Sep 12, 2008 10 min read

In its biggest match to date, Laurel Highlands put away Beth-Center in a 3-0 sweep Thursday night at Beth-Center in a Section 7-AA girls volleyball match. The Fillies (4-0, 4-0) benefited from Demi Phillipy’s 14 kills. Malleri Hardison had a fine all-around effort with 11 kills, 11 digs, 14 service points and six aces.

Jessica Zavatchen had 28 assists for Laurel Highlands, who plays in the Upper St. Clair tournament on Saturday. The Fillies had six blocks on the day and had a total team effort in grabbing the win.

Laurel Highlands won 25-9, 25-16, and 25-18 to complete the sweep of the Lady Bulldogs and take sole possession of first place. Beth-Center falls to 3-1 in the section and overall.

Frazier 3, West Greene 0 – The Lady Commodores defeated West Greene in three straight games in Section 5-A action at Frazier. The Lady Commodores won by scores of 25-13, 25-10, and 25-17 to complete the sweep.

Larissa Ellis and Caitlin Fidel had six and seven kills, respectively. Taylor Lux led Frazier with 16 service points and Rebecca Lonce had 13.

Frazier (2-1, 2-1) will play in the Upper St. Clair tournament on Saturday.

Waynesburg Central 3, Brownsville 0 – Waynesburg Central won in three games against the Lady Falcons in section action. Waynesburg won 25-12, 15-19 and 25-9 to pick up the sweep at Brownsville.

Becca Phipps had 17 assists and Michelle Fox had eight kills for the winners. Emily Bosworth knocked home seven kills for the Lady Raiders, who improved to 3-2 in the section and 6-4 overall.

Bethany Orndoff had five service aces for the Waynesburg, who will be at Uniontown on Tuesday in a section matchup. Brownsville will travel to Washington.

California 3, Carmichaels 0 – California picked up a sweep over California in section action at California. The Lady Trojans won 25-18, 25-21 and 25-17 to pick up their third sections win of the year in four tries.

California (3-1, 3-2) will travel to Avella on Tuesday in a section contest.

Peters Twp. 3, Albert Gallatin 1 – The Lady Colonials rallied to win the third set, but the Lady Indians closed the match in the fourth set for a Section 2-AAA victory. Peters Twp. had set victories of 25-11, 25-20 and 25-19, while Albert Gallatin won the third, 25-14.

Albert Gallatin had several players with strong defensive efforts, including Sarah Ferro with 28 digs, Rachel Ferro had 13 digs, and Barrie Monroe added 11 digs. Marisa Wallace had six kills.

The Lady Colonials (0-4, 0-5) will play in the California University of Pa. Tournament on Saturday.

Girls golf

Mount Pleasant 171, Norwin 217 – The Lady Vikings had a pretty easy time with the visiting Lady Knights for a Section 1 victory at Luke’s Links at Norvelt Golf Course. Mount Pleasant remains unbeaten, improving to 8-0 in the section and 9-0 overall.

The Lady Vikings were led by a pair of sisters. Nicole Smith was medalist with a 2-over 35 with sister Megan posting a 47. Maci Seibel shot a 43 while sister Megan had a 46.

Amy Gabriel Bartolac was low golfer for Norwin (2-4) with a 49.

Boys golf

Uniontown 206, Laurel Highlands 207 – Behind an impressive 37 from medalist Ben Sampson, Uniontown was able to defeat Laurel Highlands in the closest of battles at Duck Hollow Golf Club in Division I, Section 2 action.

Uniontown rallied from behind on the final hole when Sampson parred No. 9 hole. Sampson almost had a hole-in-one on the third hole for the Red Raiders. Mason Fordyce (40) and Chris Perrotta (40) had very good days for Uniontown in the rivalry match to open the second half of the section schedule.

The Mustangs’ Ben Thorn had a 41 on the day, as did teammates Nate Nesser and Ben Sutton. Dave Byers and Alex Ashton had 42s for Laurel Highlands, which falls to 5-3 in the section and 7-3 overall.

