Burrell girls volleyball takes measured approach into WPIAL playoffs

By: Michael Love
Monday, October 20, 2025 | 6:36 PM

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For the first time in program history, the Burrell girls volleyball team will enter the WPIAL playoffs as a section champion.

But head coach Kourtney Lehman said the Bucs players, who outlasted Southmoreland in four games on the road Thursday to clinch the outright Section 5-2A title, quickly turned the page and the focus to Tuesday’s WPIAL first round matchup, as the No. 9 seed, against No. 8 Brownsville at Waynesburg High School.

“Our motto this year is ‘The Next Step,’ ” Lehman said.

“We came to practice on Friday with excitement over what we had achieved, but the message was, ‘OK girls, we got that one, now we have more work to do.’ Now we have the playoffs. The girls took that to heart in practice, and they are very excited to go into the playoffs and show what we can do.”

Senior middle hitter Meadow Keyes, one of just two seniors on the roster along with right side/middle blocker Harper Fellner, is proud of everyone for coming together and dedicating themselves to the goals they set at the start of the season.

“The section title was something we’ve wanted for years,” Keyes said. “It will be great to look up at the banner in the gym and see this year on it.

“It was a quick switch, though. After the WPIAL (playoff pairings) were released (Friday), we got to work. We saw where we were positioned, but then we decided that we have the chance to prove where we belong.”

Lehman said the players and coaches and many in the Burrell School District community were surprised that they, as a section champion, were seeded where they were and are having to travel a sizeable distance to play their first-round game.

Brownsville finished second to Waynesburg, the playoffs’ No. 2 seed, in Section 3.

“If I could tell you the number of people who reached out to me questioning how that happened,” Lehman said.

“We thought we would get a home match in the first round, but we’re going to be 55 miles away. I guess there was the thought that we didn’t come from a strong section, but we competed at the Moon tournament and took games off some big schools. We went to the Norwin tournament (Oct. 11) and took a game off of Norwin, Penn-Trafford and Franklin Regional, teams ranked for the playoffs.

“I felt the girls kept getting better as the season went on and had built up a good resume. But we do have the opportunity to go down there and take care of business. We have a lot of motivation.”

The winner of Tuesday’s first-round matchup will most likely face No. 1 Hopewell on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

The veteran Bucs players know the feeling of being able to advance to the quarterfinals. Last year, as the No. 10 seed, Burrell upended No. 7 South Allegheny, 3-0, in the first round before running into a buzzsaw in No. 2 Neshannock.

Lehman said her players have not looked past the immediate task at hand.

Brownsville first, she said, then on to the next if they are able to score the win against the Falcons.

Coming off of last year’s runner-up section finish to Southmoreland, Lehman said she felt they could rise to the top this fall.

“Seeing who we had back and who was back from the other schools, it gave us a feeling that we could make a run to a section title,” Lehman said.

Southmoreland won this year’s first meeting, 3-2, on Sept. 23. Burrell then ran the table through a 3-1 win over rival Deer Lakes on Oct.14 to set up last Thursday’s big section rematch with everything on the line.

The Scotties split their series with the Lancers, so Thursday’s match was winner-take-all.

“We weren’t happy with our play in the first match (with Southmoreland), so we were definitely looking forward to the rematch,” Lehman said.

“But we didn’t take our eye off of what we needed to do in between. The wins were building us up to the second game with Deer Lakes and then for the rematch with Southmoreland.”

Things didn’t start out well for Burrell in Thursday’s rematch with the Scotties.

Southmoreland put the Bucs in a hole with a 25-14 win in Game 1.

“We just didn’t play to our potential in that first game,” Lehman said.

“We started slow, something that has plagued us this season. But the girls showed so much perseverance, just like they have all season.”

The Bucs claimed a pair of close and emotional games, 26-24 and 27-25, to take the lead before finishing off the match, 25-14, in Game 4.

“They used those close games to fuel them even more,” Lehman said. “They love to battle. They were flying high in that fourth game. They were able to show what they were truly about and were able to finish it off. There were some happy tears with how emotional it was. With some adversity and struggles throughout the season, it was always there and attainable. It set in what they achieved, and the celebration began.”

Keyes said the bus ride home after Thursday’s match was special.

“We got a police escort back to the school,” she said. “It was so exciting. We had so many fans around. Everyone was thrilled. We worked so hard for this, so to be able to celebrate was awesome.”

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.

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