Mars volleyball kicks it in, bounces Greensburg Salem
BUFFALO TWP — Mars’ girls volleyball team could have gone in one of two directions in the middle of its WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff match against Greensburg Salem Thursday night.
Planet coach Tami Caraway was pleased with the route her squad chose.
Mars dropped a hard-fought two-point decision in the second game, which tied the match at 1-1. The Planets then hit another gear and left the Golden Lions in the dust to earn a 3-1 victory by scores of 25-13, 26-28, 25-10, 25-12.
Mars held a 22-20 lead in the second game before the Lions’ Kara Uhlinger tallied three huge kills late to help her team even the match.
“Take nothing away from Greensburg Salem, they kept coming after us,” said Caraway, “but we had a lot of attack and service errors in that second game.”
The third game was shaping up to be a similar struggle for both teams, with the score tied at 7-7, but on four consecutive possessions, the Planets tallied a combined 15 points.
Cassie McKernan, Alayna Chizmar and Maddie Schlegel each pitched in with kills and Julia Frye and Schlegel managed timely blocks during the run. The six service errors the Planets had in the previous game were a distant memory. Mars was back to playing the way it needed to and the Lions (11-6) simply couldn’t keep up.
“It came down to limiting those errors,” said Chizmar. “We really wanted to advance tonight.”
In the fourth game, the Lions’ attack slowed to a mere trickle as the team managed back-to-back points just once. Chizmar’s three kills aided the Planet onslaught.
“Our win in the second game can be attributed to heart,” said Greensburg Salem coach Taylor Guido. “It would have been very easy for the girls to give up in a game that had both teams trading points like that. But we just didn’t have the composure to keep up in the final two games.”
Many players joined in the frenzy of kills for the Planets. Chizmar paced the team with 11, Mikayla Tiller had eight while Julia Zimmer, Schlegel and McKernan each dropped seven on the Lions.
Erica Steele and Morgan O’Leary both had six kills for Greensburg Salem.
Mars (9-8) survived a grueling schedule during the regular season and tied Central Valley for third place in Section 4. Knoch and Hampton shared the section title at 11-1.
“Our section’s strength has worked to our benefit,” said Caraway. “It has made us a better team.”
“Teams look at our record and they may think that we won’t be able to get much done against them,” said Chizmar, “but then we show up and play to their level.”
Mars will face section foe Hampton in Tuesday’s quarterfinal round at a time and site to be determined.
“We have six seniors this year, but have dealt with a lot of adversity and injuries,” said Caraway. “Our focus has always been on peaking in October and I think we’re doing that.”
