Seneca Valley falls at doorstep of WPIAL title match
O’HARA TWP — Seneca Valley countered an early onslaught — and even knotted the score late in the initial set — but the confidence Canon-McMillan gained proved problematic.
The Raiders were bounced from the WPIAL Class 4A girls volleyball playoffs in a 3-0 sweep against the Big Macs — the scores being 26-24, 25-18, and 25-21.
“We started so slow,” Seneca Valley coach Brett Poirier said. “We’ve had so many times where we’ve started slow. We missed a lot of serves tonight. It just wasn’t in the cards for us tonight. We didn’t play well.”
Canon-McMillan leapt out to a 19-9 advantage in the opening game, then the Raiders embarked on an 8-0 surge that closed the gap. Seneca Valley would level the scoreboard at 23, but could never grab the lead.
“We were just kind of ready for what they had,” Big Macs coach Sheila Mitchell said. “We had some monster blocks that really set the tone early. ... We had a lot of momentum in that first set, we played really well.
“We came back into the huddle and said, ‘That one’s over. Now, we’ve got the next set — and the next set.’”
Seneca Valley came within three points of sweeping Canon-McMillan in the teams’ other matchup this year — a 3-2 Raiders win on Sept. 5.
“We worked a lot on serve receive,” Mitchell said. “They got us on serve receive the first time we played them, and I think that was one of our weaknesses. ... We were able to serve receive well and able to get the ball to our hitters.”
Canon-McMillan’s defense and front line was also an impactful factor in the rematch.
“Their block was big tonight,” Poirer said of the Big Macs. “My outside struggled. I had to flip my outsides at the end to get a little different matchup. One worked really good, and one struggled all night. ... Just not in our normal game.”
The Raiders were in front for four serves early on in the second set, but fell behind permanently after Canon-McMillan made it 7-6. The final game saw 11 tied counts and seven lead changes, the final one coming on a Seneca Valley net violation that gave the Big Macs a 22-21 edge.
Junior Elizabeth Petelin had three blocks and two kills for the Raiders. Senior Bria Stepp had five kills, three aces, and a block.
“It was a really good season,” Poirier said. “Some nights you play well, and some nights you don’t. Tonight was the not-so-well.”
