D-11 Volleyball: Golden Bears make school history, capture AA title

Mahanoy Area's volleyball team poses with the District 11 Class AA trophy (Photo by Eli Doyle).

POTTSVILLE — It was Mahanoy Area’s day.

Carly Honus compiled three kills and 10 digs, while Lexie Chilinskas added 23 assists and two aces as the Golden Bears swept Pine Grove 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 to capture the District 11 Class AA championship Wednesday at Martz Hall.

The win secures the first-ever District 11 volleyball championship in Mahanoy Area program history and advances the Golden Bears to the PIAA Tournament for the first time. The Bears will face the District 12 champion in the first round Tuesday, Nov. 5.

“We’ve been close a couple times, we finished second a couple of times, but this time was our first,” Golden Bears coach Jason Green said. “It definitely is a huge lift for our program. They fought hard all season.

“Hats off to Pine Grove, they have a really good team. Domani (Collazo) plays very well, they have a great coaching staff. They brought it, but today was our day.”

Mahanoy Area (17-6) led throughout the entire match as Naomi Kowalick paced the Golden Bears from the start with an ace to begin the first set. It was a spread offensive attack that saw points from Ava Kowalchick, Hailey Mroczka, Caylin Blashock, Kowalick, Chilinskas and Honus. Mahanoy Area continued the scoring barrage to take the set 25-16.

The Golden Bears outscored the Cardinals 7-1 to begin the second set. Mahanoy Area kept the momentum rolling as Blashock collected a block for a score, followed by an ace to cap the second set 25-20.

In the third set, the Bears jumped ahead again, but the Cardinals didn’t trail far.

Pine Grove (15-7) rallied behind two kills from Collazo and an ace by Lily Flynn, but it was too little, too late for the Cards. Honus added an ace and Mahanoy Area coasted to victory following two return errors by Pine Grove that closed the set 25-18 for the Bears.

For the Cardinals, Collazo collected nine kills and four digs, while Mary Fertig added 19 assists, six digs and two aces.

“We’re going to enjoy this tonight,” Green said. “We’re going to get back to work tomorrow, but we’ll discuss (the PIAA Tournament) at that point.”