Mars girls volleyball wins WPIAL rematch with Beaver to reach state finals for 1st time

By: Jerin Steele
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 8:35 PM

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Before the season started, Mars libero Alaina Graham said coach Tamara Caraway told the team they were going to play for the state championship.

It may have seemed like a lofty goal at the time, because no Fightin’ Planets team had been there before, but on Tuesday, the preseason prediction became a reality.

Mars swept Beaver, 3-0, in the PIAA Class 3A girls volleyball semifinals at North Allegheny and earned its first appearance in a state championship match.

“That’s something we had never done before, so I think in the back of our minds, we weren’t sure,” Graham said about Caraway’s preseason goal. “But as the season progressed, and we kept beating really good teams, it definitely became something we all thought we could do.”

Mars will face District 1 champ Pope John Paul II in the state final at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Cumberland Valley. Pope John Paul II is a two-time defending 3A state champion.

In a rematch of the WPIAL Class 3A championship match, which Mars won 3-1, the Fightin’ Planets (21-4) were a step ahead of Beaver (20-5) from the opening serve.

They closed out the match with a 25-18 win.

Cecilia Christy had three kills late in the set to inch Mars closer to match point and Lily Javor finished off the night with a kill on a tip over the net.

“It means a lot to see them do this because all of these girls could be the star on any team, but what I’ve asked them to do is put that aside and come together and produce for each other,” Caraway said. “I’ve asked them to share the spotlight and share the load and that’s what they’ve done. They set their egos aside and played for each other.”

Mars held off a late rally by Beaver to win the first set 25-23. It was almost identical to the opening set of the WPIAL championship match, which Mars won by the same score.

Beaver used a 4-0 run to cut Mars’ lead to one, but Rylee Wooldridge had a kill to clinch the set.

One major difference in Tuesday’s first set from the WPIAL championship was a crucial point secured by Ella Nicotra in a very unusual way.

Beaver’s Kailyn Connelly thought she had a kill on a thunderous spike, but the ball bounced off Nicotra’s shoulder and had enough steam to make it back over the net and land in bounds.

It gave the Fightin’ Planets a 14-13 lead and they never trailed in the set again.

“We were able to produce the energy today that we needed to stay ahead of them,” Carraway said. “They’re a great team, and we didn’t want to let them get up early on us because they’re a team of runs and once they get that run going, it’s hard to stop.”

Mars took a commanding 2-0 lead with a 25-22 win in the second set.

Nicotra had a pair of kills to close it out. The Fightin’ Planets controlled the lead for most of the way.

Beaver rallied again but fell short. Alaina Malobabich had two kills that cut the Mars lead to 23-22 prior to Nicotra’s two kills.

“We kept digging back into it and then we’d make a dumb error,” Beaver coach Susan Pollins said. “We just couldn’t get a lead and didn’t capitalize when we had chances. When you play a team like (Mars), you have to play. It’s going to be back and forth all match and you can’t take plays off. Sometimes we did that and that’s an issue. They capitalized on those moments.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Beaver, Mars