Upstart Frazier upsets top seed Freeport

‘No pressure on us’ — Commodores competing in first season in Class 2A

The Frazier High School girls pulled a huge upset over top seed Freeport, 3-1, in the WPIAL Class 2A semifinals Thursday night at Norwin High School.

Frazier, in its first year in Class 2A, was seeded fourth. It made the WPIAL semifinals the previous two years in Class 1A. Freeport was the defending PIAA Class 2A champion.

“I’ve been in this situation a few times, once in 2010 with the volleyball team, and the last two years with the softball team, but this one is really special,” Commodores coach Mandy Hartman said.

“We came in as underdog. There was no pressure on us. We girls just came in and had a good time.”

Frazier won the first set, 29-27. Freeport evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-22 win. The third set was very similar to the first, with Frazier pulling out a 26-24 victory. The Commodores capped the match with a 2519 win in the fourth set.

Frazier will face No. 2 seed North Catholic in the title match at 2 p.m. Saturday in the second of four championship matches at Fox Chapel High School. The Commodores were led by Skye Eicher (23 kills), Logan Hartman (25 assists) and Kathryn Barch (23 assists).

• North Catholic earned its first title berth since 2005 with a 25-20, 25-20, 2520 sweep of No. 3 seed Serra Catholic in the other semifinal, held at North Allegheny. Dominique Felix led North Catholic with 17 kills.

“It means everything for us to get this far,” North Catholic coach Amanda Fetter said. “We have a chance to become the first [volleyball] team in school history to win a WPIAL title.”

Class 3A

• Top seed and defending champion Knoch earned a return trip to the WPIAL final with a 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 sweep of No. 4 seed Central Valley in the second match at North Allegheny. It was the third time the two teams met this season, and the Knights won all three.

Knoch will face No. 3 seed Thomas Jefferson in the title game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Fox Chapel.

• Thomas Jefferson earned its title berth with a 25-22, 18-25, 25-22, 25-20 win over No. 10 seed Elizabeth Forward.

It was the third time the two teams faced off this season, and the Jaguars won all three.

Natasha Yanief led the Jaguars with 14 kills.