Strong first match boosts Derry Area
A victory against the defending champion has catapulted the Derry Area boys volleyball team to No. 1 in the WPIAL Class 2A rankings.
Derry, last year’s WPIAL runner-up, opened the season ranked No. 3, behind defending champion Ambridge and Seton LaSalle.
Derry’s first match of the season was a non-league encounter with Ambridge in a rematch of last year’s WPIAL final. It was just as close as last year’s match, but Derry was the winner this time.
“We won the first set (2521), then lost the next two sets (25-22, 26-24),” Derry coach Shawn Spencer said. “Fortunately, we battled back to win the final two sets (25-20, 15-9).”
The victory, along with Derry’s fine performance in Saturday’s Derry tournament, prompted a change in the Class 2A rankings. Derry has moved up to No. 1, while Seton LaSalle remains No. 2 and Ambridge drops to No. 3.
“When you look at the long-term picture, this win could play a big part in the WPIAL seeding, but there is still a lot of the season left,” Spencer cautioned.
Derry hosted a 15-team tournament Saturday and the Trojans tied for third place. They were the only Class 2A team to finish among the top eight. And the other three teams that made it to the semifinals are ranked among the top five in WPIAL Class 3A.
Spencer’s squad was short-handed, as senior outside hitter Dom DeLuca is recovering from a knee injury sustained in the PIAA wrestling finals. DeLuca was a WPIAL second-team all-star last year.
“We are cautiously optimistic,” said Spencer, when asked if DeLuca will return. “Dom has a doctor’s appointment on April 24. At that point, we will find out if he is cleared to play.”
North Allegheny, the defending champion and No. 1 team in Class 3A, won the Derry tournament title, despite posting a 4-4 record in the second round robin.
“The Derry tournament affirmed what I had thought going in,” North Allegheny coach Dan Schall said. “There are many good teams [in Class 3A] who are all very close to one another. Our kids showed resilience against some very tough opponents. It was a great day of learning and growth for our team.”
Seton LaSalle
Seton LaSalle dominated the 12-team North Hills tournament, also held Saturday. The Rebels posted a 12-0 record and were not seriously challenged.
“We outscored our opponents by 109 points,” Seton LaSalle coach John Lawrence said. “We had a plus 86 coming out of pool play. You don’t see that very often. And it’s scary to think that we were only at 80-85 percent.”
The Rebels were led by Nathan Zini, a 6-7 sophomore opposite who was first-team All-WPIAL Class 2A last season.
“Nathan missed four weeks with an injury before the season, then missed 10 days after we started practice due to a freak accident, so he’s still not back to full strength yet,” said Lawrence, who also pointed out that Zini was hindered by the size of North Hills’ gym. “Nathan has a monster jump serve, but didn’t have enough room to use it. He had to use a float serve.”
Seton LaSalle won the Section 3 title last year and is a strong favorite to repeat. The section has only five teams.
“South Park dropped its program one week before the season began,” Lawrence said. “I had to scramble and pick up two more non-league matches.”
Lawrence had hoped the WPIAL would move one of the seven teams in Section 2 to Section 3, but the WPIAL did not want to make an alignment change that late, which sets up an interesting scenario for the playoffs.
“The top four teams in each section qualify for the playoffs,” Lawrence said. “That means a team needs only one win to qualify in this section.”
Montour
Colin Vitale is making his coaching debut at his alma mater. Vitale is a 2011 graduate of Montour High School who was voted second-team All-WPIAL Class 2A twice as a libero.
Vitale replaces Mike Vavrek, who stepped down after four years as the Spartans head coach.
“Mike Vavrek was an assistant coach when I was playing at Montour,” Vitale said. “When I heard that Mike has stepped down, I decided to apply. I had been thinking about getting into coaching and this was the perfect opportunity. It’s great to be back at my alma mater.”
Vitale is one of five new coaches in the WPIAL. The others are: Mylan Yekich at Baldwin, Steve Nicola at Moon, Michael Protch at North Hills and Phil Randolph at Gateway. Nicola and Randolph are also the girls coach at their school.