California girls roll, 3-1
CORAOPOLIS – Hitter Amanda Bilitski helped California roll to a 3-1 win over Western Beaver Tuesday night in a Class A girls volleyball preliminary at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School. “Amanda was real strong for us tonight with her hitting and serving,” coach Kathy Urban Smith said. “We had strong serving from a lot of girls and had great play from our entire team tonight because we didn’t fall off when we had big leads.”
California’s strong serving game and tough defense proved to be too much for Western Beaver in the first match. The Trojans jumped out to a 3-1 lead with the help of strong serves from Bilitski and Tara Prentice and led the entire match before closing it out 25-18.
They led by as much as nine points (21-12), before Western Beaver made a late run to close the gap as 22-16, but California outscored Western Beaver 3-2 in the final minutes to preserve the win.
In the second match, Bilitski’s early net play was a key in keeping the match close. Neither team took more than a one-point lead as the two battled to six ties before the Trojans took an early 9-6 lead but it would not hold.
Western Beaver mounted a comeback midway through the match with a 4-1 outburst and took a 13-12 lead, forcing Smith to call a timeout, but it did not stop the bleeding. Western Beaver continued on a 6-2 roll and took a 21-16 lead.
California closed the gap at 22-24 with a late run led by Kellie Porter’s 2 service aces, but the Trojans could not get over the hump as Western Beaver took the second match 25-22.
In the third match, Porter’s continued to serve strong and it fueled a Trojans 7-1 early lead, forcing Western Beaver to call a timeout. It worked for a while as Western responded with a 4-1 run to get back in the match, but California mounted another run and took a commanding 13-4 lead on Bilitski’s strong serving again.
“I thought I served well today and my hitting was strong, but I also had help from my teammates in setting,” Bilitski said. “We all played well today and it was a total team effort.”
California closed out the match even stronger with a 7-3 run to put the match out of reach at 21-10. Western Beaver tried a late comeback but it fell short as the Trojans hung on for a 25-16 win.
“We had a tendency in the past to lose our adrenaline after getting off to a good start,” Urban Smith said. “We kept battling and closed out all three wins without losing that edge and that was a big key for us.”
In the fourth match, both teams battled long volleys for a 3-3 tie before Autumn Harris’ strong serves and Bilitski’s strong net play led the Trojans to a 17-5 lead and another Western Beaver timeout. Once again, Western Beaver attempted a comeback but it fell short as California closed out the match 25-15 to advance to the playoffs.
The Trojans will face top-seeded Geibel Catholic at Yough High School on Thursday.
“We have to be on top of our game to have a chance against Geibel,” Smith said. “They are a strong team so we’ll have to stay focused on all aspects of our game, especially our hitting and defense.”