WPIAL Girls Volleyball Semifinals Recaps 2015

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, November 5, 2015 | 10:48 PM

The unkindest cut of all is a loss in the Semifinals of any tournament. You’re so close to reaching your ultimate goal of playing for a title that was made long before the season even began. All of the workouts and practices and you just fall short. No gold, no silver, no championship match feel. However the season is not over. For the winners, it’s on to the district finals, but even for the losers, its a spot in the consolation match or a berth in the state playoffs. Here are recaps from all of the thrills on Semifinals Thursday in WPIAL Girls Volleyball.

A special thanks to Cory Campano, James Dotson, Lee Mohn, Randy Gore, Sam Hall and Greg Kuntz for their help on these recaps.

WPIAL CLASS AAA Semifinals:

Baldwin Highlanders 3 – Upper St. Clair Panthers 2
The Baldwin Highlanders are headed back to the WPIAL championship game. Baldwin defeated Upper St. Clair in dramatic fashion coming back from a two game deficit and winning thee games to two. Scores were 20-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-11. Baldwin jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first game before Upper St.Clair would score the next eleven of twelve points to take command of the game. The Panthers were led by Sam Amos with 11 kills. Game 2 Upper St. Clair was also in control.before Baldwin would rally and tie the score at 20-20 but Alex Amos would convert a couple of kills and the panthers would go up two games to none. Game three Baldwin would get on track being led by Maddi Sgattoni with four kills.  Game four was back and forth with Sam Amos continuing her dominant play for Upper St. Clair but Mackenzie Voelker would score three of the last four points to force game five. The score was tied at ten a piece before Voelker and Sierra Colbert would finishes things off.  Baldwin will now face North Allegheny in a rematch of last years championship match on Saturday.at Baldwin high school. You can hear the match right hear on the MSA Sports Network.

North Allegheny Tigers 3 – Seneca Valley Raiders 0 
The North Allegheny girls’ volleyball team earned a third straight trip to the WPIAL Class AAA championship with a 3-0 triumph over rival Seneca Valley in the WPIAL semifinals from North Hills high school. The Tigers swept the Raiders in their two Section 3 meetings in the regular season and was able to outlast their section foe by set scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 25-20. Helping the Tigers to the win was the rock solid play of setter Beth Muhlenkamp. The Palm Beach Atlantic recruit set her teammates up for big swings throughout the night, including senior Lauren Swartz who collected two kills and block in the opening set to propel the Tigers to the set one victory.  It didn’t come easy for NA as junior Tatum Poirer  notched three kills and Isabella Seman garnered three aces to tie the score 19-19 late in the opening sate. However, the Tigers rolled off five of the next six points to earn a 25-20 set one win. In set two, the Raiders fell behind 13-6 and never quite recovered. Maria Mosbacher and Lexi Kotrick delivered three kills apiece in a 25-18 win for North Allegheny. The third set saw a gutsy performance from Seneca Valley senior Madeline Poirer who smashed five kills and helped the Raiders secure a 19-18 lead. Late in the set, Poirer left the game after hitting the floor hard with an apparent arm injury. Despite her return in a few minutes later, it was too late as the Tigers rattled off seven of the last eight points of the set to claim a 25-20 win and captured a 3-0 match victory. Swartz, a Michigan State recruit, hammered out four kills in the final set to help North Allegheny finish off the Raiders. North Allegheny improves to 19-0 overall and will take on the reigning Class AAA champion Baldwin Highlanders in the title tilt on Saturday at 6:00 pm at Baldwin High School. The contest will be a rematch of last year’s WPIAL championship.

