South Hills notebook: Area volleyball teams advance to playoffs

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, October 26, 2017 | 8:33 PM

All four area girls volleyball teams qualified for the WPIAL playoffs this season.

Baldwin and Thomas Jefferson were section titlists, while Seton LaSalle tied for first and Brentwood tied for second in section play.

Baldwin and TJ drew No. 4 seeds in the Class AAAA and AAA divisions, respectively.

“I'm incredibly proud of our team for showing everyone that we were able to get a section title,” said Baldwin's Brianna Phillips, a senior middle blocker. “Going into the season, we weren't even ranked in the top 10, and now we are No. 4 in the WPIAL.

“Our team worked extremely hard to get where we are, and we don't want to stop now. We want to go into each game with a fresh start, determined to do our best. We are very excited to see what comes out of the playoffs.”

Seton LaSalle received the No. 5 seed in Class AA. Brentwood landed the No. 9 seed in Class A.

“I think this was a pretty successful season for us,” said Brentwood's Brittany Stewart, a senior right-side hitter/defensive specialist. “We tied for second with Fort Cherry in our section, which is the best we have done in a few years. We came together as a team with a lot of hard work and practice.”

• Morgan Yurkovich, a senior setter on the Thomas Jefferson girls volleyball team, was named 2017 homecoming queen at TJ.

Yurkovich, who has made a verbal commitment to Pitt-Johnstown, is a three-year starter and four-year letterwinner. She was an all-state, All-WPIAL and all-section selection last season.

• Brentwood senior WR/DB Austin Veatch ranked among the WPIAL leading receivers with 45 catches for 677 yards and 11 touchdowns heading into the final week of the regular season.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pound Veatch led the team in scoring with 15 touchdowns, good for 84 points.

And through eight games, eight players had scored points for Spartans. Along with Veatch, they were Evan Vickless, with eight touchdowns; Michael Folino, with one TD, 19 PATs and one FG (28 points); Ian Thomas and Michael Trent, with two touchdowns; and Brendan Donnelly and John Gomez, with one TD apiece.

• The first official practice date for the 2017-18 WPIAL winter season is Nov. 17. Winter sports consist of basketball, swimming/diving, wrestling, gymnastics and rifle. Dan Thayer is coach of the Brentwood boys basketball program.

“We had a good summer; there's a lot of improvement,” Thayer said. “Fall (conditioning) has been going well also, but we are missing a good number of players because of football. But I do think things are looking up.”

• Baldwin has won 25 section championships in girls volleyball in school history, including three in the past four seasons. The Highlanders earned 17 consecutive section titles from 1977-93.

• TJ sophomore Lydia Shaw placed fourth in the girls varsity race at the recent Big South cross country championship at Mingo Creek Park. Shaw finished in 21 minutes, 58 seconds, and was the top sophomore runner in the girls race.

Other leading competitors for TJ were seniors Allie Richard (26:00) and Maddie Sonnett (35:37), junior Lexi Mikula (33:54), and sophomores Caileigh Briggs (27:49) and Hanna Pasquelini (28:33).

The leading runner for the TJ boys was freshman Gabriel Snyder, who placed 11th in 18:33.

Snyder set the pace for seniors Seth Roberston (20:24) and Eli Minda (20:46); and freshmen Luke Thurner (20:33), Luke Pletz (20:56), Nick Majetic (20:59) and Ian Majetic (21:47).

• Garret Fairman, a senior WR/DB for TJ, reeled in a career-high 11 receptions for 137 yards against Belle Vernon.

Through eight contests, Fairman led the Jaguars in receiving with 34 receptions for 680 yards and eight touchdowns.

• Sydney Moran, a junior libero, served up Thomas Jefferson's match point against West Mifflin last week in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAA girls volleyball playoffs. Moran and Co. zipped past the Titans, 3-0.

• There were four goalkeepers in the TJ boys varsity soccer program this season: sophomore Jack Wessel, juniors Connor Dalton and Justin Scott, and freshman Alex Folino.

• Brentwood senior QB Michael Trent had passed for 1,490 yards and 15 touchdowns before his team's conference game at Steel Valley.

• Thomas Jefferson has won 21 section championships in girls volleyball in school history. The Jaguars have racked up 15 section titles in the past 17 years.

Ray Fisher is a freelance writer.

Tags: Baldwin, Brentwood, Thomas Jefferson