Close call
COLLIER TWP — The Seneca Valley boys volleyball team was aiming to dethrone four-time defending WPIAL champion North Allegheny.
In the end, the Raiders had to settle for simply having the Tigers on the ropes.
SV captured the first game of Friday's Class AAA championship at Chartiers Valley, but then lost three close decisions as NA won its fifth straight title with a 3-1 win.
The Tigers triumphed by scores of 24-26, 31-29, 25-23 and 25-21.
North Allegheny (17-0) swept both regular-season meetings with SV, though all six games were decided by five points or less.
“We made some adjustments from the first two times we played them,” said Raiders' coach Dan Mountain. “It paid off in the first game tonight, but NA's a great team. They switched some things up themselves as the match went on.”
In the third-place consolation match held earlier in the night, Butler failed to make the state playoffs with a 3-0 loss to Norwin.
SV came very close to taking a two-games-to-none lead as it was up 23-21 in the second game.
The Tigers battled back and the game featured six ties until Steve Ferringer managed two service points — the second one on an ace — to even the match at one game apiece.
“In four of our five WPIAL titles, we dropped the first game,” said NA coach Dan Schall. “We just needed to remember the past and learn from it.”
NA jumped out to a 13-5 edge in the third game, but saw its lead shrink to 17-16 thanks in part to a kill from SV's Brian Pudlo and a huge block from Cam Knight.
A Chad Albert kill handed possession back to the Raiders with just a one-point deficit (23-24), but NA prevailed due to a service error by Seneca.“NA had service errors, too, tonight,” said Mountain. “They're part of the game.”The Tigers' third-game win featured three service aces and the final point of the match was an ace off the serve of Zach Shaw.“We didn't serve that well overall tonight, but we had some big serves in clutch situations,” said Schall. “In a match as close as this was, that's big.”Pudlo, Ben Hart and Zach Herrmann each starred for the Raiders in the first game, combining for 10 kills. Herrmann and Albert came together for a game-clinching block.Seth Johnson paced the Tigers with 17 kills.Pudlo led SV with 13 kills on the night and Herrmann had 10.“Some of our guys had their best performance of the year tonight,” said Mountain. “Pudlo and Herrmann, those guys were great.”Seneca Valley (17-3) will face District 6 champion State College in a PIAA first-round playoff at 6 p.m. Tuesday at St. Francis University in Loretto.“We're taking a lot of confidence into the state playoffs,” said Mountain. “We know we can play with anybody.”“Seneca Valley is one of the best teams in the state,” said Schall. “We have a lot of respect for them.”Norwin 3, Butler 0The Golden Tornado's season ended with three defeats by a combined nine points.After dropping a 29-27 thriller in the first game, Butler fell twice more to the Knights by scores of 25-23 and 25-20.“We just had too many costly errors at the wrong time,” said Lew Liparulo. “When you get two teams that are evenly matched, that's what it comes down to.Mike Dreher led Butler (11-7) with eight kills, Dustin DeFrancisis had 16 assists and Dylan Snodgrass nine passes.“These guys put it out there, gave me everything they had every match this year,” Liparulo said. “I can't say anything negative about them.”