Chris Steele (43) and Cody Nypaver (46) carded the final scores for Uniontown, who improves to 4-4 in section play and 5-4 overall.

Up next for Laurel Highlands is Belle Vernon at Willowbrook Golf Course on Tuesday.

Belle Vernon 195, Mt. Pleasant 198 – The Vikings took Belle Vernon to the wire, but could not quit get it done at home at Norvelt Golf Course as the Leopards held onto first place in Division I, Section 2.

Jordan Jones shot a 3-under 33 on Norvelt’s front nine. Belle Vernon’s Dave Johnson (42) and Kyle Naden (40) had great rounds for the Leopards as they defeated Ryan Bull (44) and Zac Heide (42).

Bo Lustig (36), Nolan Russell (38) and Tyber Lustig (39) all had great rounds for Belle Vernon (8-0, 10-0), but Jones, Dylan Firmstone (38) and Mike Bando (42) were just as impressive and kept the Vikings (6-2, 6-2) in the match.

“We were down eight with four holes to go and our last four shot 2-over,” Belle Vernon coach Jay Lustig said. “It was a very good match and both teams’ played very well.”

Next up for Mt. Pleasant will be a showdown with Connellsville on Tuesday at Pleasant Valley, while Belle Vernon hosts Laurel Highlands on Tuesday at Willowbrook. Golf Course.

Waynesburg Central 204, Brownsville 220 – Rachel Rohanna shot a 3-under 34 and her teammates did the rest as the Raiders defeated the Falcons in Division II, Section 8 action at Carmichaels Golf Course.

Matt Fox (40), Ben Virgin (41) and Taylor Moore (44) had impressive scores, as Waynesburg remains undefeated in section play at 6-0 and improves to 7-1 overall. Anthony Jarrell (45) rounded out the scoring for the Raiders.

Jacob Lewis (40), Mike Peton (42) and Jeramy Kopacko (44) were top three scorers for the Falcons (0-6,0-8), who will travel to Jefferson-Morgan and Greene County Country Club on Tuesday.

Joe Kromer (44) and Paul Tate (50) were the final golfers for the Falcons, who are searching for their first win.

California 186, Beth-Center 206 – The Trojans had one of their better days in defeating Beth-Center at Carmichaels Golf Course with three players shooting even-par or better.

David Beck (34), Travis VanOlst (35) and Phillip Langley (37) all shot par or better on the par-37 front nine.

Travis Crawford (37) also carded an even-par score for the Bulldogs (3-4, 4-4), who will play at Waynesburg in their next match. Teddy Yanak (41) and Alex Antonio (42) had respectable rounds.

Dominic Roach (40) and Zach Edminston (40) closed out the scoring for California (4-2,4-3), while Beth-Center’s Patrick Ritsko and Jimmy Webeck shot a 43 and 44, respectively.

Geibel Catholic 223, Charleroi 227 – The Gators were able to get to .500 with a huge Division II, Section 2 win over the Cougars at Mon Valley Country Club.

Charleroi’s Eric Anderson (36) was the medalist of the match, but the Gators responded with impressive scores from Nick Seese (39), Mike Noonan (41) and Shawn Erdely (46).

However, Taylor Andrisko (41) and Martin Maytas (46) kept the Cougers in the hunt.

Eric Ghinassi (48) and Jace Blout (49) disposed of Josh Mathers (51) and Derek Sorgi (53) to help the Gators (3-3, 3-3) pick up the win. Geibel will host Belle Vernon at Pleasant Valley Country Club Monday in non-section play.

Greensburg Central Catholic 205, Frazier 217 – Greensburg Central Catholic remained undefeated in section play with a strong performance over Frazier at Linden Hall Golf Course.

Ryan Neevan (39), Kevin Hickey (40) and Matt Feenema (41) had good scores for the Centurions, while Dustin Lerda (41), Nick Hawranko (42) and Tyler Rock (44) were in Frazier’s top three.