WPIAL CLASS AA Semifinals:

Freeport Yellowjackets 3 – South Fayette Lions 1 
The Freeport Lady Yellowjackets are back in the WPIAL Class AA finals after defeating South Fayette 3-1 on North Allegheny High School on Thursday night. For the second straight match, Freeport struggled early in the first set, falling behind 10-2 (also trailed 10-2 in the first set of quarterfinal victory over. Beaver). The Lady Lions controlled the opening set behind Carlee Kilgus’s six kills. Freeport would rally but ultimately fall 25-21 in the opening frame. Coach Tom Phillips calmed his troops, and the team responded with a convincing 25-13 second set victory to tie the match at one score apiece. The Lions defense played admirably the entire match, especially libero Mikayla Fetchet’s countless digs. But in the end, Zoe Pawlak proved to be too much down the stretch. The Yellowjackets took the final two sets 25-20 and 25-15, respectively. They used a 10-point run to fuel the third set victory under the serving prowess of Morgan Ruppersberger. She finished the match with 14 kills and 2 aces, while Pawlak led the way with 18 kills and 6 aces (three in the final set). South Fayette was led by Sadie Dayton’s 12 kills. Following were Carlee Kilgus with 11 kills, Hayley Altemus with 7 kills, and Carolyn Eckler with 7 kills and 9 blocks.  The season does not end for Coach Scott Sundgren’s Lady Lions, as they qualify for the PIAA tournament with their WPIAL semifinal appearance. Freeport will take on West Shamokin, a straight-set winner over Montour, in the WPIAL Class AA Championship on Saturday at 3:30 at Baldwin High School.

West Shamokin Wolves 3 – Montour Spartans 0 
The number 2 seed West Shamokin Wolves again proved they are ready for the big stage with a straight set victory over their opponent tonight. The number 6 seed Montour Spartans fought extremely hard but came up short. Montour’s chances at a WPIAL Title are gone but they still qualify for a PIAA state playoff spot. West Shamokin was carried on the strength of their workhorse Katie Glover. She finished the night with a remarkable 26 kills and seemed to notch a point for her team every time they started to slip. Game one was back and forth throughout until the midway point. It went from things being tied at 10, to total dominance from there on out. West Shamokin was able to rally on several occasions and ultimately jump to a 22-12 lead. Sierra Dailey had her serve going and the Wolves rallied behind her. They ended up winning the game 25-14. In game two, Montour tried everything they could to respond. Cecilia Esposito took the reigns as captain and constantly tried to keep the team spirits up. Not only was it working, but she contributed 5 kills of her own. It would have been enough had West Shamokin not been so poised and up to the test. Glover had 10 kills and Stephanie Schrecengost was phenomenal defensively. The both of them kept plays alive allowed the Wolves to rally late and take the game by a score of 25-20. Game three compared very closely to that of game two. Montour battled heavily, but just could not find a way to get past their opponent. They led by a few points at times and Head Coach Kirsten Burkes called a few key timeouts to rally her team and keep them in the contest. The match got to 16-16 and then West Shamokin turned it on again. They rallied for four and five straight points to take it 25-18. Dan Spencer has coached volleyball for quite sometime and he’ll have a chance to lead the Wolves to a WPIAL Title on Saturday as they’ll take on top seeded Freeport. The game is scheduled to be played at 3:30 at Baldwin High School.

WPIAL CLASS A Semifinals:

