North Allegheny wins again
Tigers claim fifth consecutive state championship
SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP, Pa. — It’s five and counting for the North Allegheny girls volleyball program.
The Tigers became the second school in PIAA history to win five consecutive titles with a 3-1 win over Parkland in the Class 4A final, the last of four championship matches Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School.
The only school with more consecutive titles is Norwin. The Knights won eight consecuitve Class 3A titles from 1976-83.
“Winning a fifth time shows that it’s just not one class with a lot of good players,” North Allegheny coach Russ Hoburg said. “It shows the continuity we have in this program. We have a very dedicated group of girls who want to continue the winning tradition.”
But it wasn’t an easy ride for the Tigers, who claimed their fourth WPIAL title in five years two weeks ago. Parkland (25-1), the District 11 champs, gave North Allegheny all it could handle in the first set, posting a 25-23 victory.
The Trojans also rallied from a 5-point deficit in the second set and were serving with a 24-23 lead, but the Tigers scored four of the final five points to pull out a 27-25 victory.
North Allegheny (20-1)
dominated the next two sets, 25-18 and 25-15, to complete the victory and win one for the thumb.
“The play of North Allegheny’s middles played a big part in their victory,” Parkland coach Mike Krause said. “We did the best we could, but it wasn’t good enough.”
Middle hitter Jayden Perkins had possibly her best match of the season. She recorded 12 kills and 10 blocks. Outside hitter Carissa Tresser led the Tigers with 14 kills. Setter Mia Tuman had 39 assists and 8 kills.
Class 3A
This match featured two schools that were making their first appearance in the PIAA finals.
WPIAL runner-up Hampton (18-4) came up short, 3-1, in its match against District 3 champ Spring Grove (28-1) in this battle of newcomers.
“I hate losing,” Hampton coach Annie Bozzo said. “It’s a tough loss, but a wonderful, wonderful season. My girls worked really hard to get here. We may have lost, but it’s something for them to be proud of. Only a few teams can say they got this far. I’m very proud of what my girls were able to accomplish.”
Spring Grove scored six of the final eight points to post a 25-21 win in the first set, then led the entire second set en route to a 25-20 win. Hampton rallied to win the third set, 25-22. Spring Grove posted a 25-19 win in the fourth set to clinch the title.
Hampton just couldn’t stop Spring Grove’s twin sisters, Hailey and Nevaeh Wolfe. Hailey Wolf recorded 25 kills, while sister Nevaeh had 22. The two did a great job of placing their shots.
“We knew they were good,” Bozzo said. “Sometimes we were able to handle the matchup, other times we didn’t. They played amazing tonight.”
Class 2A
North Catholic girls coach Amanda Fetter was surprised that the Trojans needed only three sets to knock off defending champion Camp Hill Trinity in the PIAA Class 2A final, the second of four finals Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School.
“Not in a million years,” said Fetter, after North Catholic claimed its second title in three years. “I thought this one might go five.”
North Catholic (21-1) opened the match with a 2520 win, but serving and serve/receive errors kept the set much closer than it should have been.
“Their serving is better than any team we faced all year,” Fetter said. “Our plan was to weather serve/ receive and beat them in transition. And that’s the way it worked out.”
Trojans outside hitter Allison Feczko took charge in the second set. She recorded 11 of her matchhigh 25 kills and North Catholic posted another 2520 victory.
Camp Hill Trinity (20-2), the District 3 champion, jumped to a 3-0 lead in the third set and led, 17-13, but North Catholic rebounded to pull out a 25-23 win and claim the title.
“Alle was awesome today. She’s always awesome,” said Fetter of Feczko. “I see it every day in practice. Alle was a go-to beast today. She took over the match.”