A quartet of victories for locals
WEXFORD — Baldwin started strong, but it was Seneca Valley that had the good finishing kick.
In the WPIAL Class AAA volleyball quarterfinals, the Raiders trailed early in each game but rallied to sweep the Highlanders 25-14, 25-18, 25-19 at North Allegheny High Tuesday.
The Raiders (16-3) will face North Allegheny in the semifinals Thursday at North Hills.
Also at North Allegheny, Freeport defeated Hopewell 3-1 to reach the WPIAL Class AA semifinals for the first time and qualified for the PIAA tournament.
The Yellowjackets (17-0) will face Mars, a 3-1 winner over Indiana at Franklin Regional, on Thursday at a site and time to be determined.
The Raiders trailed Baldwin (11-4) 4-1, 5-0 and 5-2 in the three sets, but the Raiders battled back each time to pull away.
"They were scrappy defensively," said Seneca Valley coach Karen Martini. "The concern is because it's the playoffs. You can't let teams do that because you won't get back all the time."
"Seneca Valley's offense is a lot faster than I expected," said Baldwin first-year coach Brandi Sroka. "We did get off to a good start every game, then they got a run of points and we lost momentum."
Meghan Drambel led the Raiders' balanced attack with 12 kills, followed by Catie Seman (eight) and Kelly Treser (seven). Baldwin was led by Tory Storino and Jenna Snyder, who had 12 and seven kills, respectively, and Carly Gerba, who added six blocks.
The win pushed the Raiders into the semifinals for the fourth consecutive year under Martini, but they have yet to advance to the WPIAL final, which SV must do to qualify for the state championships.
"We don't think about this like the playoffs," said Martini. "We think of it as one of the tournaments we play in. You've got to get through the bracket."
The Yellowjackets dropped the first game to the Vikings but rallied for a 20-25, 25-23, 25-15, 28-26 victory."It's never easy, especially with a storied program like Hopewell," said coach Tom Phillips, whose team remained unbeaten at 17-0. "The girls were a little tight after Game 1. I told them about playing good defense and to serve aggressively."We woke up about halfway through Game 2," he added.In the first game, Freeport held an 8-5 lead, but the Vikings went on a 9-3 run, capped by consecutive Vanessa Trombetta kills, to take a 15-11 lead.The Yellowjackets, however, did regain the lead at 20-18, thanks to two Ashley Massart blocksBut a timeout by Hopewell helped the team close out the match by scoring the final seven points."I think Hopewell played a great game, but I think our nerves had something to do with it," said Freeport senior Carlie Bieranowski.In the second game, the score was tied 16 times, the last at 22-all, before a shot by Freeport's Alyssa Vigliotti fell in and Madison Rotto added a kill for a 24-22 lead and later finished off the game with another kill to even the match.Freeport ended up rolling through Game 3 by scoring 13 of the final 16 points.Hopewell, however, didn't go away quietly as it trailed 12-7 and 17-13 in Game 4 before tying the game at 18.Freeport fell behind 23-19, then battled back and forth with Hopewell before a kill by Rotto finally secured the win.Bieranowski had 26 kills on the night and Rotto had 18. Lauren Prunty added six kills and Massart had five."This is a great win for us," said Phillips. "For us, to go to the state playoffs, you're stepping up to the next level," said Phillips. "That's a wonderful thing."
At Franklin Regional, the Planets received 17 kills and five aces from Camblin Leonard in a 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18 victory over the Indians in this WPIAL Class AA quarterfinal matchup.Madie Hudac had 36 assists and seven digs, and Camille Plesniak had six kills and 10 digs to pace Mars.
Erika Rothen had 11 kills and Katie Quaill had 19 assists as the Falcons downed Keystone 25-14, 25-19, 25-11 Tuesday night.Sam Kerlin had seven kills and three blocks for the Falcons (12-2), who host either Coudersport or Curwensville Thursday.
