LINESVILLE, Pa. – District 10 champion Conneaut got 19 kills, 14 digs, and two blocks from Kaylee Mattera on its way to a 3-1 (25-19, 14-25, 25-23, 27-25) win over WPIAL runner-up South Fayette in the PIAA Class 3A first round at CASH.
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Laine Harrington added 13 kills for the Eagles who also got four kills and three blocks from Sylvia Prebor and four blocks from Ginger Woods.
Mackenzie Wensel also had a solid all-around night for Conneaut with six set assists, four digs, three blocks, and three kills.
Payten Karastury ran the offense for the Eagles with 33 set assists and completed a double-double with 10 digs.
Paris Karastury paced the CASH defense with 24 digs, and Ashley Crabb added nine digs.
Conneaut will face Thomas Jefferson, a 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-10) winner over District 9 champion DuBois, in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be announced. The Jaguars are the third-place team out of the WPIAL after losing to WPIAL champion North Catholic, 3-0, in the WPIAL semifinals.
QUAKER VALLEY 3, KANE 2
KANE, Pa. – On the cusp of becoming just the second D9 2A team to advance past the opening round since the PIAA tournament expanded to at least three classifications in 2000 and the first to do it in a full bracket year (Redbank Valley was the lone game in the 2020 season due to COVID-19 to play a first-round match), things fell apart for D9 champion Kane in a 3-2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 15-11) to WPIAL third-place finisher Quaker Valley.
“It was a tough loss after winning the first two sets,” Kane head coach Judy Kessler said. “The girls really battled and fought hard. Defensively, we really were on it with 40-plus touches and 10 blocks. Quaker Valley runs a 6-2 and always has three strong hitter at the net who just kept attacking. But, we did a great job of holding them off for most of the match. It was a great match to watch. Both teams just battled from the first point to the last.”:
Mia Anderson led Kane with seven kilkls and four blocks with Cora Jekielek and Maya Smith each adding six kills. Jekielek also had 25 digs with Smith chipping in 22 digs.
Mackenzie Blankenship had a solid all-around match as well with four kills, four blocks, and 10 digs, and Myka Costanzo led the Lady Wolves’ defense with 30 digs. Emma Danielson also chipped in 25 digs.
Jayna Johnson ran the offense with 14 set assists and added two blocks.
Quaker Valley will take on WPIAL champion Freeport, a 3-0 winner over Corry, in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be announced. Freeport beat Quaker Valley, 3-0, in the WPIAL semifinals.
SHENANGO 3, NORTH EAST 0
ERIE, Pa. – District 10 champion North East was swept by WPIAL runner-up Shenango, 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-23) in the opening round of the PIAA Class 2A volleyball playoffs at the Hagerty Events Center in Erie.
Kylee Rubin paced Shenango with 22 kills while Elyse Lenhart ran the offense with 29 set assists.
Cadence Jones had 19 kills to lead North East with Grace Sanfilippo adding 30 set assists and 13 digs. Madisyn Szymanowski and Briell King each added 13 digs for the Grape Pickers as well.
Shenango will face District 6 champion Philipsburg-Osceola in the quarterfinals Saturday at a site and time to be announced. P-O beat WPIAL fourth-place finisher Avonsworth, 3-1.
