Section showdown: Lady Raiders fend off Carmichaels to claim first place
Waynesburg Central players celebrate after defeating Carmichaels to clinch the Section 3-AA volleyball title Thursday night in Waynesburg. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Waynesburg Central’s Sarah Stephenson (left) and Riley Bowers block a Carmichaels shot during Thursday night’s volleyball match in Waynesburg. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Carmichaels’ Beth Cree slams a kill against Waynesburg Central during Thursday night’s volleyball match in Waynesburg.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Emma Robinson records one of her 25 kills against Carmichaels during Thursday night’s volleyball match in Waynesburg.
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Carmichaels’ Nicole Ludrosky tips the ball over Waynesburg Central’s front line during Thursday night’s volleyball match in Waynesburg.
Waynesburg Central’s Paige Jones goes low to dig a Carmichaels shot during Thursday night’s volleyball match in Waynesburg. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Carmichaels’ Emma Hyatt tries to hit the ball past Wayneburg Central’s front line during Thursday night’s volleyball match in Waynesburg. The Lady Raiders and Lady Mikes were seeded fifth and ninth, respectively, in Class 2-A according to the WPIAL volleyball playoff pairings released on Monday.
WAYNESBURG — If these two teams played 100 times, the split would be 50-50. That’s how close they are in talent.
But, oh, what a lot of good volleyball there would be to watch.
Waynesburg High School, behind some good back line play, stifled a talented Carmichaels team, 18-25, 27-25, 25-23, and 25-19.
The victory keeps Waynesburg (11-0, 11-1) undefeated in Section 3-AA and if it defeated Beth-Center on Thursday the Lady Raiders would probably be in line for a top four seed for the playoffs.
The Lady Raiders’ lone loss on the season was to Class AAA playoff team Albert Gallatin in a non-section clash with the Lady Colonials pulling out the win 17-15 in the fifth set.
Emma Robinson powered her way to 25 kills along with eight digs and three blocks to lead the way for Waynesburg. The Lady Raiders also got 15 kills and five blocks from Sarah Stephenson, 14 digs and two aces from Morgan Stephenson, 25 assists and three blocks from Cayla Rush, eight digs from Paige Jones and five blocks from Madison McMaster.
“This was probably the biggest win we had,” said Waynesburg head coach Dan Higinbotham. “I’ll leave the ranking to the (WPIAL). We took Avonworth to five games last year. So that is our goal, get past the first round. We’ve always won our play-in games but we couldn’t get past the first round.”
Wayneburg has made the playoffs for the past five years but have been stuck in the first round all five times.
The Lady Raiders, who beat Carmichaels (10-2, 11-2) earlier this season in five games, got off to slow start in the first game.
The two teams traded points until it was 16-16. Then, the Lady Mikes got hot and made a run, winning nine of the last 11 points for a 25-19 win.
Waynesburg did the same thing to Carmichaels in the second game, giving up a 9-1 run to the Mikes before righting the ship and taking a 27-25 victory.
The Lady Raiders began to take control in the third game, scoring nine of the last 13 points for a nail-biting 25-23 win.
Waynesburg rallied late in the fourth set, taking the final seven points for a 25-19 victory that gave them the match.
“You just have to stay consistent,” said Robinson. “You just have to whatever you can to get the ball up. The have some big blockers but you just have to get the ball over them.”
Robinson said you have to have confidence in yourself to beat a team as good as Carmichaels.
“You have to get through all the hard points,” Robinson said. “You just have to stay confident.”
The Mikes held a 17-12 lead in that last game before falling apart.
“I don’t think we made too many net mistakes,” said Carmichaels head coach Julianne Speeney. “I think we just lost our aggressiveness. They are high school girls. To me, Waynesburg did an excellent job. They went after wild balls and made great plays on them. We did not capitalize on that and that’s why we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Emma Hyatt led the Lady Mikes with 10 kills and three blocks with Beth Cree adding nine kills and three blocks. Carmichaels also got 23 assists from Alexandra McGee, 13 service points and 16 digs from Alizah Roberts, 11 service points and 23 digs from Sydney Kuis and three blocks from Madison Ellsworth.
Carmichaels moved up to Class AA this season and Speeney expects the team to get an eight or nine seed in the playoffs.