Loss fuels North Allegheny’s run
Tri-State Sports & News Service
North Allegheny senior Jake Barber considered endinghis volleyball career prior to the start of the 2018 season. Coach Dan Schall and his Tigers teammates were glad hereconsidered.
“The Saturday before the season started, Jake sent me an e-mail saying he was making the difficult decision not to play this year,” said Schall after North Allegheny won the PIAA Class 3A title Saturday at Penn State’s RecreationHall.
“Later that evening, I received a second e-mail from Jake saying that ‘I don’t thinkI can quit. I want to give itone more run.’ We’re pretty gladhe did.”
When asked what he was thinking at the time, Barber paused and gave a simple reply.“I was crazy.”
Barber, a 6-4 senior opposite, recorded seven kills and five blocks in North Allegheny’s 3-0 sweep of Landisville Hempfield in the title match. He also recorded the finalkill of the match.
“With this group of guys this is really special. That’s part of the reason I decided to play this year. I couldn’t have imagined not playing with Jason [Stiefvater], Ryan [Beck], A.J. [Schmidt], Canyon [Tuman], and everybody else. It was a really good feelingto bring it all home.”
Barber was one of three North Allegheny hitters who tortured Hempfield’s defense all day. Tuman, a Penn State recruit, led the Tigers with 16 kills. Stiefvater had nine kills.
“One of the things that makes us so challenging is that I don’t know who is getting the ball,” Schall said. “A.J. really dishes well. He involves every guy. Jake reallystretched them out on the right side. So when they concentrated on Canyon and Jason on the left side, who were dominantforces, Jake was on the right side and kept putting the ball away. And our middles are really good. Our offensive balance is really difficultto defend.”
Hempfield coach Mike Vogelechoed those thoughts.
“North Allegheny was very powerful and their blockwas very intimidating. We played well for the first 10 points of the game. At that point, the wheels came off. We just couldn’t stop them. They were just too big at the net and had too many weapons for us to stop. They were clearly the better team today.Sometimes you run into a team like that where there’snothing you can do.”
North Allegheny was making a PIAA-record 16th appearance in the finals and cameaway with its sixth title. The Tigers were also in last year’s title match, but had to settle for second best after losingto Central York.
“From a motivational standpoint, tasting this is a great driving force,” said Schall, referring to last year’s runner-up performance. “In days where practice can roll over a little bit, remembering this is a great motivator. We have a lot of juniors, sophomores and even freshmen up here. And what they tasted here today will be great energy for the years ahead. I think we all have plans, knowing that it will not be easy,to get here again.” Tumanagreed. “Itwas great to get that second opportunity,” Tuman said. “Last year really hurt. It was a tough pill to swallow. We carried that feeling all through the summer and through the school year. We knew we had one job, to get back here and win the title. I couldn’t be happier with this groupof guys, who worked so hard day in and day out. They wanted it as much as I did.”
Schall also had thoughts on how tough it is to make back-to-back appearances in thefinals.
“Getting back is a really tough journey,” Schall said. “If you look, year in and year out, Hempfield makes the run, Central York is in the mix, the Tigers are in the mix. The tendency is to think that run is inevitable. There is so much effort. There is so much that has to go right. The journey is long, the journey is hard. The climb is really tough. And I think that is somewhat underestimated, for both teams. The climb is very difficult.”
North Allegheny played its most complete match in the biggest match of the season.The Tigers, who finished with a 23-0 record, were almost flawless in all phases of thegame.
“Everybody contributed to this win,” Schall said. “It was our most complete match of the season. [Setter] A.J. did a great job of feeding our hitters. Our blockers did a great job of shutting down theirhitters. Our defense was fantastic. And our serving kept [Hempfield] from gettinginto their offense.”
The Tigers posted a 25-20 victory in the first set with Tuman leading the way with five kills. He added six kills in the second set, as the Tigers dominated the Black Knights, 25-17. The third set was much closer, as it was tied at 11-11, but the Tigers took charge from that point on and recorded a 25-21 victory.
Schallgave credit to his entire team, even kids who didn’tplay in the title match.
“They saw Hempfield the last two days in practice,” Schall said. “One of the things we are able to do with the talent we have is to really simulate an opponent. Some of the guys who didn’t touch the court today were so instrumental in mimicking what they did. They saw everything in the last two days that Hempfield threw at us. Our preparation was absolutelyfantastic.”
The Tigers lose eight players to graduation: Beck, Schmidt, Stiefvater, Tuman, Barber, Sam Humes, Josh Bachinskyand Josh LaMay.
“It’s a fantastic feeling to go out as a champion,” Beck said. “Losing last year in the finals really fueled the fire. It was an unforgettable momentfor everybody.”