BALD EAGLE AREA — The Bald Eagle Area girls’ volleyball team knew that the Richland Lady Rams would be all out to avenge an earlier loss when the two teams met on Saturday, Nov. 1 in the District 6 tournament at Altoona Area High School.
Just like in the earlier match, the steady and unshakeable Eagles navigated through another three close sets and came out with the same result — a 3-0 victory over the Rams.
The final scores tell the story. It was BEA, 25-22, 27-25 and 25-20.
In the first set, the two teams traded rallies throughout until Richland came from behind and tied the set at 21-21.
Another point made it 22-21, but the Eagles did not panic and subsequently ran off three points to take a 25-22 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, the teams again could find no separation, but Richland made a late move and took a 23-20 lead.
Again, the Eagles kept steady, tied the set at 24-24 and then a kill by Leah Bryan, a service point by Kinsey Clark, and a finisher by Casey Angellotti took the set, 27-25.
Set 3 began with BEA taking an early lead and Richland frantically playing to catch up. But Bryan, Clark, Emily Smith, Angellotti and team were there at every turn, and time ran out on the Rams, 25-20.
Bryan led the Eagles with 21 kills, Smith had 10, while Nora Eppley carved out 14 digs. Setter Angellotti came through with 30 assists.
The loss for Richland, who came into the tournament at the No. 1 seed with a record of 17-1, did not keep them out of the PIAA Championships. The Rams will see District 3 champion Delone Catholic, 18-4, at Delone on Nov. 4.
BEA will take on 7-2 Hopewell, 18-2, at home in the tournament’s first round.
The winner will face either 10-1 Corry or 7-3 Waynesburg Central on Saturday, Nov. 8 at a site to be determined.
