A new high school girls volleyball season has been delivered around Centre County, with most teams playing their first match Aug. 29.
Among the opening contests was Philipsburg-Osceola’s visit to Penns Valley a few hours after the end of the first day of school in Spring Mills.
The Lady Mounties, the state’s No. 1 Class 2A team according to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association, cruised to a 3-0 sweep in the first step of what they hope is a long and successful journey.
“We have been very close each of the last three years,” said P-O coach Dave Eckberg, whose team has won the last three District 6 crowns and advanced to the PIAA semifinals twice and the finals once in that span. “We’ve won a lot of matches, but we haven’t been able to win that final one. That’s our goal this year.”
Of course, that success and lofty goal also can weigh on the girls.
“I do think it carries some extra pressure, but we are prepared for it,” Eckberg said. “We do things at every practice to challenge them and take them out of their comfort zone.”
Meanwhile, the Lady Rams see the season a bit more modestly, and they saw a lot of improvement by the third set against P-O and through the rest of the first week of the season.
“We are definitely brushing (the rust) off and finding our groove,” coach Brad Baldwin said. “Some of the areas that we struggled with against P-O and Hollidaysburg (on Aug. 31) were serving, serve-receive and hitting. We are improving with each practice and game, so I am happy to see the players’ hard work coming into shape.”
Penns Valley had a few lineup changes from last season with five returning starters, while the Lady Mounties did not have any seniors on last year’s roster. They are loaded with experience and have a focus early in the season on consistency and getting all the parts of the machine to run smoothly and efficiently.
“There is a bit of a learning curve and adjustment period when the girls come back together after their club experiences,” Eckberg said. “It’s a good problem to have because it means that we had a lot of girls doing extra things to get better, whether it was club or staying active by playing other sports.”
P-O’s success will depend greatly on Reese Hazelton, who entered the season with 1,783 career kills, plus over 1,000 career digs. The 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter is committed to Indiana University for Big Ten competition. During the 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 win against Penns Valley, she had 19 kills, 11 digs and a pair of blocks.
The Lady Mounties also got 11 kills and three aces from Sophie Granville, 19 assists and three aces from Maddy Lumadue, six blocks for Ava Ropert and five blocks for Megan Johnson.
Ella Hadley’s seven kills and 10 digs paced Penns Valley, with 12 assists and 10 digs for Ella Aston and 17 digs for Maddie Butler.
Bald Eagle Area
The Lady Eagles finished a run of three matches in four days to open the season, all wins, beating Central 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 Aug. 29. BEA was led by Ava Stere’s 10 kills, Taylor Hall’s nine kills, Taylor Habovick’s 28 assists and nine digs, Nora Eppley’s three aces, Leah Bryan’s three blocks and seven digs each for Olivia Boone and Olivia Taylor.
Bellefonte
The Lady Red Raiders opened their season Aug. 29 with a 25-21, 26-24, 25-21 loss at Bellwood-Antis. Grace Novitsky posted 10 kills and three blocks, Carlee Pepperman added eight kills, Keira Clarkson had seven kills, Ella Novitsky picked up 10 digs, Carley Clarkson followed with seven digs and Aubrey Schreppel gave out 26 assists.
Bellefonte earned its first win Aug. 31 with a 25-23, 25-12, 25-18 sweep of Penn Cambria behind Grace Novitsky’s 10 kills, Pepperman’s eight kills, Schreppel’s 24 assists and four aces, Keira Clarkson’s four aces and Sadie Ripka’s three aces. The Lady Raiders totaled 14 aces as a team in the win.
“So far this season I’ve been very pleased with how we’ve played,” said coach Monica Smith, who returns nearly all of her starters from a year ago and is challenging her team more this season. “I feel that we have a lot of potential this year and I’m excited to see it unfold.”
Bellefonte recorded a 1-7 record at the Labor Day Launch at Trinity in Camp Hill. The Lady Raiders split with York Suburban 24-26, 25-21 and fell 25-21, 25-19 to Milton Hershey; 25-13, 25-16 to Manheim Township; and 25-19, 25-20 to Mechanicsburg. For the day, Pepperman tallied 22 kills and 21 digs, Grace Novitsky had 19 kills and three blocks, Schreppel notched 43 assists and four aces, Ella Novitsky had 14 digs and Sadie Ripka posted nine digs.
Penns Valley
The Lady Rams put up a good battle but fell 26-24, 25-23, 25-22 to defending District 6 Class 3A champion Hollidaysburg on Aug. 31. Hadley picked up 10 kills and 10 digs in the victory, surpassing 500 career kills in the process. They also were led by Kendall Guisewhite’s six kills, Aston’s 13 assists and 13 digs, Butler’s 20 digs and Gracilee Ironside’s 11 digs.
Penns Valley posted a 5-3 record during pool play at Trinity’s Labor Day Launch, beat Covenant Christian Academy in the first elimination round, then lost to Manheim Township. Hadley collected 35 kills and 29 digs, Guiswhite had 10 kills, Aston tallied 54 assists and 21 digs and Butler racked up 35 digs.
P-O
The Lady Mounties swept Clearfield 25-12, 25-13, 25-12 Aug. 31 behind 11 kills, five aces and a pair of blocks for Hazelton, nine kills for Granville, eight kills and three blocks for Ropert, 14 assists for Natalie Betz, 11 assists for Lumadue, five digs for Johnson and three aces for Lauren Dugan.
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy
The Wolfpack dropped a pair of 3-0 matches to open their season, 25-9, 25-10, 25-14 to Moshannon Valley on Aug. 29 and 25-15, 25-14, 25-14 to Bishop Guilfoyle the next night. Gianna Folmer posted three aces and nine digs in the first match, with Sachi Ohmoto adding four digs. Against the Marauders, Monika Peters had five assists and four digs, Folmer picked up eight digs, Jordyn Rose added four digs and Kaige Hutchings put up two blocks.
Saint Joe’s returns eight starters and only three seniors, but the numbers are thin with 15 girls for the varsity and junior varsity, although coach Cori Donaghy noted the core of eight girls has stuck together and worked on their chemistry in the offseason.
“Consistency in the lineup is always an issue,” said Donaghey, in her eighth season leading the program and often dealing with small enrollment numbers. “We are constantly having to change positions based on numbers, talent, etc. For us, it’s not necessarily a matter of rust — or as I like to say, brushing off the cobwebs in between seasons — but a literal rebuild of chemistry and strategy season to season.”
State College
The Lady Little Lions, No. 10 in the PVCA Class 4A rankings, finally opened their season on Wednesday at Cumberland Valley. Falling in four sets to the 2-0 Eagles, State College was led offensively by Sarah Tate with 15 kills and Jessie Campbell with 18 assists, while Alexis Fisher notched three aces from the service line. Alex Haskins paced the Lady Little Lion defense with four blocks and Tate had 18 digs.