Bishop Canevin Crusaders 3 – Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions 2 
The Bishop Canevin Crusaders capped a night of incredible comebacks at Baldwin high school with a 3-2 win over the Greensburg Central Catholic Centurions and advance to the WPIAL Championship match for a fourth straight year. Canevin, the four seed was absolutely whitewashed in the opening set as GCC sophomore Mikala Bisignani seemed as if she would single-handedly return the Centurions to the title match for a fourth straight season notching kill after kill as GCC rolled to a 25-6 win and appeared unstoppable rolling convincingly in set two 25-12 again behind Bisignani and the kill power of Hayley Farmerie, senior outside hitter. Kevin Walter’s team though decided to go ahead anfd play the third set and in a ver close back and forth match road the service of senior Riana Conway late to come away with a hard-fought 25-18 win. Even then it seemed that all the Crusaders had done was stave off the inevitable for another set. But the girls on the floor had a different belief and that belief began to shine through in the fourth set as Julia Menosky and Bailey McDonald along with Erin Cunningham began to get in a groove and the Crusaders’ confidence seemed to fill an already very full gymnasium at Baldwin. Cunningham freshly back in the lineup for BC after missing the entire season could be seen exhorting her teammates between every point in set four willing them to believe they would come from behind. Annelise Balog told the MSA Sports network afterwards that as a group they took note of watching Shenango overcome a 2-0 deficit while they waited for their match to start, “We just said ‘hey if Shenango can do it we can too’ and the key for us was experience, we’ve been in this situation so many times” After winning the fourth set 25-21 momentum rested clearly on the side of the Crusaders as the top-seeded Centurions began to look a little tentative and Bailey McDonald took advatage of that with a 6-0 run from the service line to start the short game. Bisignani’s kills seemingly unblockable for most of the night were suddenly getting turned away by Alex Parra and Janet Aland. GCC battled admirable getting to within two points at 11-9 but they would get no closer as the Crusaders finished with a 4-0 run to win the short game 15-9. Canevin will now face the very team they used for inspiration, Shenango, for the WPIAL Title Saturday at Baldwin and right here on the MSA Sports Network.BC head coach Kevin Walters said he could not be any prouder of his kids, and tried to explain how they got Bisignani under control. “Well she’s a very nice player but we started to believe and swing and hit the ball so it became more difficult for them to get the ball to her, but I am so proud of these kids and how they have fought all season long getting down in sets or matches so many times and they have found a way to overcome,” Greensburg Central Catholic, the defending WPIAL and PIAA champions remains alive for a berth in the state playoffs and will face off with Serra Catholic for the right to move on and defend their PIAA title. The Crusaders and the Centurions were meeting for the fifth straight season in the playoffs, Canevin ousted GCC in the 2011 quarterfinals, GCC beat Canevin in the 2012 WPIAL title match, Canevin returned the favor in the 2013 title match and GCC one-upped them in the 2014 title tilt. Canevin made it 3-2 with the 3-2 win Thursday night.

Shenango Wildcats 3 – Serra Catholic Eagles 2 
In what can only be described as one of the greatest comebacks in WPIAL Girls’ Volleyball history, the Shenango Wildcats came from 2 sets down to upend and upset the #2-seeded Serra Catholic Eagles, 3-2, to advance to Saturday’s Finals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs. The first game was completely dominated by Serra as the Eagles benefited from numerous kills by Lauren Kolenik in the middle and Anna Schoy on the outside.  At one point, SC went on an 8-0 run en route to a 25-11 win in Game 1. Although the Wildcats start was slow, they slowly but surely started to develop a bit of a groove in Game 2. There were 4 lead changes, but after regaining the lead at the 17-16 mark, Serra would not relinquish the lead, taking the 2nd game, 25-20, and a 2-0 edge in the match. With its back to the wall, Shenango demonstrated the sense of urgency it needed as OH Marie Goncar started to assert herself on the court.  Game 3 was kept close by both teams, but the Wildcats took the lead for good at 21-20 and got back in the match with a 25-23 victory. In a complete reversal of fortune, the Cats completely dominated Game 4 as Goncar with the aid of great service games from Valentina Vincent, Angelina Sibeto, and Caitlyn Schnell shut SC down. Shenango forced a 5th and deciding game with a decisive 25-9 win. With both teams playing with a sense of desperation, that 5th game took on a cautious, defensive character. The Wildcats gained the lead at 5-4. The Eagles scratched and clawed  their way to tie at 10, 12, and 14, but in the end, it was an appropriate Marie Goncar kill that was the lethal blow to SC’s chances,  and the Shenango Wildcats moved on to face the Bishop Canevin Crusaders in the Class A Finals at Baldwin HS on Saturday.  Serra Catholic will face the Greensburg CC Centurions in the Consolation match with the winner advancing to the PIAA State Playoffs.