Freeport withstands Quaker Valley rally, reaches WPIAL Class 2A girls volleyball final

By: Jerin Steele
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 | 8:48 PM

Quaker Valley pushed Freeport as hard as a Class 2A team has this season in the second set of Tuesday’s WPIAL semifinal match, and the Yellowjackets responded like a team with championship pedigree.

The top-seeded Yellowjackets trailed for the majority of the set but rallied to secure a 25-23 win and went on to sweep the No. 5 Quakers, 3-0, at North Allegheny.

Freeport will try for a second consecutive title and seventh overall when it faces Shenango in the WPIAL Class 2A championship match at 1 p.m. Saturday at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center. Quaker Valley’s season will continue in the PIAA tournament.

“They changed things up a lot (in the second set) from what we had seen, and it confused us a little bit,” Freeport coach Tom Phillips said. “They’re a solid team. Their lefty (Annica Kagle) can put a dent in you. We were a little flat tonight. I don’t know what it was, but we didn’t have that spark. A win is a win, though. I’m not going to complain about winning 3-0.”

After cruising to a 25-10 win in the first set, the Yellowjackets fell behind early in Set 2. Quaker Valley took a 7-6 lead and continued to build. An ace by Kathryn Karwoski made it 17-12 Quakers, which was the largest lead they held.

A hitting error off a serve made it 20-16 Quakers, and Phillips called timeout.

“He just told us to settle down and play our game,” Freeport outside hitter Cassidy Dell said. “He told us to focus on ourselves and not worry about what they are doing on their side of the net. Get a good pass and put the ball away.”

Following the timeout, Freeport reeled off four straight points, including a pair of kills by sophomore Alaina Whitlinger to tie it 20-20.

Freeport took a brief lead at 22-21 after a sensational sliding dig by Ava Soilis kept the point alive before an eventual hitting error by Quaker Valley. Consecutive kills from Amalia MacDonald and Annica Kagle gave the Quakers a 23-22 lead, but Freeport finished the comeback with three straight points. Dell and Sydney Selker had back-to-back kills, and a Quaker Valley block attempt went out of bounds to clinch the set.

“I think we needed a match like this to push us into Saturday,” Soilis said. “Last year we played Armstrong (in the semifinals) and won in five sets, and it ended at like nine o’clock at night. That was a difficult match, so I think we needed this tonight to give us some motivation going into the finals.”

The Yellowjackets finished the match with a 25-17 win in the third set. Leah Schrecongost recorded a pair of aces, and Hadley Hellgren and Dell had a kill apiece for Freeport’s final four points.

Dell had 11 kills, including five in the important second set. Josie Russo had four of her five kills in the final set and added four points on blocks. Kagle had seven kills to pace Quaker Valley.

Freeport will have a unique opportunity to win WPIAL titles in consecutive seasons in different classes after winning the Class 3A title a season ago.

“This has been our goal all along,” Dell said. “We knew we wanted this, so it feels great.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Freeport, Quaker Valley