Baldwin is anxious to start the playoffs

Baldwin boys volleyball coach Eric Falcione has high praise for this year’s Fighting Highlanders squad.

“This is the best team I’ve had in 10 years,” Falcione said. “The kids are very motivated and bring enthusiasm and desire to the gym every day. They want to win as a group. They want to win very badly. I haven’t seen that level of enthusiasm in a long time. It’s been a joy to coach this team.”

Baldwin entered Thursday’s Class 3A Section 1 finale against Bethel Park with a 9-2 record. The Highlanders will most likely finish in a tie for second place with CanonMcMillan.

“Canon-McMillan beat us in the first half, but we came back and beat them in the second half,” Falcione said. “If we tie for second place, we’re hoping to get a pretty good draw in the WPIAL bracket.”

The WPIAL volleyball committee will meet Monday to determine the brackets. Firstround matches will be held Tuesday followed by Thursday’s quarterfinals. The semifinals will be held May 22. The championship matches and consolation finals will be May 24 at Baldwin High School.

“The kids actually asked me if we can practice more,” Falcione said. “So we held a couple Sunday practices.”

A trio of seniors who have started since their sophomore year have been the key to Baldwin’s success: Middle hitter Mike Goga, setter Dante Parente and opposite Ben Remlinger.

“Ben and Dante served as managers for the girls team,” Falcione said. “I think the success the girls have had has rubbed off on them. They are really looking forward to the playoffs.”

Butler

Butler was cruising toward a No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class 3A bracket. It would have been coach Lew Liparulo’s highest-seeded team in 25 years of coaching.

An injury to his top player has ended that hope. Senior Nash Bryan missed a nonleague match against Upper St. Clair May 4 and the Golden Tornado dropped a 3-2 decision to the unranked Panthers.

“Nash is our best hitter and passer,” said Liparulo of his senior outside hitter, who was voted second-team all-WPIAL Class 3A last year. “He has been playing volleyball and pitching for the baseball team. It’s really tough on an athlete to compete in two sports at the same time. The body doesn’t get enough time to recover.”

To make matters worse, Liparulo’s second-best player, Cody Schnur, a senior middle hitter, is dealing with tendinitis in his knees.

“Cody played against Upper St. Clair, but he was struggling a bit,” Liparulo said. “It’s what every coach dreads. We have a strong starting six, but lack depth. I hate to make excuses, but losing a key player like Nash really hurts.”

Liparulo was hoping Bryan would return for Butler’s final two matches, Tuesday against Fox Chapel and Thursday against Seneca Valley.

The loss to Upper St. Clair dropped Butler to No. 5 in the Post-Gazette’s Class 3A rankings. Butler entered Tuesday’s match with an 8-2 record in the section, with both losses to No. 1 North Allegheny, and a 13-3 overall record.

Bishop Canevin

A typical week for most volleyball teams is to have two section matches. Some weeks a team will add a nonleague match to their schedule. Playing four matches in one week is rare. That is what Bishop Canevin had to do this week.

“Scheduling for us this year has been crazy,” Bishop Canevin coach Peter Barakat said. “We didn’t have our gym for two weeks due to our school musical. We also had a couple teams request changes due to schedules at their school. Half of our matches this year have been rescheduled. A couple were rescheduled twice.”

With Friday as the final day of the regular season, Bishop Canevin was forced to play four matches this week. The Crusaders played host to South Park and Steel Valley on Monday and Tuesday, then traveled to Seton LaSalle Wednesday to complete their section schedule. They also had a non-league match Thursday at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. That match was postponed when the PIAA basketball playoffs were delayed by snow.

“Parents kept asking me for a schedule, but I couldn’t give them one,” Barakat said. “They thought I was joking. We actually had to rent a couple facilities so we could have practice during the two weeks we didn’t have our gym. We even had to cancel a couple practices.”

Despite the hectic schedule, Bishop Canevin entered Wednesday’s Class 2A Section 3 finale against Seton LaSalle with an 8-1 record and was tied with the Rebels for the section lead.

Bishop Canevin’s top two players are junior outside hitter Matt Menoski and junior setter Robert Andrews. Menoski was voted first-team all-WPIAL Class 2A last year.

“We’re looking forward to the WPIAL playoffs,” Barakat said. “When we have our team together, we can be competitive with anybody.”