High school roundup for Oct. 31, 2019: Top seeded Bishop Canevin, North Catholic reach WPIAl volleyball finals

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, October 31, 2019 | 11:06 PM

Top-seeded Bishop Canevin was challenged on Thursday night more than it had been throughout the entire postseason in a four-set win to advance to the WPIAL Class A girls volleyball championship game.

Geibel pushed the Crusaders to the limit in each of the first three sets, finally stealing a victory in the third, before falling in the fourth.

In the first, the Crusaders took a 5-1 lead before the Gators fought back, tying the game at 10-10 and hanging tight through the finish. With the score tied 20-20, Bishop Canevin won four of the next five points before Cal (Pa.) recruit Alexa Malloy used a misdirection over the net to nail the first-set victory down, 25-21.

The second set was tied 21-21 late as well before the Crusaders pulled away, scoring the final four points of the set.

The third set belonged to Geibel. The Gators were led throughout the match by the standout play of Lauren Tomasco, who used several of her match-high 24 kills to secure the third set win. The Gators led by as many as eight points in the third.

But the fourth and final frame was all Bishop Canevin, which opened on a 10-1 run and led 17-3. The Crusaders won the fourth set 25-14 and punched their ticket to the final.

Canevin was led by Malloy’s 20 kills and two blocks to go along with Maddie Maziarz’s performance that included 37 assists, 15 digs, five aces and four blocks.

Fort Cherry 3, Shenango 0 — Fort Cherry has just two losses on the season, both to top seed Bishop Canevin, and that’s who the two seed will face on Saturday in the WPIAL Class A championship game after a 3-0 sweep of Shenango.

The Rangers scored the first point of the match and didn’t trail the entire first set, taking a 25-20 victory.

Shenango opened the second set on a 4-1 run, leading 5-4 before surrendering the lead to Fort Cherry, which took off on a 16-6 run before finishing off a 25-19 second set win.

Shenango didn’t take another lead until grabbing an 11-10 advantage in the third, which turned into a point-for-point slugfest. The turning point was a pair of kills by Reagan Carter to break a 17-17 tie, two of Carter’s 12 for the match, and the Rangers closed out the sweep with a 25-22 win.

Fort Cherry was led by Carter’s 12 kills, with Allie McLean adding 10. Setter Jadyn Hartner dished 34 assists and Gracie Dunn added eight digs.

North Catholic 3, Beaver 1 — Top-seeded North Catholic was given a scare by fifth-seeded Beaver, but ultimately put away its opponent to clinch a spot in Saturday’s Class AA championship game to defend its WPIAL championship.

Beaver had the Trojans on their heels early, taking the opening set 25-22. The set loss was the first for the Trojans since Oct. 14 against Butler.

In sets two and three, North Catholic looked more like the defending champs. In set two, the Trojans jumped out to an early 5-1 lead en route to a 25-17 victory. Set three was more of the same. North Catholic scored eight of the last nine points to win 25-16.

The fourth set saw Beaver lay it all on the line. Sticking around the entire time, the Bobcats faced elimination at 24-22. Scoring the next three points, Beaver had North Catholic one point away from a fifth set, but the Trojans scored three in a row to take a 27-25 victory.

North Catholic will meet No. 2 Freeport in the finals at 2 p.m. Saturday at Fox Chapel.