Turning the Tide
WEXFORD — Desperate times call for desperate measures.
After two sets of Thursday's WPIAL Class 2A girls volleyball semifinal, Freeport coach Tom Phillips was searching for answers.
His Yellowjackets were down 2-0 to a confident Avonworth squad with a dynamite outside hitter in Makenna Gavin.
“We had to do something to get the spark back,” said Phillips. “I changed our rotation in a way I had never tried before. I didn't have the guts to do it earlier, but it kept us going.”
Tactically, the switches included hitters Mackensey Jack, Isabella Russo and Lauren Lampus moving to different areas of the court. It first provided the 'Jackets a means to stave off elimination, then momentum to advance to Saturday's final with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory at North Allegheny High School.
Freeport will face defending champion North Catholic, a 3-1 winner over Beaver, in a battle of unbeatens at 2 p.m. at Fox Chapel High School.
“I've never been this excited,” exclaimed Russo, who tallied 10 kills in the final three sets of Freeport's 24-26, 17-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-7 win. “Everyone stepped up tonight.”
The teams traded points in the opening moments of the final set, but kills from Lampus and two clutch blocks from Russo helped give Freeport breathing room. Jack officially sunk the Antelopes with her 14th kill of the night.
“Freeport is a really good team and they definitely played better volleyball than we did the last three sets,” said Avonworth coach Sarah Doherty. “We got tentative, but I give Freeport a lot of credit.”
Gavin was the catalyst behind Avonworth's fast start. She tallied 17 of her 29 kills in the first two sets.
“She is exceptional and just brings so much energy to the court,” said Doherty. “The best part is that she's a great teammate.”
“Gavin's a (heck of a) player,” said Phillips, “but they had us figured out from the matchups that were in their favor. I stood at the scorer's table for two or three minutes before the third set and decided to make the changes.”
The third and fourth sets were true team efforts for Freeport. Five players had kills in the third, including a pair from Russo to help force the next set.
Jack dropped five kills in a fourth set that saw the Antelopes score six straight points late, but Lampus' kill sent the game to a fifth set.
“I think things got in our heads early on tonight,” Russo said. “We'd make a mistake, and we'd keep thinking about it. In the last three sets, we were able to shake things off.”
Freeport (18-0) last played for a WPIAL title in 2017 and the 'Jackets last won in 2016.
“We talk about adversity and not being able to (sweep) every team we play,” said Phillips. “Good teams find a way to come back and win.”
The Trojanettes (20-0) prevailed despite not playing at their pace for much of the match.“We play fast,” said North coach Amanda Fetter, “but Beaver played so well and kept coming at us, we weren't able to get into that pace tonight.”The Bobcats took the first set, 25-22, but North's versatile attack proved too much for Beaver as the Trojanettes closed out the match with wins of 25-17, 25-16 and 27-25.Dominique Felix led the way with 15 kills, Libby Palmer had 12 and Lizzie Ochs 10.“We aren't focused on what happened last year,” Fetter said. “The girls are thinking about right now. We're doing everything we can to keep moving in the right direction.”