Craig Rebovich and Matt Adams had matching 45s for the Commodores (4-2, 5-3), while Cooper Cullen (42) and Nick Hutckins (43) closed it out for Greensburg Central (6-0, 6-2).

Boys soccer

Geibel Catholic 2, Winchester-Thurston 2 – Geibel Catholic and Winchester-Thurston needed two overtimes, and still couldn’t decide a winner in a Section 1-A soccer match at Geibel.

Max Kovalchuk scored twice for the Gators, but Winchester also scored twice to send the match into overtime. Nick Hensel had three saves for the Gators (0-4-1, 0-5-1).

Bethel Park 9, Albert Gallatin 0 – Bethel Park scored four goals in the first half and never looked back in defeating the Colonials in section action.

The visitors tacked on five more in the second half to pick up the win. Next up for Albert Gallatin is Monessen on the road Saturday.

South Fayette 4, Waynesburg Central 0 – South Fayette was too strong for the Raiders, as South Fayette scored three goals in the second half. John Goodwill scored in the 34th minute for South Fayette to give it a 1-0 lead at the half.

Phil Henry (46:00), Brian Bock (62:00) and Andrew Gehrlin (74:00) all scored for South Fayette in the second half.

Waynesburg falls to 0-4 in the section and 1-6 overall, and will travel to Washington for its next contest.

Yough 6, Uniontown 0 – The Cougars scored five goals in the first half, and added a sixth in the second half for a Section 3-AA home victory. Uniontown slides to 0-4 in the section and 1-6 overall.

Girls tennis

Penn Trafford 4, Connellsville 1 – Connellsville was swept in the singles matches and could not recover as Penn Trafford defeated it in section action.

Casey Nicholson and Alyssa Augustine were the only Connellsville players to win as they defeated Nicole Paul and Alea Marks 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 and 10-8 in the tiebreaker.

Laura Husband lost to Megan Hudak 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 and 10-4 in the tiebreaker and Caitlyn Anderson lost to Shelby Riazzi 6-1, 6-4.

Connellsville drops to 1-6 in the section and 2-6 overall while Penn Trafford improves to 6-2 overall. Next up for Connellsville is a home match Saturday against Kiski Area.

Brownsville 4, McGuffey 1 – The Lady Falcons prepped for their key home match with Greensburg Central Catholic with a strong performance on the road for a Section 1-AA victory. Brownsville improves to 5-3 in the section as well as overall.

Angie Pelehac dropped only one game in her straight sets victory at No. 1 singles. Brittany Chiovitti won her No. 3 singles match, 6-4, 6-2.

The Lady Falcons swept the doubles matches. Erin Ryan and Kendall Connors won at No. 1 doubles, 6-4, 6-3, and Alyssa Conner and Rachel Rihaly needed three sets for victory, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Brownsville improves to 5-3 in the section as well as overall.

College baseball

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus 7, Butler County Community College 5; Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus 5, Butler County Community College 3 – Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus swept a twinbill at Butler County Community College in non-section action at Butler.

John Zites (2-0) picked up the win and Bobby Fulton the save in the Roaring Lions’ opening victory. Zites came in relief of starter Dave Novotney and pitched the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to pick up the win. Zites allowed no runs on one hit while striking out two and walking one.

Colton Wilhelm and Rich Miller had doubles for the Roaring Lions, while Zites also hit a two-run home run. Zites had three RBI’s.

In Game 2, John Cherup (3-0) picked up the win and Fulton again got the save. Cherup came on in relief of Fulton, who started, switched positions and then came back to pick up the save.

Cherup drove in the go-ahead run for Penn State Fayette, who improved to 12-0 on the season. Butler fell to 4-6 on the season.

Isaiah Bell had a double and Cherup a triple, but the big shot came from Brian Sherwood, who hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

Fayette will begin section play on Saturday at noon when they host Penn State Beaver.