Lady Gators advance to semifinals
Geibel Catholic dropped a set, but advanced nonetheless with 3-1 victory Thursday night over South Side Beaver at West Allegheny High School. The Lady Gators, seeded fourth, won by scores of 15-11, 15-8, 9-15 and 15-7 over the fifth-seeded Lady Rams. They advance to the semifinals against Elderton, a winner over Frazier. The match will be held Saturday at LaRoche College.
The scoring was paced by Julie Kirik with 17 kills and Molly McGrath, who added 10. Ashley Speeney and McGrath added 15 and nine service points, respectively, while Kristin Hozak added 38 assists.
“I was happy with all the kids,” said Lady Gator coach Rick Watkins. “I was confident but concerned. I hope our best game is coming.”
The Lady Gators trailed only once in the first game, 2-1. Two runs of three unanswered points was what the Lady Gators needed to put the game out of reach.
The second game wasn’t as close. The Lady Gators pulled out to a quick 7-3 lead and went on a four-point tear behind the service of Jessica Zamiska. Ashley Kreinbrook scored three of the four points in the run with McGrath adding the other to make the score 11-3.
The Lady Beavers scored the next five points behind junior Allyson Clarke, who scored four herself. The Lady Gators didn’t panic and scored the next four points to claim the win and a two-set advantage.
“We didn’t start out well,” Watkins said. “We had eight or nine bad serves in the first game, but they didn’t block us as well in the first two games. Tuesday we had only six (bad serves) the whole night.”
The Lady Rams opened the third game strong and did not let the Lady Gators gain any momentum. A quick 6-2 lead was all they needed to outlast the Lady Gators, 15-9. Again, Clarke led the way for the Lady Rams, adding five kills for scores in the game.
The Lady Rams kept the momentum starting the fourth game, getting an early 3-1 lead, but the Lady Gators rallied to pull within 3-2 and then knotted the game at three. After the Lady Rams went ahead 4-3, the Lady Gators scored four unanswered points behind the service of McGrath to give her team a 7-4 lead.
After each team struggled to score, the Lady Gators scored four more unanswered points to give them an 11-4 lead. Jessica Vilella’s kill was the rallying point of the run. After that the Lady Gators ended the Lady Rams playoff run by winning the game 15-7 and the match.