in the team's previous three meetings.Dolfi broke an ankle in a preseason tournament and didn't rejoin the team until the WPIAL semifinals.“He was on time,” O'Keeffe said. “We always say in a middle attack, speed kills. He was up on time, it was over our block and caused us fits.”Fox Chapel won a closely contested third set, 27-25, before the Foxes struggled to pass in the fourth set.Fox Chapel committed four consecutive attack errors to stake Seneca Valley to an 8-4 lead.The Raiders used that momentum to win the set, holding off a late run by Fox Chapel when Taylor Matthews hit a service ace that glanced off the back line.“We came into this match knowing we need to use every opportunity we get,” Herrmann said. “Every free ball, every missed pass we need to use it to our advantage. They lost it in the fourth set and we used it to our advantage and kept going.”The Foxes regained their traction in the final set. With the score tied at 9, Jack Reese brought Fox Chapel out of a timeout with a kill.“When we came out of the timeout in the first third of Game 5, I've never seen that kind of raw emotion from the kids,” O'Keeffe said. “That extra little bit of focus, once you get the lead things get calmer.”Seneca Valley followed with an attack error that gave the Foxes enough room to close out the win.After four grueling sets, the Raiders couldn't keep chasing.“We realized we needed to pick up our game,” Dolfi said. “This game, we really wanted to beat them. Things just didn't work how we wanted to.”
