STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – With its season possibly hanging in the balance, top-seeded Clarion-Limestone staged a third-set rally on its way to a 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-13) win over eighth-seeded and visiting Port Allegany in the District 9 Class 1A quarterfinals.
After taking the first set against the Lady Gators, C-L lost the second set and found itself trailing 17-11 in the third set and 23-20 before scoring the final five points of the set to go up 2-1.
The Lady Lions then easily dispatched Port Allegany in the fourth set to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal match against defending champion and fifth-seeded Oswayo Valley, who topped Clarion, 3-0.
Maddy Greeley and Hannah Beggs each had 13 kills for C-L with Beggs finishing a double-double with 11 digs. She also added six aces.
Alyssa Wiant contributed 11 kills in the victory.
The Lady Lion defense was led by Abby Knapp-Greely with 15 digs and Jenna Dunn with 13 digs.
Kaylee Smith ran the offense for C-L with 35 set assists.
OSWAYO VALLEY 3, CLARION 0
CLARION, Pa., – Defending District 9 champion Oswayo Valley rallied in the first set to pull out an extra-point Set One win and then dispatched Clarion easily in the next two sets to move into the semifinals with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-18) win in Clarion.
Rewatch the match
The fifth-seeded Green Wave, a PIAA semifinalist a year ago, trailed 21-16, 22-19, and 23-21 in the first set before taking a 24-23 lead on a Praylan Perkins kill.
But Clarion forced extra points of a Sophie Babington tip.
Oswayo Valley, though, got a kill through a block by Perkins and then put the set away on another Perkins kill.
Perkins had six of her 11 kills in the opening set – she completed a double-double with 13 digs – and then Oliva Cook and Makenna Manning took over from there.
Makenna Manning, Oswayo Valley
Cook had five kills and an ace in the second set with Manning adding four kills in the set before Manning had five kills and a block in the third set to lift Oswayo Valley to the semifinals for the fourth straight year.
Manning had 11 kills, four digs, three blocks, and an ace and was named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Match.
Manning talked about the win on the Cole Orthodontics postgame interview.
Cook added a double-double with 10 kills, 17 digs, three blocks, four aces, and a set assist, and Eva West had six kills, nine digs, and three aces.
Marley Kline led Clarion with 12 kills, four digs, and a block, while Lacey Lauer had five kills and three digs.
Addi Campbell ran the offense for the Lady Cats with 24 set assists while chipping in three digs, and Natalie Durish and Taylor Alston each added eight with Baingonton contributing nine digs.
Oswayo Valley will travel to top-seeded Clarion-Limestone in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday looking for a third straight trip to the District 9 title game and the PIAA playoffs.
It marked the second straight season the Green Wave ended Clarion’s season, and the Lady Cats, who won back-to-back PIAA Class 1A titles in 2020 and 2021, have now failed to reach the PIAA postseason for the second straight year. It is the first time since the PIAA Tournament expanded to three classifications in 2000 (it went to four in 2016) that Clarion has gone back-to-back years without making the PIAA postseason. Clarion missed the PIAA Tournament in 1998 and 1999 when there were only two classifications. The 1999 season was the first for current head coach Shari Campbell.
COUDERSPORT 3, SHEFFIELD 2
COUDERSPORT, Pa. – Emily Eckert surpassed 1,000 career set assists and Sierra Myers had 21 kills as No. 3 Coudersport rallied for a 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 17-25, 25-14, 15-10) win over No. 6 Sheffield in the District 9 Class 1A quarterfinals.
Rewatch the match:
Coudersport took control in the fourth set, jumping out to a big early lead and never looking back to send it to the fifth.
In the fifth, The Falcons jumped out to a 9-3 lead, with Sheffield coming back to get within two at 10-8 before the Falcons closed on a 5-2 run.
Eckert finished with 33 set assists and 11 digs in the win.
“It’s nice to win,” Eckert said during the Cole Orthodontic Associates postgame interview. “We haven’t won (a district title) since…forever…2015, so this feels nice.”
See the full postgame interview:
The Wolverines were strong in the second and third sets to take the lead, with Kadence Steffan notching 31 set assists and Kassidy Orinko leading a balanced effort with ten kills.
Savannah Myers finished with eight kills for the Falcons, while Oliva Fink had five kills, Emilee Atherholt five blocks and four kills, Emilee Ruter 33 digs, and Maddy Dubots-Angood 21 digs.
Also for Sheffield, Emily Foster had eight kills and five blocks, Peyton Wotorson eight kills, Orinko two blocks, Emma Roell seven kills, and Madi Connolly four kills.
With the win, Coudersport advances to play at No. 2 seed Elk County Catholic (in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Emily Eckert recorded her 1,000th career set assist in Coudersport’s win.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 3, OTTO-ELDRED 0
ST. MARYS, Pa. – It was a night of celebration for second-seeded Elk County Catholic in the District 9 Class 1A quarterfinals against 10th-seeded Otto-Eldred.
Not only did the Lady Crusaders advance to the semifinals with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-19) sweep, they also got to celebrate senior Tori Newton recording her 1,000th career kill.
Newton, who had 10 kills and three aces to lead the Lady Crusaders.
Her sister, Payton Newton, added eight kills and two aces in the victory while Reagan Bauer chipped in five kills and two aces and Lucy Klawuhn added five kills and four aces.
Kiri Emmert ran the offense with 28 set assists.
Tori Newton recorded her 1,000th career kill in ECC’s quarterfinal win. Submitted photo
