SV girls volleyball sweeps Golden Tornado
BUTLER TWP — This season may be one of transition for the Seneca Valley girls volleyball team, but the Raiders still have victory in their sights.
They dominated rival Butler 3-0 Tuesday night by scores of 25-18, 25-11 and 25-22 at the Golden Tornado’s gym.
“You hope that the six girls who are out on the floor are going 100 percent,” said Butler coach Meghan Lucas. “At that point, it just comes down to which side can avoid the errors and control the ball.”
Seneca Valley was able to do that, at least on the night’s most crucial points.
The Raiders improved to 5-3 overall and 4-2 in Section 3-AAA.
“It’s been pretty much what I expected,” said SV coach Karen Martini of the 2012 season. “It’s a rebuilding year, but the girls are responding to the challenge.”
Butler opened the first game with a 4-1 lead, but the Raiders soon pulled even and then moved ahead, thanks to a combined eight points off the serves of Abbie Trzeciak and Hannah Parey.
Trailing 21-16, the Tornado managed back-to-back points to close their deficit to three points, but a clutch kill from Morgan Chapman returned the serve to the Raiders.
Chapman then delivered another kill before Trzeciak’s service ace ended Butler’s hopes for an opening game win.
SV thoroughly controlled the second game, allowing Butler just one point off of its own serve. Meanwhile, Tricia Connolly and Katie Brown both came up with timely kills to keep momentum on the side of the Raiders.
“I thought we played well overall tonight,” said Martini, “but the second game is where everything came together for us.”
The third game turned out to be the best of the night, as Butler battled back from a 14-7 deficit and trailed just 17-16.
But Trzeciak, who tallied five of her seven kills in the third game, came up with a big one to provide the Raiders more breathing room late in the contest.
With Butler down 24-20, Mackenzie O’Donnell served up two points before a Raider kill ended the night for both teams.
“For the most part, I thought we played well tonight,” said Lucas, who watched her team drop to 4-5 overall. “But we’d get down by a few points and it’s tough to climb back from that. I was hoping for us to have a better record at this point in the season.”
Chapman led the Raiders with 10 kills, while Brown added nine and Lindsay Hohlbaugh contributed 19 assists.
Gabrielle Carney totaled six kills for Butler and O’Donnell had five.
Both teams return to action Thursday. Seneca travels to Fox Chapel and Butler hosts Pine-Richland.
