PIAA Girls’ Volleyball: Tri-Valley falls to Maplewood in Class A final
Tri-Valley's girls' volleyball team poses with the runner-up trophy after Maplewood defeated the Dawgs on Saturday in the PIAA Class A Championship at Cumberland Valley High School. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
MECHANICSBURG — Things just didn’t go Tri-Valley’s way.
The Bulldogs played Maplewood nearly even for most of the 2-hour match, but the Tigers pulled away down the stretch to earn a 25-21, 19-25, 25-19, 25-12 victory over Tri-Valley on Saturday in the PIAA Class A Girls’ Volleyball Championship match at Cumberland Valley High School.
District 10 champion Maplewood (23-2) captured the program’s seventh state volleyball crown.
District 11 champion Tri-Valley (24-2) had never been past the state quarterfinals before this season. Now, the Dawgs took two more steps to finish as the second-best team in Pennsylvania. Tri-Valley became the first Schuylkill League state volleyball finalist since Marian placed second in 2020.
“It was an amazing experience just to continue winning all the way to get here,” Tri-Valley coach Courtney Scheib said. “It was an awesome ride, and even though we fell short in the final match, we still accomplished history with back-to-back district championships, and we made it as far as we ever have in volleyball.
“All of those are things we should be proud of,” the coach added, “even though we came up a little short today.”
Though Tri-Valley competed well, the Dawgs had to battle from behind most of the day to keep up with Maplewood.
The Dawgs didn’t play badly, but they couldn’t summon the brilliant play that swept Faith Christian out of the playoffs in the state quarterfinals and ousted Linville Hill in the semifinals. In the state finals, often the margins are small, and that proved enough to tilt the match the Tigers’ way.
“We just weren’t playing our best today,” Scheib said. “We were a little short, and (Maplewood) played wonderful. We came up a little short.”
Senior setter Callie Melocheck agreed.
“I’m extremely proud of them,” she said. “We’ve done something that no Tri-Valley team has ever done before, and the memories we made and the work we put in, we feel much more accomplished than anything else. We just feel very proud.”
Maplewood had a lot to do with Tri-Valley’s inability to turn the match its way. The Tigers played tremendous defense, keeping balls in play that most teams wouldn’t be able to handle. While Tri-Valley struggled on serve, Maplewood, particularly seniors Mylee Crawford and Bree Neely, gave the Dawgs fits.
Neely established herself as the best player on the floor, hitting devilish, knuckleball, floating serves that curved unpredictably as the ball reached Tri-Valley’s receivers. Neely also dominated the net, pounding kill after kill toward the middle and right side of Tri-Valley’s defense.
The Dawgs got off to a quick 4-0 start in Set 1 behind a kill and a block from Lexi Lesher and an ace from Liv Lupole. Maplewood, though, began to display more consistency and worked in system more often than Tri-Valley could. The teams tied eight times in the set, the last at 17-all. From there, Maplewood closed on an 8-4 run to take the early lead. A Neely kill set up set point, and then the Tigers forced a Tri-Valley error to win 25-21.
“We played tense, and we didn’t play like we usually know how to play,” Callie Melocheck said. “So I think it was a little bit off for us.”
Tri-Valley rebounded in Set 2, rallying from an 11-9 deficit to go on an 8-2 run for a 17-13 lead. The Dawgs got a kill from Emma Moore and an ace from Kylie Clemmer to tie at 11, then Moore, Lupole and Lesher put together a strong string of points at the net.
Two kills by Faith Melocheck and an ace from Callie Melocheck helped Tri-Valley extend its advantage to 22-16, and Lupole clinched the set with a powerful hit off the Maplewood block for a 25-19 win that tied the match at one set apiece.
Like the first set, Set 3 featured eight ties. The last one came at 14-all before Maplewood wrapped up the set 25-19 on an 11-5 run. Neely notched two kills and two aces during the surge.
Tri-Valley took the first two points of Set 4, but the Tigers built a 17-6 lead halfway through before closing out the match 25-12. Neely had four kills, and Bailey Moore added three kills in the set.
“My message would be for them to keep their heads up and continue smiling because, hey, we’re second in the state, and that’s still an accomplishment,” Scheib said. “So there’s nothing to be sad about.”
