Plum boys volleyball ready for new challenge in Class 3A

By: Michael Love
Sunday, April 2, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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The Plum volleyball team’s final Class 2A match last year was a close five-set contest against Thomas Jefferson in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

The No. 8 Jaguars edged the No. 9 Mustangs, 3-2, to advance to the quarterfinals. Suddenly, Plum’s season was over.

The Mustangs left Class 2A in the offseason and rejoined Class 3A.

With seven starters back from last season, Plum hopes to make an impact in its new surroundings this spring, both in and out of section play.

“It’s fun to see the mix of the younger players growing and the more experienced players continuing to play like we always have,” said senior setter Ian Mawhinney, one of two team captains this spring along with senior hitter Jacob Pedley.

“We’re still evolving as a team. The more we play, the better we’ll get.”

Mawhinney earned second-team all-section honors last year for a Mustangs team which went 5-3 in Section 2-2A and finished runner-up to Gateway (8-0) in the standings.

Senior libero/defensive specialist Seth Favero also is back after his selection to the all-section first team.

Sophomore middle/right side hitter Max Grice hopes to make a splash in his second varsity season after earning third-team all-section laurels as a freshman.

Also back and ready to lead the team are 2022 starters in senior Alex Smith (defensive specialist), junior Jackson Newland (middle hitter) and sophomore Adam Smith (outside hitter).

Alex Smith plans to continue playing next year at Geneva.

“This is a really positive group of guys,” third-year Mustangs coach Fisher Bagiatis said.

“It is exciting to see their attitudes and focus towards the season. It’s fun to be around people who are excited about the game.”

Plum opened its season March 25 at the Norwin tournament, and Bagiatis said he went into the event hoping to see his team build on its work from the offseason and the preseason workouts.

“This was one of our first competitions of the season as we had only one scrimmage prior to that,” Bagiatis said.

“We expected we might have some early-season woes at times. We saw that in the tournament, but we also saw a lot of success. We didn’t lose more than one set to any of the teams until the last set with Central Catholic which kicked us out of the playoffs. We saw a lot of good triple-A teams and match up well against them. We showed that we are able to fit in with that. It sets us up for a pretty successful season.”

Plum faced Butler, Armstrong and Baldwin in the first round of pool play, and the Mustangs finished in third place.

That placed them in a third-tier pool with Central Catholic, West Shamokin and Pine-Richland where only the pool winner would advance to the bracketed playoffs.

Plum was successful against West Shamokin and Pine-Richland, but it lost two close games to Central Catholic (25-23, 25-21) and was eliminated.

“We were so close to making the playoffs,” Favero said. “But we were pretty exhausted. We played games before that, so if we played Central Catholic the way we played earlier in the day, I think we would’ve beat them. It was definitely a lot of volleyball.”

The matchup with Central Catholic was somewhat of a preview for section play.

Plum is in Section 3-3A with the Vikings, Hempfield, Norwin, Penn Hills and Penn-Trafford.

Hempfield, Norwin and Penn-Trafford finished as the top three teams in the section last year. Penn-Trafford, the No. 6 seed for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs, upset No. 3 Hempfield in the quarterfinals and finished fourth overall, one win away from the PIAA tournament.

Norwin was No. 2 and Penn-Trafford was No. 3 in the Western Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association rankings released March 27. Hempfield was eighth.

“There are definitely a lot of good teams in the section, so it’s going to be a tough challenge, but I feel we should be able to compete with every team we play,” Favero said.

Bagiatis said he saw additional positive steps taken in a tough 3-2 nonsection loss to Peters Township on March 28.

“We were able to push them to five sets,” he said.

“From what I’ve seen so far, the guys are able to play consistently at the Class 3A level. Of course, they are going to have to show up on game day, but they’ve proven to themselves and to me that they have that level in them to be able to bring it when it is needed.”

Plum hosts Norwin on Thursday evening.

“The teams in the section are big, powerful and experienced,” Bagiatis said.

“We are less experienced because we don’t have that middle school program that most of the other teams in our section have. We are hoping to get that going soon. I think we can compete with any team in the section. Again, consistency across the board will be key if we are to be successful.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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