District 11 Girls’ Volleyball: Tri-Valley outlasts Marian in 5 sets in Class A final
Tri-Valley celebrates after defeating Marian in five sets to capture the District 11 Class A girls' volleyball championship Wednesday evening at Martz Hall. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
POTTSVILLE — Pouring every ounce of heart and hustle onto the Martz Hall floor, Tri-Valley and Marian added another chapter to their budding volleyball rivalry Wednesday night.
In a rematch of last season’s final, the Bulldogs rallied past the Fillies 25-27, 25-15, 26-28, 28-26, 15-10 in the District 11 Class A championship match to capture back-to-back district crowns.
As district champion, Tri-Valley (21-1) advances to the PIAA Girls’ Volleyball Championships, which will begin Tuesday, Nov. 4. The Bulldogs will host the District 3 runner-up at 6 p.m. Linville Hill (19-0) and Ephrata Mennonite (16-2) play for the District 3 crown at 5 p.m. Thursday at Dallastown High School.
This one resembled the other recent meetings, with powerful hitting, deft touch, diving digs and overflowing emotion on both sides. Tri-Valley won last year’s district final in four sets, and the Dawgs swept this season’s Schuylkill League Division II matches, winning 3-1 on Aug. 26 and 3-1 on Sept. 18.
On this night, second-seeded Marian (16-7) gave No. 1 Tri-Valley all it could handle and held three match points in the fourth set.
“It’s amazing and it’s huge,” Tri-Valley coach Courtney Scheib said of the back-to-back district titles. “It gives us confidence we didn’t have before. We know that if we keep on fighting … We had to scrap. It shows we can do it even when we’re behind. That’s great for the younger girls to see.”
The Fillies came out strong, jumping out to a 5-1 lead in the first set. Tri-Valley battled back, holding a set point of its own before tying the set at 25. Maddy Davis and Lara Cancio then delivered consecutive kills to give the Fillies the set.
The Dawgs answered with a decisive, 25-15 win in the second set to level the match at one set apiece. Tri-Valley’s Faith Melocheck notched two kills and a block down the stretch, and Liv Lupole powered a resounding kill on set point to even the match.
Tri-Valley led 10-5 early in Set 3 and 21-18 after a Lupole kill. Marian came up big down the stretch in this set, getting a big kill from Alena Lombardo and a Tri-Valley error to take the set 28-26 and build a two-sets-to-one advantage.
Set 4 stayed close throughout, with ties at 13, 20, 24, 25 and 26. Two taps into the open court by Faith Melocheck kept the Dawgs alive, and Tri-Valley eventually forced a pair of Marian miscues to take the set 28-26 and force a fifth, and deciding, set.
The Dawgs raced to a 12-5 lead in the decider. Marian made a run to close the gap to 13-8, but a pair of kills by Lupole got the job done, 15-10.
“They’re well-coached. They came up with some big plays when they needed to,” Marian coach Maria Currie said.
Lupole finished with 25 kills, six digs and one ace for the Dawgs. Other top players for Tri-Valley included Kirra Klinger with 29 digs and two assists; Hope Bruso with seven digs; Faith Melocheck with 16 kills, four aces and one dig; Callie Melocheck with 51 assists, 11 digs and three kills; Emma Moore with six kills; Kenzie Tobin with four assists and five digs; Kylie Clemmer with eight digs, seven kills and two aces; and Lexi Lesher with thee kills.
For Marian, Lombardo had 15 kills and four solo blocks; Cancio added 13 kills and one ace; JoElle Currie posted 37 assists, six digs and two aces; and Kali Grochowski tallied 16 kills, 21 digs and one ace.
“We just needed to keep the pressure on, keep swinging, keep our intensity up,” Scheib said. “We did, and it paid off. We just kept fighting, and that’s what we needed to do.”
