KANE, Pa. – A second set comeback helped fifth-seeded and visiting Karns City sweep fourth-seeded Kane, 3-0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-18) in a tightly contested District 9 Class 2A semifinal match at Kane.
Kane, which had lost the first set after it had been tied at 22 found itself holding leads of 19-14 and 20-16 and had two set points (24-23 and 25-24) before falling 27-25.
Ava and Ashley Fox played big roles in the comeback with both players recording a pair of kills.
Ava Fox had a pair of kills early in the comeback getting the Lady Gremlins within one, 21-20 with a kill and then tying things up at 22 with another kill.
A reception error by Karns City, though, gave Kane a 24-23 lead.
That is when Ashley Fox stepped up with a tip over the net to tie things at 24.
Ashley Fox kept the Lady Gremlins alive after a Kane kill off the top of the net had put the Lady Wolves back in front, 25-24. It was a tip/block by Ashley Fox that tied things back up at 25.
Amber Mauer then gave Karns City a 26-25 lead with a kill before Rosie Carden’s attack was passed into the net by Kane giving the Lady Gremlins a commanding 2-0 lead that quickly turned into a sweep.
Ava Fox led Karns City with nine kills while adding 16 digs and two aces. Ashely Fox chipped in seven kills, 19 digs, and two aces, while Natalie Hess and Emma Johns each had five kills.
Johns also added 15 set assists, six digs, a block, and an ace and teamed with Carden to run the offense. Carden had 16 set assists, eight kills, and 16 digs.
Mauer added three kills and eight digs for the Lady Gremlins with Jessica Dunn contributing five digs.
Kane was paced by six kills from Mackenzie Blankenship and four each from Cora Jekielek and Maya Smith.
Smith added 14 digs, while Blankenship had four blocks.
Myka Costanzo paced the Lady Wolves’ defense with 19 digs with Aubri Haight chipping in 11 digs, and Serrena Conklin added three blocks.
Jayna Johnson ran the offense with 11 set assists with Aubri Haight helping her by adding four set assists.
Karns City will travel to top-seeded Keystone for a 6:30 p.m. semifinal match Tuesday, Nov. 2.
BROOKVILLE 3, PUNXSUTAWNEY 1
BROOKVILLE, Pa. – Securing a spot in Tuesday’s semifinal matchup with No. 2 seed and defending champion Redbank Valley, No. 3 seed Brookville needed four sets to beat visiting Punxsutawney in the first round of the D9 Class 2A playoffs.
The Lady Raiders (8-9) beat the No. 6-seeded Lady Chucks, 25-23, 15-25, 25-21, 25-14, as they rallied from a 20-15 first-set deficit to win the opening set.
After Punxsutawney won the second set, the Lady Raiders finished things off, breaking a 21-21 tie in the third with a 4-0 run to go up 2-1. Then they put away the visitors by jumping out to a 20-9 lead in the fourth.
Bella Hill had nine kills to lead the Lady Raiders while Julia Bailey and Morgan Kulik had seven and six kills respectively. Bailey added two blocks while Kulik served four aces. In the back, Emaa Venesky finished with nine digs while Reggan Olson and Ashton Pangallo had four and three apiece. Pangallo also served four aces.
For the Lady Chucks (4-13), Ciara Toven finished with seven kills and three aces while Samantha Griebel had six kills. Kylie Diem added four kills and three aces while Danielle Griebel ran the offense 17 set assists while adding four aces.
Emma Galando paced the Punxsutawney defense with 20 digs with Emily Dibbins adding five digs.
The semifinal match will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, at Redbank Valley.
SHARPSVILLE 3, GIRARD 1
COCHRANTON, Pa. – Casy Benedict recorded 17 kills and five blocks and set the Sharpsville school record for career kills with 727, as the second-seeded Blue Devils topped seventh-seeded Girard, 3-1 (25-10, 25-12, 24-26, 25-20) in the District 10 Class 2A quarterfinals at Cochranton High School.
Benedict wasn’t the only record-setter for Sharpsville, as Lauren Kos became the school’s all-time leading assists leader with 1,634 after recoding 29 set assists to go with eight kills.
Both records were first reported by the Sharon Herald.
Also for Sharpsville, Breanna Hanley had seven kills, and Audra Anzevino, Chasie Fry, and Bella Ritenour each added five kills.
Sharpsville will take on third-seeded Corry in the semifinals.
NORTH EAST 3, MAPLEWOOD 2
COCHRANTON, Pa. – Trailing 2-0 to Maplewood, fourth-seeded North East rallied to take the final three set and beat the fifth-seeded Tigers, 3-2 (18-25, 15-25, 25-22, 25-17, 15-12) in the District 10 Class 2A quarterfinals at Cochranton High School.
Kayla Forsythe and Cadence Jones combined for 41 kills for North East, according to the Meadville Tribune.
Sadie Thomas did her best to help Maplewood to the elusive victory finishing with 29 kills while Trista Robinson and Avery Brunot each added nine kills.
McKenna Crawford paced the Maplewood defense with 16 digs, while Eve Beuchat added 11 digs.
Bailey Varndell ran the Maplewood offense with 46 set assists while adding seven aces and 15 digs.
North East will face top-seeded Harbor Creek in the semifinals.
