North Allegheny serves up title

The WPIAL Class 3A boys volleyball title match Wednesday at Baldwin High School was a Schall brothers special.

North Allegheny, with Dan Schall at the helm, faced Penn-Trafford, with older brother Jim Schall hoping to lead the Warriors to a second consecutive title.

When the final whistle sounded, little brother picked up bragging rights as North Allegheny swept Penn-Trafford in straight sets to claim its 12th title in the past 15 years.

“There’s no special meaning to beating my brother,” said Dan Schall, who claimed his 12th title. “I never pull against my brother at anything. I love him. He’s one of the best people on the planet. It was special that we were both in the championship match, but one of us had to win.”

It was the second time that top-seeded North Allegheny beat the No. 2 seeded Warriors. The results were the same, too, as the Tigers recorded two sweeps.

“It’s amazing. There’s no other words to describe it,” said North Allegheny outside hitter Canyon Tuman, when asked what it was like to finally wear a WPIAL gold medal. “You don’t get these opportunities very often. There’s no other team I would rather share this with than my teammates.”

North Allegheny, behind the hitting of senior Luke Visgitis, dominated the first set. Visgitis recorded seven kills on seven attempts as the Tigers recorded a 25-10 victory. Visgitis picked up six more kills in the second set, and the Tigers pulled out a 25-22 win.”

Penn-Trafford gave North Allegheny all it could handle in the third set, but the Tigers pulled out a 25-23 victory.

Class 2A

It was quite appropriate that Daniel Townsend had the final kill in Beaver County Christian’s 3-0 sweep of Deer Lakes. Townsend was clearly the most productive player on the court with 20 kills and three serving aces.

“Daniel has the ability to pick apart a defense,” Beaver County Christian coach Christen Adels said. “He was able to place almost every ball where he wanted to. That kept Deer Lakes on their heels.”

Beaver County Christian, the defending champion and top seed, opened the match with a 25-19 victory. The Eagles dominated the second set, 25-10, as Townsend recorded six kills and three aces.

“We came out stronger than we did in our semifinal,” Townsend said. “Whenever we start strong, that momentum carries over to the whole match. It’s a lot easier to keep pushing when you start out strong.”

Beaver County Christian clinched the victory with a 25-19 win in the third set.

“We didn’t come to play today,” Deer Lakes coach Brady Shuller said.

“We played good at points, but couldn’t get any consistency.”

The top three finishers in each class qualify for the PIAA tournaments, which begin Tuesday.

Bethel Park and Derry Area claimed the other two spots.