Oct 13, 2005 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

CONNELLSVILLE TWP. – It was billed as a battle of Class A volleyball heavyweights and neither Geibel Catholic nor North Catholic disappointed. North Catholic won the first two games, 25-18 and 25-14, before the Lady Gators stormed back with 25-17 and 25-20 wins to force a deciding fifth set.

The Trojanettes won, 15-13, to claim a 3-2 win in an exhibition match-up of the WPIAL’s second (Geibel Catholic) and third (North Catholic) ranked teams.

“Both of these teams are outstanding,” North Catholic coach Kevin Walters said. “The rankings don’t mean anything at this stage of the season. We’ll see them again in the playoffs. I’m proud of my girls and I’m sure Rick is proud of his girls.”

“My girls never quit,” Lady Gators coach Rick Watkins said. “That’s very encouraging to me.”

What’s not as encouraging was how the Lady Gators opened the match, according to Watkins.

“We have a bad habit of starting slow and it happened again tonight,” he said.

“The first two games were not indicative of our team. It seemed like we couldn’t catch a break, but we weren’t even in those games, so I don’t think it would have mattered.”

With the score tied, 5-5, in the third game, the Geibel Catholic marching band entered the gym and seemed to immediately lift the spirits of the team. The Lady Gators took control late in the game and turned a 19-15 lead into a 25-19 win.

“I was thinking I’d better get that band on the bus for the next game,” Watkins said. “We definitely came out stronger once they got there.”

Whether it was the band or not, something spurred the Lady Gators. According to Walters, it might have been just a case of Murphy’s law.

“That’s been our Achilles heel all season,” Walters said. “For whatever reason, we have trouble finishing, but once we get to the fifth game, we haven’t lost yet.”

In fact, the Trojanettes haven’t lost, period, all season. The win lifted them to 12-0 overall, while the loss dropped Geibel Catholic to 9-2. Both teams are 9-0 in their respective sections.

“I hope we play them again,” Watkins said, referring to the WPIAL playoffs.

“Now I have them on tape and I hope we can prepare for them a little better. They blocked well and brought up some balls, but we adjusted and loosened things up for our outside hitters.”

Watkins said he expects the Trojanettes to jump past his team in the rankings.

“There is no doubt they’ll be No. 2 and we’ll be No. 3, as it should be,” Watkins said. “I expect we’ll see them in the semifinals.”

Shannon Horgan and Maire Prybyl had 12 kills each for the winners, with Prybyl adding seven blocks. Rachel Pace had five kills and seven blocks, while Anna Dominanijanni added nine digs.

Geibel Catholic got 52 assists from Chelsey Kreinbrook and 49 digs from Abbie Renze. Caitlin Solan had 14 kills and 11 service points.

Katelyn Schuessler had 15 service points and Samantha Hawk added nine blocks.