ROSS TWP — Tears flowed.

Hugs were as plentiful as spikes.

And the faces were as long as the day that ended the season for the Freeport volleyball team.

The Yellowjackets' promising playoff run was stopped at North Hills Saturday as Freeport went 1-2 in Pool C, losing out to West Allegheny and upstart Fort LeBoeuf for the two spots in the PIAA Class AA Girls Volleyball Championships.

“These girls have had a great year this year,” said Freeport coach Tom Phillips. “They really have. We just got behind the 8-ball a little bit here.”

Freeport began the long and interruption-filled day by losing to Fort LeBoeuf 22-25, 13-25, 25-22. All matches were best-of-3 sets, but the teams played three sets regardless for tie-breaking purposes.

That put the Yellowjackets in desperation mode. Freeport quickly dispatched City League representative Peabody in three sets, 25-2, 25-3, 25-8, and faced a must-win match to wrap up the day against West Allegheny.

After a rousing win in the first set 25-17, the Yellowjackets lost the next two 20-25, 18-25 to end their season.

In the third set, Freeport trailed 22-9 at one point before rallying to close the deficit to 22-18.

After a season that including 70 sets, Freeport couldn't pull out a win in its 71st.

“I can't say enough about them — the way that they fought,” Phillips said. “They're a great group.”

Sophomore hitter Ashley Sample had 13 kills against West Allegheny and 30 on the day.

West Allegheny had little at stake in the final match against Freeport; it already had wrapped up a spot in the PIAA championships, which begin Friday in York and wrap up Saturday with the championship match.

Fort LeBoeuf and Freeport had a lot on the line, however. Bison players sat in the bleachers and nervously watched the Yellowjackets and Indians do battle.

After West Allegheny put the finishing touches on Freeport, Fort LeBoeuf players erupted into cheers that were even louder than those coming from the Indians.

West Allegheny finished the day 3-0 and Fort LeBoeuf 2-1.

The day was not perfect for anyone, however.

With two pools going on at the same time on side-by-side courts, play was often interrupted by invading volleyballs from another court.

During the West Allegheny match, two back-row players from Freeport booted an errant volleyball from their court before going for a dig.

Many times players hesitated when they heard a whistle blown from the other court.

Scorekeeping was also an issue. There were several scoring errors in Freeport's match against West Allegheny.

Freeport also had to sit for almost three hours between their second and third matches.

The format was changed this year back to pool play in the first round of the state playoffs for the first times since 1999.

“I gotta tell you, I don't like the format at all,” Phillips said. “You play. You break. You play. You break. I'd rather see a five-set game. Unfortunately, it's not my decision.

“When you get in here and the courts are so close and the atmosphere is so close, you can't tell whether the whistle is blowing on this court or the other court,” Phillips added.

Freeport is a very young team, which brings Phillips some solace.

“We are very young,” Phillips said. “Every year you just have to reload. We just wanted to get over that threshold and get out to York. It's a shame for them.”