Moon anticipates lofty seed after successful regular season

It’s rare to see a team that finishes third in its section seeded among the top five in a WPIAL bracket.

But that’s what will most likely happen when the WPIAL volleyball committee draws up its Class 4A bracket on Monday.

Moon is expected to be seeded No. 5 in the 12-team bracket, despite placing third in Section 2.

The Tigers had a 10-3 record going into Thursday’s section finale against Oakland Catholic. Baldwin and Canon-McMillan were tied for first place with an 112 mark.

Moon’s record includes two losses to Canon-McMillan and a surprising loss to Upper St. Clair, a squad that entered its finale in sixth place. The Tigers also posted two wins against Baldwin, last year’s WPIAL runnerup. Canon-McMillan’s losses were to Baldwin.

“I’m not sure if Moon had ever beat Baldwin prior to this year,” said Moon coach Steve Nicola, now in his second season as coach. “We caught them off guard in the first match [in a 3-0 sweep]. Both teams played better the second time around. Baldwin won the first set and we won the next three.”

North Allegheny and Pine-Richland are expected to be the top two seeds after sitting atop the WPIAL rankings most of the season. North Allegheny has won WPIAL and PIAA titles the past two years.

“Defense, serving, and passing have been the key to our success,” Nicola said. “My setter, Meagan Robare, and libero, Abby Santacroce, are the only first-year starters in our lineup. Both have done a great job.”

Moon also has three solid hitters with outside hitters Molly Simmons and Jessie Murray, and middle hitter Sanea Simmons.

“We’re really looking forward to the playoffs,” Nicola said. “Our only concern is that we don’t have any playoff experience. Moon hasn’t been to the WPIAL playoffs since 2015.”

Woodland Hills

Woodland Hills is having a historic season. The Wolverines have qualified for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a winning team before this season,” said first-year coach Kristina Lewis. “The kids are ecstatic. We’ve even had a lot of support from the school. We’ve had good crowds at our home matches. It’s been very uplifting for the school.”

Woodland Hills entered Thursday’s Class 3A Section 1 finale against winless McKeesport with a 7-7 record, which guarantees a fourthplace finish and a berth in the playoffs. A pair of wins against Indiana, the fifthplace team, clinched the playoff berth.

“Moving down to Class 3A [in 2018] helped,” said Lewis, when asked for reasons why the program has improved so much. “But the key to our success has been club ball. Half of my team played for volleyball clubs during the offseason.”

Qualifying for the playoffs is quite a feat for Woodland Hills considering the school’s past history in the sport. In a 10-year stretch from 2008-2017, the Wolverines had only one section victory and 121 losses. Lewis is quite familiar with the program’s prior futility.

“I played at Woodland Hills from 2010 to 2013 and we did not win a match,” said Lewis, who returned to her alma mater in 2018 as an assistant coach. “It was pretty depressing. That’s why I wanted to come back and try to help the program.”

Lewis attended Michigan State after graduating from Woodland Hills in 2014.

“I didn’t play volleyball, but I worked in the athletic training center,” Lewis said. “I spent a lot of time watching the team and the coaches. I learned a lot and decided to become a coach.”

Lewis’ top two players are senior outside hitter Claire Yezovich and junior setter Adrianna Sacramento.

“Claire is one of the best hitters in the section and Adrianna is one of the best setters,” Lewis said.

Franklin Regional

Franklin Regional is also having a historic season.

“We clinched our first section title last week,” said coach Mike Feorene, prior to Thursday’s Class 3A Section 1 finale against Gateway. “And we have a chance to go undefeated in the section for the first time.”

Franklin Regional entered the Gateway match with a 130 record in the section and was No. 4 in the rankings.

“I knew coming into the season that we had a strong team, but going undefeated in such a strong section never crossed my mind,” Feorene said. “It’s great to be undefeated, but it puts a target on your back. Everybody brings their A-game when they play us.”

Feorene’s squad will be making its second consecutive appearance in the playoffs.

“Last year was only the second time the program has qualified for the playoffs and the first time we won a playoff match,” Feorene said. “We’re hoping to go much further this year.”

Franklin Regional will most likely be seeded No. 4 in the Class 3A bracket. The Panthers’ offense revolves around Aly Kindelberger, a 61 junior middle hitter who is considered one of the best players in the WPIAL.

“Aly is extremely hard to stop. She hits over and around blocks,” Feorene said. “Teams will have to stop her to beat us.”

Freeport

Freeport almost cancelled its annual tournament, which was held Saturday, due to sickness. In fact, Yellowjackets coach Tom Phillips almost pulled his own squad from the tournament.

“We had two schools pull out because they had too many kids sick,” Phillips said. “We were dealing with the same situation. I had planned on splitting our squad into two teams and enter both in the tournament, but I was lucky to field one.

“We have a total of 17 players that make up our varsity and junior varsity. At least 13 were sick at some point last week with some sort of flu bug.”

Phillips was able to field a squad and the Yellowjackets won the six-team tournament.

“I’m very proud of what the girls were able to do,” Phillips said. “I’m just glad this didn’t happen during the playoffs.”

Freeport, ranked No. 3 in WPIAL Class 2A, has advanced to the WPIAL title match seven of the past 10 years.

The WPIAL playoffs begin Tuesday with pigtail matches. The first round will be held Wednesday and Thursday.