Deer Lakes volleyball knocks off 2-time WPIAL champion Beaver County Christian

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, May 17, 2018 | 9:24 PM

Deer Lakes got some revenge Thursday night.

In a rematch of last year's WPIAL Class 2A title match, the Lancers held on for a 3-2 win over Beaver County Christian School in a quarterfinal at Ambridge.

Last spring, the Eagles swept Deer Lakes, 3-0, to claim their second consecutive title.

“It's great,” Deer Lakes senior Tyler Osselborn said. “It's great to finally be the one to kick them out of the tournament rather than the other way around. They wanted it almost as much as we did, but we wanted it more. “

The Lancers (12-2) appeared headed to an easy victory. They took the first two sets, 25-21, and 25-17.

They built a 20-14 advantage in the third set before BCCS charged back for a 22-22 tie. Deer Lakes had a chance to close out the Eagles on four occasions, but BCCS came back for the 28-26 victory.

“When you beat them two games like that, sometimes, you get a little too cocky,” Osselborn said. “You can't have that. You have to stay humble and play every point like it's game point.”

Once again, the Lancers built a lead in the fourth set, 16-12, but BCCS rallied to regain the advantage.

The Eagles had a 24-21 edge, but Deer Lakes tied it at 24-24. The Eagles eventually posted a 27-25 win to force a fifth set.

With the score tied at 6-6 in the decisive set, Osselborn sparked the Lancers. He had an ace and a kill as Deer Lakes went on a 4-1 run. The Eagles trimmed the deficit to 10-8, but the Lancers claimed the next five points for the 15-8 triumph.

“We went into the season with high expectations. We had a little falter there dropping two games, but I think we're going to come back strong. The ultimate goal is to win this year,” Deer Lakes senior Dan Hutchinson said.

“We have to focus on taking it one game at a time, and we kind of lost focus on that. We thought we were guaranteed a third win, but BCCS isn't a team that's going to give up easily. They are a very disciplined coach with good players and coaches.”

The Lancers hope to regroup for Tuesday's semifinals.

“A win is definitely a win. We're definitely going to have to come out stronger on Tuesday, though. We got a little lucky. That won't happen on Tuesday,” Deer Lakes coach Brady Schuller said.

“We have a core group of seniors and the reality of this possibly being their last game of volleyball, I think let them settle down and push through to secure the victory. We have to be better, though.”

The victory guarantees at least two more matches for Deer Lakes. Tuesday's winners meet for the WPIAL title, while the losers battle in the consolation match.

“We made it to the championship last year. We want to win it this year and go further than we have in the past,” Osselborn said.

“We have a lot of strong players and teams in the WPIAL,” Hutchinson added. “It is humbling to know we have to play our absolute best to do what we want to do here.”

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Tags: Beaver County Christian, Deer Lakes