North Catholic rallies to capture 1st PIAA Class 2A volleyball crown

By: Jeffrey Kauffman
Saturday, November 16, 2019 | 6:42 PM

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SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP — North Catholic overcame a slow start and rallied from two sets down to defeat North Penn Liberty and capture the program’s first PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball championship Saturday afternoon at the Eagle Dome at Cumberland Valley High School.

Game scores were 17-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-14 and 15-7.

“It was a long trip up here, and we started slowly, but with this team, once they get started it is only a matter of time,” North Catholic coach Amanda Fetter said. “We just talked about if you are going down, go out in blaze of glory. We are a team of momentum, and we found it in the third set.”

The Trojanettes (24-1) found their mojo and rhythm and rolled through the Mounties in Games 3 and 4. They spread the wealth as Dominiqe Felix, Anna Schoeppner, Ava Whitesel and Libby Palmer all found sets to their liking from Elizabeth Feczko.

“Felix is our best hitter so there was definitely a shift to make sure she got the ball,” Fetter said. “If you are going down, go down with your best hitters.”

Dominique had 24 kills, Libby had 15 and Ava had 10 kills in the game.

The Trojanettes won the final game 15-7 after jumping out to an 11-3 lead.

The Mounties (22-2) won the opening game, scoring the final five points to win 25-17. The Mounties kept most balls alive and in play, allowing the Trojanettes to make the mistakes. Several key blocks and kills by Maddison Minnyo kept the Mounties in the lead.

Felix and Whitesel kept the Trojanettes in the game with timely kills.

“We didn’t play that bad; we just couldn’t get that momentum and once we did look out,” Felix said. “Freedom did the same thing to us in the WPIAL championships, so we knew it could be done. We did a much better job of passing and setting the ball in the third and fourth games. We had so much confidence going into the final game.”

NP Liberty was tied at 23 but was able to make two defensive plays to earn points to win the second game 25-23. Again, the difference in the game was keeping the ball off the floor.

Libby Palmer and Felix started to take over in Game 3, and the Trojanettes rolled to a 25-16 win. The Mounties had a few mishaps with the ball that hadn’t occurred in the opening two games.

Two net drops by Anna Schoeppner gave the North Catholic squad a 17-6 lead in the fourth. The ball hit the net but dropped where no one was for the Mounties.

“I was lucky today; they can fall the wrong way and become points for the other team,” Schoeppner said. “Once we got that momentum, we were full of confidence. This was so fun today once we got rolling.”

Fetter added: “I lose eight seniors and they carried this program, but we have several returning players and a very solid freshman team, so we look to be back here next year.”

Tags: North Catholic