High school roundup for Oct. 29, 2019: Top seeds Freeport, North Catholic roll on in WPIAL Class AA volleyball playoffs

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 | 11:24 PM

The Freeport girls volleyball team keeps on rolling.

The Yellowjackets, the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, punched their ticket to the semifinals for the seventh straight season with a dominant 3-0 victory over No. 10 Hopewell on Tuesday at North Hills.

Freeport held off the Vikings for a 25-20 win in Game 1 and followed that up with wins of 25-14 and 25-13 to close out the match.

“We kept pressure on them the whole time by playing good defense, serving aggressively and keeping the ball off the floor,” Freeport coach Tom Phillips said.

The Yellowjackets, who improved to 16-0, will take on No. 6 Avonworth on Thursday at a site and time to be determined. The Antelopes outlasted No. 3 Frazier 3-2 in the other Class AA semifinal.

Freeport and Avonworth also met in the 2016 semifinals, and the Yellowjackets posted a five-set victory and went on to capture the program’s fourth WPIAL title.

Hopewell, the No. 3 team out of Section 2, concluded its season at 11-6. The Vikings were denied their first trip to the WPIAL semifinals since 2013.

“Every year in the playoffs, whenever you are playing harder and more challenging games, everyone has to step up,” senior outside hitter Lauren Lampus said. “It can’t be a one-person job. Everyone contributed again for us tonight and was a big part in getting a nice win against a good team.”

Lampus paced the Yellowjackets with 10 kills, 14 service points and 17 digs, while Isabella Russo added 10 kills and seven blocks. Tori Radvan contributed seven kills, while libero Erica Lampus delivered 26 digs.

“We were really focused on this game, and I was happy with the way we played,” senior setter Maddie Clark said. “We knew they had a really good hitter (senior Leah Driscoll), and we wanted to make sure we stopped her as much as we could.”

While the immediate task for Yellowjackets players is to get to the finals and set up an opportunity to win a fifth WPIAL title, Tuesday’s triumph also earned them a spot in the PIAA tournament for the seventh year in a row.

North Catholic 3, Ellwood City 0 — Dominique Felix had 13 kills, seven in the second set, as top-seeded North Catholic (17-0) defeated Ellwood City in straight sets, 25-13, 25-11, 25-19.

North Catholic’s defense took control, forcing numerous Ellwood City errors throughout the match. North Catholic finished the first set with seven straight points, and also had a run of 10 straight service points from libero Sophia Elias in the second set.

Ellwood City (12-3) was led by Danielle McCowin’s 11 kills, but the Lady Wolverines only registered 10 service points in the match. Anna Schoeppner and Brooke Sturgis had seven kills each for the Trojanettes, who advance to the Class AA semifinals to face Beaver on Thursday. They also have clinched a berth in the PIAA playoffs.

Beaver 3, Serra Catholic 1 — Fifth-seeded Beaver knocked off fourth-seeded Serra Catholic to earn a spot in Thursday’s semifinals against North Catholic and qualify for the PIAA playoffs.

Set one was dominated by the Bobcats. Beaver opened the set with a lead of 6-1 and never relinquished the lead, defeating the Eagles 25-11 to open the contest. Set two was a complete flip of the script. Serra Catholic (13-1) opened the second set on a 10-0 run and dominated for a 25-13 win.

Beaver (14-0) responded in the third set by holding an early lead it never relinquished, taking the set 25-14, ultimately scoring eight of the last 10 points. The Bobcats used the third set momentum in set four and coasted again to a 25-18 victory.

Avonworth 3, Frazier 2 — Makenna Gavin had 28 kills to lead No. 6 Avonworth to a win over No. 3 Frazier in a WPIAL Class AA quarterfinal match at Norwin.

The Antelopes took the match, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-10. Kat Goetz added 13 kills for Avonworth, which advanced to the WPIAL semifinals for the third time in four seasons. Skye Eicher led Frazier with 29 kills, as the Commodores failed to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2015.

Class A

Bishop Canevin 3, Brentwood 0 — Long scoring streaks book-ended a straight sets victory for Bishop Canevin in the Class A quarterfinals. The Lady Crusaders scored 15 of the first 18 points and 13 of the final 14 points in closing out section-mate Brentwood, winning 25-14, 25-10, 25-13.

Alexa Malloy and Gillian Golupski each had nine kills to lead top-seeded Bishop Canevin (16-1), while Maddie Maziarz registered six aces. The back-to-back defending WPIAL champions advance to the semifinals on Thursday to face Geibel Catholic. Maura Daly led Brentwood (10-6) with five kills.

Fort Cherry 3, Vincentian 0 — Second-seeded Fort Cherry continued its perfect set run in the WPIAL Class A playoffs with a straight-set victory over No. 7 Vincentian, earning a semifinal matchup with Shenango.

The Rangers jumped on the Royals fast in the first set, opening up an early 6-2 lead. The Royals cut the deficit to one, 7-6, before Fort Cherry finished the set on an 18-6 run to win 25-12. The second set saw a back-and-forth battle, but Fort Cherry was able to pull away late in the set, winning nine of the last 13 points for a 25-19 set win.

In the final set, Vincentian Academy had its opportunity to steal a set from the Rangers. Up 13-10, a Fort Cherry timeout changed the tide and the Rangers went on to outscore the Royals 15-3 down the stretch for the 25-16 victory.

Vincentian (13-3) will return its entire roster next year, as the team didn’t have a single senior.

Shenango 3, Greensburg Central Catholic 2 — In an evenly matched WPIAL Class A quarterfinal at North Hills, Shenango (16-0) won the odd sets to advance to its first girls volleyball semifinal since 2016, knocking off sixth-seeded Greensburg Central Catholic (15-3).

In the first set, the teams combined for nine service errors in what was a somewhat sloppy game that Shenango managed to take, 25-22.

The second set went back and forth, but featured two Greensburg Central Catholic runs of five-plus points, which ultimately allowed the Centurions to even the match at a set apiece by a 25-23 score.

With her team down 22-21 in the third, Shenango senior setter Shannon Linz picked up four consecutive aces to serve out and allow the Wildcats to lead by a set with a 25-22 finish. It was essentially all Centurions in the fourth, as Greensburg Central Catholic tied the match, forcing a fifth set, 25-14.

The fifth set went back and forth as the first three sets had previously, but it was a 15-12 decision to Shenango, pushing the Wildcats on and ending the Centurions’ season.

Emily Fedrezzi was the dominant piece of the Shenango offense, along with fellow freshman Kylee Rubin and senior middle Grace Merkel.

The Wildcats, who lost to top-seeded Beaver in the 2016 semifinals, will meet No. 2 Fort Cherry in Thursday’s semifinals. The Rangers beat No. 7 Vincentian on Tuesday.

Hockey

Canon-McMillan 7, Central Catholic 6 — Joshua Hrip had three goals and two assists to lead Canon-McMillan (4-1-0) past Central Catholic (2-3-0) in a Class AAA matchup. Logan Ford added a goal and an assist for Canon-McMillan. Dayne Martin scored twice for Central Catholic.

Upper St. Clair 5, Peters Township 4 — Mark McQuade scored the tie-breaking goal in the third period and Colton Shiry had a hat trick to lift Upper St. Clair (3-2-0) past Peters Township (3-2-0) in Class AAA. Drew Wilbert had two goals and an assist and Mark Lehman added a goal and two assists for Peters Township.

Cathedral Prep 2, Bethel Park 1 — Joe Agresti scored his second goal of the game with 1:12 left in the third period to lead Cathedral Prep (2-2-1) to a Class AAA victory. Nicholas Massari scored for Bethel Park (2-3-0).

Hempfield 4, Shaler 3 — Hempfield (3-2-0) rallied from three goals down with four third-period goals to beat Shaler (0-5-0). Matt Traczynski, Jacob Holtzman, Zach Ridilla and Christian Konieczka scored for Hempfield. Justin Newton had two goals for Shaler.

North Catholic 6, North Hills 2 — Akezhan Melis scored twice and Dominic Dezort had a goal and three assists to lead North Catholic (4-0-0). Derek Pietrzyk had a goal and an assist for North Hills (1-2-0).

Franklin Regional 4, Quaker Valley 1 — Franklin Regional (3-1-0) rallied from a one-goal first-period deficit with two goals in each of the last two periods. Zach Abdallah and Nick Zeto scored in the second. Trent Lunden and Jake Rettger scored in the third. Shane Moore scored for Quaker Valley (3-3-0).