Tough to take
SLIPPERY ROCK — Sophomore Zoe Pawlak sat behind the Freeport volleyball bench with dark sunglasses covering her eyes and sipped water from a cup.
The standout outside hitter was relegated to the role of spectator at Slippery Rock High School Saturday morning against defending PIAA Class AA state champion Fort LeBoeuf because of a concussion she suffered late in the win Tuesday over Hopewell.
Her absence forced Yellowjackets' coach Tom Phillips to shuffle his lineup Friday night and it never meshed in a 25-17, 25-13, 25-22 loss to the Bison in the semifinals.
“We didn't know until (Friday) that we weren't going to have her,” Phillips said. “But, you know, these girls have been resilient and we had a great practice (Friday). We had to change everything up.
“I just felt we weren't comfortable,” Phillips added. “When you have a situation like that and you lose one of your studs, that's just the way it is.”
Still, Freeport nearly wrested away a win in the first game against a Fort LeBoeuf team that featured five accomplished players at the net.
The Yellowjackets led 10-9 early and trailed by just two before the Bison went on a run late to take Game 1.
Fort LeBoeuf dominated the second game and held off a feisty Freeport team in the third game for the sweep and a rematch with Conneaut, the team that beat the Bison in the District 10 championship game.
“I went back and watched the D-10 championship game again expecting to react like, 'Boy, that wasn't good,'” said Fort LeBoeuf coach LeAnn Johnson. “But as I'm watching the film I was like, 'Wow, that was a good swing. Wow, that was a good play.' We didn't play poorly that day. They just played better that day.”
Johnson said the loss simply reinforced to her players that nothing will be handed to them because they are the defending state champion.
The Bison played with that kind of determination against Freeport, the WPIAL champion for the second time in four years.
Seven Fort LeBoeuf players had multiple kills with Michaela Banta leading the way with nine.
Freeport got eight kills from Megan Sweeny, who moved into Pawlak's spot in the rotation, and Alexis Schrecengost and Jessica Kelley each added seven kills.
“Sometimes when you lose a player of Zoe's caliber, people have the tendency to think they have to do more, and I think that was the case (Saturday). I think our passing struggled a little bit because of it. People just tried to do a little more than what they had to do instead of settling into their regular routine. But I'm proud of them. I really am. I'm proud of the season they had and their accomplishments that they had. It's a shame it has to end this way.”
