SV volleyball drops title tilt
MURRYSVILLE The Seneca Valley girls volleyball team just couldn’t find an answer for Pine-Richland outside hitter Julia McCabe.
McCabe had 28 kills for the Rams as they defeated the Raiders 3-1 Saturday for the WPIAL Class AAA championship, it was the third time Pine-Richland (15-0) beat Seneca Valley (14-3) this season.
The Rams bested the Raiders 3-0 on Sept. 9 and 3-1 on Oct. 5. The Raiders stole the first set Saturday behind an energetic performance, 26-24.
Seneca Valley middle hitter Cate Seman led the team with 18 kills.
“Our goal was to win the first game and we did it,” Seman said. “It was a great effort, but we had a let down after that.”
SV coach Karen Martini said that the team may have been a little bit too excited after winning the first set.
“I told the girls during the second game that we didn’t win the championship, we only won a game,” Martini said. “I think we let up and didn’t finish the job.”
The Rams took over after the first set and won the next three 25-20, 25-18 and 25-15 to win the title. Even though the Raiders didn’t win the WPIAL title, Seman and her teammates have their eyes set on a bigger prize, the PIAA Championships.
“We definitely wanted to win the WPIAL title, but the state title is the big picture,” Seman said. “But Pine-Richland’s a great team and we look forward to seeing them at regional and again at states.”
