Familiar Finish
O'HARA TWP — It was a familiar refrain and one that was as pleasant to the ears of the Seneca Valley boys volleyball team as nails on a chalkboard.
Close.
Not close enough.
Seneca Valley played well again against rival North Allegheny, but dropped a 25-19, 25-23, 29-27 decision to the Tigers in the PIAA Class 3A semifinals at Fox Chapel High School Tuesday night.
It was the fourth loss of the season suffered by the Raiders to North Allegheny. Against everyone else, Seneca Valley was 20-0.
“It's been like that all year,” said Seneca Valley coach Brett Poirier. “They win, but it's close. We've lost 25-23 a lot of times. You gotta get over the hump. That's why they're the state champs. They're good.”
North Allegheny (18-0) has now won 64 consecutive matches and will shoot for a third state title in a row Saturday.
Getting past Seneca Valley was by no means easy.
After dropping the first set, the Raiders led for much of the second set and had a 23-20 advantage before North Allegheny scored the final five points to take a 2-0 lead.
And dash whatever momentum Seneca Valley had seized.
Ryan Treser served the last five points of the rally.
“It just speaks to their experience and to their resilience, as well,” said North Allegheny coach Dan Schall.
To Seneca Valley, it was more frustration.The Raiders led again in the third set and had game-point four times only to watch the Tigers survive.Finally, North Allegheny scored consecutive points — first on a kill by senior Mike Mosbacher and then the finisher on an error by the Raiders.“You have to bring your A-game against them,” Poirier said. “We were at about an A-minus.”Michael Devlin and Dawson Ward had strong matches for Seneca Valley.Devlin, coming off 17 kills against Upper Dublin, had 12 kills against North Allegheny.Ward added eight kills.“They both stepped up,” Poirier said.North Allegheny made it difficult for Seneca Valley hitters, clogging up hitting lanes and blocking well at the net.In the middle of it all was Timmy Ditka, who had seven blocks and seven kills.“Our blocking was great. Our blocking was exceptional,” Schall said. “We were very aware of their hitting percentages in previous matchups and we really took it as a personal challenge to defend it better. We got a lot of touches early and that can alter the game.”Seneca Valley didn't make things easy on North Allegheny, either.The Tigers had a fair share of errors, but as Schall pointed out, they weren't all unforced.'There's a reason for the errors — that's a pretty good opponent,” Schall said. “Some of our errors you have to give a lot of credit to Seneca Valley for forcing them.”Seneca Valley now must wonder what could have been had a giant roadblock named North Allegheny wasn't standing in its way.Still, it was one of the most successful seasons in school history for the Raiders.“Hey, they fought to the end,” Poirier said. “It's been a good year. Just fell a little short.”
