Top-seeded North Catholic too much for Lady Raiders
Waynesburg Central’s Paige Jones gets down low to dig a North Catholic shot during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Waynesburg Central’s Riley Bowers hits the ball over North Catholic’s front line during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Emma Robinson records a kill against North Catholic during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central’s Cayla Rush (22) sets the ball as Madison McMaster (16) looks on during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
Waynesburg Central’s Sarah Stephenson returns the ball to North Catholic during Wednesday night’s WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central's Riley Bowers and Taylor Lohr team up to block a North Catholic shot during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central's Morgan Stephenson returns the ball to North Catholic during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central's Paige Jones digs a North Catholic shot as Emma Robinson (7) looks on during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central coach Dan Higinbotham has a discussion with Cayla Rush (22), Lily Rush (10) and Paige Jones (12) during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central players huddle after winning a point against North Catholic during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central's Sarah Stephenson returns the ball to North Catholic during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central’s Emma Robinson (7) passes the ball as Sydney Jones (2) looks on during a WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School on Nov. 4. The Lady Raiders won a section title and advanced to the district final four for the first time in program history. Robinson was named all-state. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Waynesburg Central coach Dan Higinbotham talks to his players during a timeout in Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
Waynesburg Central's Morgan Stephenson serves up an ace against North Catholic during Wednesday night's WPIAL Class 2A semifinal match at North Catholic High School.
CRANBERRY TWP. — Waynesburg Central was new to the WPIAL volleyball semifinals.
North Catholic is quite familiar with that territory, having won a PIAA title last year and a WPIAL crown in 2018, and showed the Lady Raiders why its the No. 1 seed in Class 2A on Wednesday night.
The Lady Trojans overwhelmed Waynesburg, rolling to a three-set sweep by scores of 25-17, 25-11 and 25-17 at North Catholic High School.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to accept that the team is bigger, and maybe a little better,” Lady Raiders coach Dan Higinbotham said. “North Catholic is a very strong team. But my girls gave it their all and I’m proud of them.
“We’ve come farther this year by two games than we ever have before.”
The Lady Trojans advance to Saturday’s championship match at Fox Chapel High School against No. 2 Ellwood City, which beat No. 6 Avonworth, 3-1.
North Catholic jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set, prompting Higinbotham to call a timeout. Waynesburg cut the gap to 11-7 but could get no closer and fell down 1-0.
The Lady Trojans (14-0) completely dominated the second set in rolling to a 2-0 lead.
“The first game was nerves, and they even said that themselves,” Higinbotham said. “I thought when we settled down, because we got back into it at the end of the first game, we were going to come out in the second game a little different. But it did not turn out that way. So I just tried a different rotation.”
Waynesburg rebounded with a better showing in the third set but North Catholic gradually pulled away for an eight-point win to close out the match.
“My team hasn’t quit on me all year and they didn’t quit today,” Higinbotham said. “They just got overpowered a little bit.”
Emma Robinson led the fifth-seeded Lady Raiders (13-2) in kills with just five as her team was on the defensive most of the match. She also had a team-high nine digs.
Higinbotham commended Paige Jones, who had seven digs, for her serve-receive performance in the match.
“Paige has been solid for years as my libero,” Higinbotham said.
The Lady Raiders also got eight digs from Sydney Jones and seven digs from Cayla Rush.
Despite the disappointing loss, Waynesburg’s program broke new ground this season, winning a first-round match for the first time (its previous playoff wins had come in preliminary-round matches) with a sweep of Seton LaSalle, and earning its first trip to the final four by defeating Section 3 rival Frazier for third time in the quarterfinals.
“The Seton LaSalle game was absolutely humongous for us,” Higinbotham said. “Then the way they beat Frazier, they never played better. I would’ve liked to have seen us maybe take one off (North Catholic).
“But the season in all … a very big success. I’m happy with my team.”
It was the last match for senior starters Robinson, Rush, Sydney Jones and Riley Bowers.
“It’s bittersweet,” Robinson said. “We played a really good team but we’ve never made it this far before. It’s pretty cool to see how far we’ve come and hopefully, next year they can go even farther.”
Higinbotham had nothing but praise for his seniors.
“I actually sat down and had a little talk with them the other day and told them how important they were to this team,” Higinbotham said. “They’ve been with me ever since middle school. Those same four girls were undefeated in eighth grade and were a key part in getting us this far this year.
“Obviously, the rest of the team deserves credit as well, but we’ll miss those four girls.”