Raiders put scare into NA
O'HARA TWP — Seneca Valley put North Allegheny in a very unfamiliar spot Wednesday night.
In the end, however, the final result was one the Tigers are much accustomed to.
The Raiders took the first set in the WPIAL Class 3A championship match at Fox Chapel High School, marking the first time NA has trailed all season.
“I told our guys they had to play their best game of the season to win,” said SV coach Brett Poirier. “After that first set, it was pretty exciting on our bench. We needed to keep that energy as high as we could the whole match.”
The Raiders' energy never wavered, but the Tigers (15-0) simply scored the most crucial points over the final three sets, winning their fourth consecutive district title by scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-21.
The rivals alternated points for long stretches of each set. After the incredibly tight match, NA coach Dan Schall recalled one of the more significant moments.
“In the fourth set, Cole Dorn came up with a big block that gave us some breathing room,” he said. “Sometimes, a match can turn on a play or two like that.
“Seneca Valley (15-3) played at an unbelievable level tonight. Things could've unraveled for us.”
Dawson Ward's kill for the Raiders tied the third set at 23, but NA received a Michael Mosbacher kill following an SV mishit and the Tigers earned a crucial 2-1 lead.
Poirier knew that was key.
“The first two times we played them (both 3-1 wins for NA), we won the third set,” Poirier said. “I was hoping it would be lucky for us tonight.
“I thought the team that was better at blocking would win tonight and they were just a little better than us.”
Michael Devlin paced SV with 17 kills and Ward added 13.
David Sanfilippo had 14 kills for NA.
Both teams will begin the state playoffs next week.
“We've gotten better every time we played them,” said Poirier. “Hopefully, we'll get one more shot at them.”
Seton LaSalle 3, North Catholic 1The Trojans had momentum and a renewed energy.But Seton LaSalle still had Nathan Zini.The 6-foot-7 senior hitter had dealt a major blow to North's WPIAL title hopes by dominating the first two sets of Wednesday's Class 2A final.Zini continued to rack up the kills in the third set, but the Trojans staved off defeat with a more balanced attack.Then in the fourth, North led 22-17 before the Rebels reeled off six straight points — four on Zini kills. The feisty Trojans fell by scores of 16-25, 18-25, 25-21 and 23-25.“I'm still in shock,” said North coach Stacie Ball. “I thought we were going to win this. No disrespect to Seton LaSalle, they're a great team, but that fourth set was ours, we just lost it in the end.”The Rebels centered their offense around Zini and he responded with an incredible 42 kills. Twenty-one of them came in the first two sets when the Trojans (17-3) looked overwhelmed.“We came out flat,” Ball said. “We changed a few things up and put things together in the third set.”The two teams know each other well. Despite being non-section opponents, this was their third meeting this season after splitting the first two.“We started to think it was over before it was over,” said Seton LaSalle coach John Lawrence of Wednesday's rubber match. “He (Zini) has been the best player on our team since he walked in the gym in 2017 as a 6-3 freshman. With as talented as that kid is, you would think he would be aloof, but he's anything but ... is the first player to welcome a new kid.”Andrew Ubinger had 16 kills and Richard Kaminski added nine kills for North, which will begin play in the state playoffs Tuesday.
