The Final Step
JOHNSTOWN — Hannah Rowe crashed to the floor onto her knees and wept.
Sarah Armahizer thrust her arms into the air.
Kerrie Fitzpatrick leapt.
Carly Bozzo embraced her teammates with a bear hug.
Soon, they were mobbed near the net.
The realization had set in.
The Knoch volleyball team was PIAA 3A champions.
The final step was taken.
“Honestly, I didn't even feel like this was real life,” Bozzo said, eyes still red from tears of bliss. “I had to go to my teammates and ask, 'Is this real life?' We had the perfect season — 24-0 — and we did it for coach and we did it for each other.”
Knoch volleyball coach Diane Geist has been at it for 30-plus years. She's had great players and great teams in the past, but had never been able to reach the top step on their staircase of goals.
Until Saturday when Knoch overcame a 2-games-to-1 deficit against defending state champion Allentown Central Catholic to win an epic five-game match, 26-24, 17-25, 20-25, 25-18, 15-12, at Richland High School.
“I'm kind of like in a dream world right now,” Geist said. “It'll sink in someday. I'm just so proud of the girls. They didn't falter.”
Even when Knoch trailed 10-7 in the fifth game.
The Knights were unfazed, rolled off three straight points to tie it, and then took a 13-11 lead after a kill by Sarah Armahizer, who ended the day with 18 kills and 10 blocks for a net double-double.
“We just kept really calm,” Armahizer said. “We try not to get into our heads too much.”
That attitude was instilled at an early age for Armahizer and the seniors, who didn't lose a match at the junior high level.
Now, with an undefeated season to cap their careers, Saturday's win was a perfect bookend.“Seventh grade we were all new to the game and we were all figuring it out together, but we were still successful,” Bozzo said.That junior high experience was the first step on a long staircase that led to their defining moment.In fact, long before the leaves changed and a chill hit the air this season, Knoch establish a mantra that would guide it through the year.Stairway to States.There were 10 steps. Knoch actually climbed 11 of them.Some were smaller ones, Rowe said, “Work as a unit. Cut down on unforced errors.”Others were big.Like win the WPIAL. Like reach the state final. Like go undefeated.Winning the state title wasn't necessarily one of the steps, but the Knights climbed to it anyway.“We completed every single step on that ladder,” said Rowe, a sophomore who had nine kills Saturday.It was a junior, though, who may have saved Knoch's perfect season.Fitzpatrick dove and slid her hand along the floor for a pancake dig in the first set on match point for Allentown Central Catholic.Knoch rallied to win the next two points and the game, 26-24, but then dropped the next two sets.The Knights' story could have been vastly different if not for that pancake.“If you don't win that first set, I don't know what happens because we didn't play well in the second one and they came on strong,” Geist said.Even down by three in the fifth set, Geist had supreme confidence in her team.“They haven't lost a match all year,” she said. “I still felt like they could do it.”And the Knights did.The day was a little extra special for Geist.
Her alma mater, Freeport, won the 2A championship. Geist still resides in Freeport.It was also a special day for Butler County volleyball with two state championship teams.“It's pretty cool,” Geist said. “A great day for Butler County.”It wasn't too shabby for the western side of the state. Maplewood, a District 10 team, won the 1A title. North Allegheny claimed the 4A championship.And it was a great day for the Knoch players, who not only won a state title, but got to bring one to a coach who has meant so much to them and the program for three decades.Bozzo's eyes teared up and her lips quivered when talking about what it meant to win a state championship for their coach.“I can't even express how much this means,” Bozzo said.“It's just an amazing feeling to do it with these group of girls,” Armahizer added. “I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else. We're a family. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Ever.”
