Raiders On A Roll
JACKSON TWP — Things appeared to be pretty even halfway through the first set of Seneca Valley's WPIAL Class AAA first round boys volleyball playoff against Baldwin.
But the Raiders had not yet hit their stride.
Once they did, the outcome was swift.
SV pulled away to win the opening set, then unloaded on the Highlanders in a 25-17, 25-15, 25-14 sweep for the host Raiders.
Baldwin (9-8) held several slim leads early on and trailed just 16-15 before SV scored five straight points that spurred their dominance.
“I was thinking about calling a timeout (earlier in the set), but sometimes our guys just need to work out their jitters on their own.” said Raiders' coach Karen Martini. “This was our first playoff game and they were nervous.”
“We started out slow, but once we got the spark, we were taking off,” said SV junior setter Caleb Dawson, who contributed 32 assists to the victory.
Once lost, it was extremely difficult for the Highlanders to pull momentum away from the Raiders. This was due in large part to SV's noticeable height advantage.
While Baldwin had just one player who saw action taller than six-foot, the Raiders had Kyle Montrose, Luke Trzeciak, Jake Smeltzer and Ryan Meyer on the court. All stand no less than 6-4.
“We've had a height disadvantage most of the season,” said Baldwin coach Milan Yekich. “We tried to focus on defense, making sure we're in the right position. We do have some good jumpers and they're good with their timing at the net.”
But Baldwin's attack dwindled as the match played out. The Highlanders totaled eight kills in the first set, four in the second and only two in the third.
“That's been the summary of our season,” said Yekich, in his first season as Baldwin's head coach. “In a lot of our matches, we play aggressively early and are able to hang with teams. Then we get put on our heels and lose momentum.”
The Raiders scored 15 of the final 21 points in the second set before opening up a 20-8 lead in the third. Their attack was spread out.
Colin Uher led the way with 11 kills while Luke Trzeciak and Kyle Montrose both had 10.
“You could see tonight, we had better distribution of the ball,” said Martini. “Everybody got involved.
“We didn't know much about Baldwin. We just focused on serving and passing. If you can do that, everything else falls in place.”
Montrose had five kills in the third set with several prompting an eruption from his own bench.
“It's the best feeling in the world,” said Dawson of setting his teammates up for thunderous points. “Kyle had a kill in the third set. It was the hardest I've ever seen someone hit a ball in high school. Everyone on our team lit up.”
The Raiders (10-5) will encounter fourth-seeded Latrobe in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Thursday at North Allegheny High School.
“If we play like the team that showed up tonight, it'll be a heck of a game,” said Martini.
