Redemption: Frazier rebounds from WPIAL disappointment with PIAA win at Saegertown
SAEGERTOWN – Mandy Hartman went from a “nightmare” on Saturday afternoon to a “dream” on Tuesday night.
The Frazier girls volleyball coach’s “nightmare” as she called it then was watching her Lady Commodores fall flat in Saturday’s WPIAL Class A final in a 3-0 loss to Greensburg Central Catholic, a team they had defeated twice during the regular season.
The “dream” was witnessing her team regroup, pull together, make the long trip to Saegertown Tuesday for a PIAA first-round match and stun the District 10 champions on their own floor, rallying from a 2-1 deficit for a hard-earned 3-2 victory.
Set scores were 25-21, 13-25, 20-25, 25-19 and 15-10 with Grace Vaughn delivering the game-clinching kill in the fifth set.
“I want to cry, I’m so proud of this group,” Hartman said. “This is the hardest match to play, after losing a WPIAL title. It says a lot about the toughness of this group.They were not happy with the way they played Saturday and they all wanted another shot.
“For them to come out tonight and play the way that they played and upset a district champion is a coach’s dream.”
Addison Schultz led Frazier (16-4) with 16 kills and eight blocks and Maddie Salisbury contributed 12 kills and 13 service points as the Lady Commodores advanced to this Saturday’s quarterfinals against District 9 champion Clarion with the site and time to be determined.
Vaughn added 10 kills in an outstanding all-around effort for Frazier, which also got 47 assists from Gracen Hartman, 32 digs from Addison Hiles, 11 service points from Allie Monack and five blocks from Mia West.
“If they play the way they played tonight, they can play with anybody,” Mandy Hartman said. “They’ve proven that.
“It’s a special night for Frazier volleyball, that’s for sure.”
The Lady Commodores fell behind 7-3 in the fifth set when Hartman called a timeout to offer her players encouragement.
“Against Greensburg we played absolutely afraid to lose. We had so much negativity, negative thoughts,” Hartman said.”I kept telling them, listen, don’t let a thought of negativity come into your mind. We are playing on Saturday and that’s the only thought in your mind right now. You’re going to finish this so we can keep going.”
Vaughn thought the timeout helped her team get refocused.
“We knew we needed to limit our errors and to give these last points everything that we had,” Vaughn said. “We needed to be spot on to pull this out. And we were. And we did.”
Frazier outscored the Lady Panthers 12-3 the rest of the way to close out the match.
The visitors reeled off the next eight points after the timeout with Gracen Hartman’s deft touch kill putting her team up 11-7. After a Brywn McLaughlin kill broke the Lady Commodores’ run, Vaughn answered with three kills on Frazier’s final four points, including the match-clincher.
“It felt like I was on top of the world. It was like nothing else,” Vaughn said of her final point. “It was amazing. I’m really proud of my team. We really pulled through.”
The Lady Commodores took positive vibes into the match, according to Gracen Hartman.
“Saturday was horrible but we knew we had to let it go and just leave it in the past and look for bigger things,” she said. “Even the three-hour bus ride here we were like, we’re not losing. We were pretty confident.”
Vaughn felt her team could solve the problems it had against GCC.
“We knew what needed fixed,” Vaughn said. “Having that loss just gave us more determination to come back strong in states.”
“My seniors stepped up,” Mandy Hartman said. “Gracen and Grace Vaughn really led by example tonight. I don’t compliment her very often because she’s my daughter but I thought Gracen set an amazing game.
“They kind of took over. They’re not ready for their season to be over and I don’t think the other girls are either. This group loves each other and they love playing together.”
The Lady Commodores took the opening set 25-21 despite McLaughlin recording her 1,000th career kill on Saegertown’s second point. Frazier trailed 8-7 before going on an 8-2 run to take a 15-10 lead and stayed in front the rest of the way with Schultz’ block kill closing out the set.
“We knew they were going to be strong in the middle and if we could shut them down a little bit and block them early on we could maybe take that first set,” Mandy Hartman said. “We were able to do that and kind of made a statement.”
The Lady Panthers (12-5) came back with a vengeance in the second set, roaring to a 6-1 advantage and never looking back to even the match. The third set had eight ties and four lead changes. Frazier held a 19-17 lead but Saegertown won eight of the next nine points to take the set 25-20 and go up 2-1.
The Lady Commodores bounced back with a strong showing in the fourth set and held a 15-11 lead but the Lady Panthers, sparked by three consecutive kills by McLaughlin, took the next five points to take their first and only lead of the set at 16-15.
With its season on the line, Frazier dug in and rang up the next seven points which included three service aces by Salisbury and a kill by Schultz. McLaughlin’s kill got the hosts within 22-17 but another well-placed misdirection kill by Gracen Hartman made it 23-17 and the Lady Commodores closed out the set from there to even the match at 2-2.
“I sensed we were starting to get a little tired in that fourth set but I think the adrenalin started to kick in around that point,” Mandy Hartman said.
“They went into refuse-to-lose mode.”