Sep 29, 2017 By Adam Brewer for The 3 min read

HILLER — The Waynesburg Central girls volleyball squad extended its Section 3-AA unbeaten streak to 18 matches after a 3-0 sweep of Brownsville Thursday night.

The Lady Raiders (9-1, 7-0) won their final 11 section games last season en route to the school’s first ever section title. This fall, Waynesburg has won its first seven section match-ups and four of them have been sweeps.

The last section loss for Waynesburg was at Brownsville in last year’s section opener.

The scores on this night were 25-21, 25-20 and 25-15.

“We had our ups and downs tonight,” Waynesburg coach Dan Higinbotham said. “We are a little inconsistent at the net, but when my hitters are on we are a pretty tough team to stop. This group passes the ball very well and I liked the way we dug the ball tonight.”

Abby Gibbons and Abby Fisher once again led the offense for the Lady Raiders with 11 kills and 20 assists, respectively.

Both Emerson Foringer and Peyton Foringer had solid nights in the back row with 11 and nine digs, respectively, while Hannah Headlee (five kills) and Bailey Pauley (four kills) provided a steady force at the net for the visitors.

“We were pretty focused tonight I thought,” Higinbotham said. “We are confident, but we know we are by no means perfect. There are always things to work on and the girls know that. My hitters are so up and down, but our back row is solid every night.”

The Lady Falcons (1-8, 1-6) were led by nine service points from Brooklyn Grant and five kills from Kailyn Martin. Kendyl Cruse added five kills and four blocks, while Tamil Madison recorded 12 digs in the loss.

After the teams traded early rallies in the opening set, Brownsville responded to an 11-9 deficit with four straight points, including two straight aces by Sala Waqanivalu, and forced Waynesburg to call a timeout.

Trailing 14-12, the Lady Raiders regrouped and rallied back with seven unanswered points. Waynesburg pushed its lead to 21-17 after a kill from Headlee.

After the Lady Falcons tallied four consecutive points, the visitors closed out the first set with four straight points of their own, capped off by a kill from Gibbons.

Waynesburg broke away from an 8-8 deadlock in the second set with a 9-4 spree.

The Lady Raiders scored five of the final nine points to secure the win in the second set. In the final run, Emerson Foringer had an ace and a couple of service points to go along with two kills by Fisher.

Waynesburg started the third set red-hot with the first six points and built a 10-3 lead.

A kill from Gibbons and a service point from Peyton Foringer made it 13-7 and forced Brownsville to call a timeout.

Waynesburg kept the pressure on with a 7-3 spurt and scored the final three points of the night to secure the 10-point win.

The Lady Raiders will participate in the Greene County Invitational at Mapletown on Saturday and then host Trinity on Monday in a non-section affair.

“I think we have gotten better as our winning streak has come along the last two seasons,” Higinbotham said. “We are learning how to win and learning how to work as a team. I think the back row and our passing really carries us in sets.”

The Lady Falcons are idle until a section match-up at Southmoreland next Thursday.