Mars rebounded from a tough loss in the WPIAL class 3A finals to shut out Manheim Central, 2-0, in the first round of the PIAA girls soccer tournament Tuesday night.

“It was a good response by us,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach said. “We were either going to show we deserved to be there or we were gonna go through the motions.

“Fortunately, it was the first of those two things.”

The game was scoreless at halftime. Caroline Wroblewski scored in the 25th minute and Taylor Hamlett in the 32nd minute for Mars. Goalkeeper Ckaire Valentine made five saves.

The Planets (19-1) have allowed only two goals in their past 11 games. One of those goals was in their 1-0 overtime loss to Oakland Catholic in the WPIAL championship.

Mars has outscored its opponents 45-2 in the past 11 games.

The Planets play Blue Mountain — a 3-0 winner over Little Flower — in the 3A quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

Villa Maria 5, Karns City 0 — The Gremlins (13-5) saw their season come to an end in the first round of the Class 2A state tourney.

Villa Maria faces WPIAL power South Park in the next round.

Volleyball

Alyson DeJidas had nine kills, eight service points and two blocks as Freeport (17-3) rolled past Redbank Valley, 3-0, in the PIAA Class 2A Tournament.

Scores of the match were 25-12, 25-10, 25-15.

Mackensey Jack contributed 16 points, three aces and eight kills for Freeport. Isabella Russo had seven kills and three blocks.

Madeline Clark, the Yellowjackets' setter, had six points, 29 assists and two kills. Lauren Lampus had seven points and four kills.

The win sets up a match against unbeaten North Catholic in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

The Trojanettes (20-0) defeated North Star 3-0 in the first round Tuesday night. Scores of the match were 25-11, 25-13, 25-11.

Softball

Seneca Valley's varsity slow-pitch team lost the WPISL championship game, 15-3, to Plum recently.

The Raiders finished the regular season 10-4 in just their fourth season as a varsity program. Seeded No. 3 in the postseason tournament, SV defeated West Allegheny 10-6 and Peters Township 24-9 in the tourney before falling to undefeated top-seed Plum.

Senior captains Kaitlyn Welsh and Dalayna Frankenstein keyed ther Raiders' success. The team had nine seniors on the roster and started five sophomores.