North Allegheny girls volleyball chasing 8th straight PIAA title

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, August 31, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Here is an easy way to put a state championship streak in perspective.

Molly Robertson and Alicia Mokube, who started for North Allegheny in the PIAA finals last fall, were in elementary school when the girls volleyball team’s streak started. That was seven years ago, meaning the two current sophomores would’ve been third graders back then.

“I was thinking about that,” North Allegheny coach Russ Hoburg said. “We’re fortunate that we’ve built a culture at NA that is about being good teammates, being good people, on and off the court. We’ve had quite a bit of success on the court, and that (success) is a byproduct of it.”

Robertson, Mokube and senior Mackenzie Jones are returning starters for a team trying to win an eighth straight state title this fall. The Tigers went 20-1 last season while winning WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A titles.

The WPIAL title was the team’s ninth overall.

The Tigers return two experienced setters in Robertson (460 assists) and Jones (406). The tandem worked together in a two-setter offense last season. They also ranked among the team leaders in digs and aces.

A third setter, junior Keely McMahon-Regan, added 91 assists a year ago and played a key role in the team’s state semifinal win.

“We’re blessed at the setter position,” Hoburg said. “We have three really good setters that need to be on the court, so we’ve got to get creative in how we do that.”

Mokube, who made the title-clinching block in the state finals last year, is joined in the middle by senior Bridgit Murphy. Mokube had 21 blocks last season, and Murphy had 28.

With the size of the program, not many freshmen get to start for North Allegheny. That made having two of them — Robertson and Mokube — together in the championship lineup unusual.

North Allegheny defeated Unionville, 3-0, in the state finals last November.

“I feel like that has to be the first time NA started two freshmen in a state championship game,” Hoburg said. “It was quite unique.”

He called it a credit to the freshmen’s talent.

“Our coaching staff philosophy is to give playing time to the older kids,” he added. “We recognize the time they put in, and we feel like if it’s equal between a younger kid and a senior, we’re going to give it to the senior.”

Gone from the roster is a graduated trio of hitters who combined for 640 of the team’s 1,124 kills. Robertson leads all returning players with 139.

Macey Casten, a senior who has played varsity since sophomore year, is the libero.

“We have a very competitive team,” Hoburg said. “As a coach in volleyball, you love a scrappy team. I think we are that. We’re willing to go for the ball and we’re aggressive on defense.”

North Allegheny’s section got tougher this season with the addition of North Catholic, which went 20-3 last season in Class 3A. The Trojanettes have won four WPIAL titles since 2018.

The others in the six-team section are Butler, North Hills, Pine-Richland and Seneca Valley. The top three teams in the section qualify for playoffs.

“Looking at the six section teams, arguments could be made that all of them could win WPIAL playoff matches,” Hoburg said. “And three of them are not even going to make the playoffs.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny