Liberty, Wellsboro set to meet in District volleyball final
By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | November 1, 2017 | Photo courtesy Ed Weaver
NTL rivals North Penn-Liberty and Wellsboro won their semi-final games on Tuesday, October 31 to setup the ultimate rematch for the District IV Class AA championship on Thursday, November 2.
North Penn-Liberty 3, Troy 0
The Lady Mounties easily controlled their semi-final matchup Tusday by sweeping Troy.
Liberty dominated the first set, winning 25-6. The Lady Mounties ran off 7 straight points before an error put Troy on the board. Liberty then outscored Troy 18-5 behind multiple kills from Charisma Grega.
Set two was much of the same as the Lady Mounties won 25-7. After the set started out with a 3-3 tie, Liberty rattled off 10 quick points in a matter of minutes to put them firmly in control. Brooke Harvey dominated the set with 5 kills to close things outs.
Troy kept things close in the third set as the trailed 8-6 early on, but Liberty went on a 6-1 run to lead 14-7. Three straight Troy points cut the score to 15-10, but the Lady Mounties closed out the match on a 10-4 run.
Grega led North Penn-Liberty with 6 aces, 12 kills, 6 receptions, and 7 digs; Harvey had 3 aces, 9 kills, 9 receptions and 6 digs; Mariah Kshir added 5 aces, 2 kills, 14 assists and 2 digs; and JoAnne McNamara chipped in with 2 aces, 3 kills, 13 assists and 2 digs.
Savannah Doney led the defense 2 aces, 8 receptions and 11 digs; Maddison Minyo had 2 aces, 3 kills, and 1 assist; Elli Fry added 2 aces, 2 blocks and 1 dig; and Haley Monks had 2 kills, 1 assist and 1 dig.
Wellsboro 3, Wyalusing 2
Wellsboro controlled the first two sets, winning 25-16 and 25-14 to take an early 2-0. That's when Wyalusing battled back.
After a 3-0 lead by Wellsboro Wyalusing cut it to 3-2. After trailing 9-7, Wyalusing scored 4 straight points to go on top, 11-9. Both teams battled back and forth before the Lady Hornets eventually pulled ahead 21-17. Again the Lady Rams ran off 4 straight points to tie it up at 21-all. Wellsboro eventually fought back to lead 24-23.
As Wellsboro looked to put the match away, a botched block gave Wyalusing life as they rallied for the 26-24 win.
Wyalusing took a commanding 8-1 lead to start the fourth set. Wellsboro kept battling back, however as they eventually got to within a point, 18-17. Wyalusing then went on a 3-point run to take a 21-17 lead and forcing the Lady Hornets to take a timeout to regroup. The timeout worked as the Lady Hornets 4 straight points to tie it up at 21-21.
Again both teams battled back at forth to tie it up at 24-all before Wyalusing took the set, 26-24.
As the match headed into in fifth set, both teams traded points and kept it close. Eventually the Lady Hornets went up 11-8 before Wyalusing rattled off 4 straight points to go up, 12-11. After Wellsboro tied it up at 12-12, Wyalusing again jumped back on top, 14-12. Wellsboro rallied to go up 15-14, but Wyalusing again battled back and took a 16-15 lead.
Wellsboro answered back to go up 17-16. After another long volley, Ryann Adams got the ball up to Brianne Keane, who tried setting up senior Cheyenne Sherman. The ball traveled close to the net and looked to bounce off both players out of bounds. Wyalusing was initially awarded the point, but after some discussion, it was ruled the ball hit off Wyalusing, giving Wellsboro an 18-16 set win, and 3-2 overall victory.
"I told the girls that we needed to push for the last couple of points. Do what we started to do at the beginning of the night," said Wellsboro head coach Sharon Zuchowski. "Any energy they had left they had to push forward and we just needed 5 points to get through this after start over again on Thursday night."
Keane led the Lady Hornets with 31 assists, 13 points, and 5 aces. Sherman finished with 14 kills and 14 digs, Caitlyn Callahan 11 points, an ace, and 4 blocks; Megan Starkweather had 12 kills, 10 points, and 2 aces; Jillian Graver had 9 kills, 10 points, 3 blocks, and an ace; and Hannah Burnett had 15 digs.
Karlye Huffman had 38 assists and 3 kills for Wyalusing, Melody Kneller had 28 kills, and Kristie Epler recorded 16 digs.
Ed Weaver is the owner of Circle W Sports in Wellsboro, PA, is the Sports Director for The Home Page Network and the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
