Pack the Park in Vandergrift again will kick off girls volleyball season in A-K Valley

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, August 7, 2024 | 8:17 PM

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When Pack the Park, an early-­season matchup between the Kiski Area and Norwin girls volleyball teams on the outdoor courts at Kennedy Park in Vandergrift, began in 2021, Tim Toy had a vision that it would be an annual event to celebrate the start of each fall season.

Now in its fourth year, Pack the Park continues to energize the area volleyball community and has Toy, the head of the We Serve First Foundation, excited to help celebrate the game he expects again will entertain a large crowd.

“This is a really fun, not-too-serious way to begin the season, get people out and get people fired up for high school volleyball,” Toy said about the contest on the Ellen Toy Grass Court.

Kiski Area and Norwin will do battle Tuesday, Sept. 3. The junior varsity matchup kicks everything off at 4 p.m., with the varsity match to follow at 5:30.

“The folks from Norwin have been so supportive in coming out to the park,” Toy said. “The people in Vandergrift and in the Kiski community have always been really excited to come and watch this match.”

Pack the Park helps raise funds for the We Serve First Foundation, started with the help of Tim Toy to honor the memory and legacy of his late wife, Ellen Toy, who coached volleyball for many years at Kiski Area and other schools in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

Ellen Toy died in February 2016 after a long battle with stomach cancer.

Tim Toy said it is nice to have Kiski Area and Norwin match up again. The teams split the first two Pack the Park matches, and the Cavaliers won last year’s meeting 3-1.

It was a different feeling from the year before, when rain chased the match inside at Kiski Area High School.

“Because they realigned the sections, we were a little concerned that Kiski and Norwin would land in the same section,” Toy said. “I don’t think you want to hold a game like this that would have real meaning in a section schedule outdoors with problems that could happen.”

Norwin again is under the direction of veteran coach Mary Ellen Ferragonio, a long time friend and coaching colleague of Ellen Toy.

Dakota Fickes experienced Pack the Park for the first time last year as the Cavaliers’ head coach, and he was impressed with the event atmosphere.

“It was such a good time last year,” Fickes said. “The best thing was that the weather was absolutely perfect. It wasn’t too hot, it didn’t rain and it wasn’t cold. I remember a lot of community support.

“For the girls, it is one of their most favorite matches of the season for sure. This year, we have a tournament and three games before Pack the Park. Last year, it was our first official game. So it will be nice to kind of have that reset after the first couple of games and have a more relaxing but still challenging game with not too much pressure on them.”

Toy said he and his committee members were slightly concerned this summer as the high school was in the process of transitioning to a new athletic director.

But John Peterman, the Kiski Area AD since 2017 who had retired June 30, decided to stay on and serve Cavaliers athletics for one more academic year.

“We were wondering if some of this would get lost in all that was going on,” Toy said. “To be honest, none of this happens without the hard work the athletic administration puts into it. John has just been so instrumental in getting this thing off the ground and continuing to make it the special event that it is.”

Pack the Park is the first of a bookend two-event series each season.

We Serve First also collaborates with Kiski Area athletics to host an senior all-star game in early December, shortly after the high school season concludes with the state-title matches.

“I think it’s the perfect combination with the first event ramping up peoples’ excitement in the beginning of the season and being able to celebrate the seniors and their successes when the season ends,” Toy said.

“I know that is something Ellen would be super proud of, the way the community comes out to support both events, the way the volunteers help with so much, and the way John Peterman and Jim Joyce help me put these on. Because of that, we are able to raise money and help volleyball athletes here in the Kiski Valley and beyond improve, learn the game a little bit better, and fall in love with it the way Ellen did.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Kiski Area, Norwin