PIAA Girls’ Volleyball: Tri-Valley ousts Linville Hill, advances to Class A final
Tri-Valley's Liv Lupole (4) attacks during Tuesday's PIAA Class A girls' volleyball semifinal against Linville Hill at Cocalico High School. The Bulldogs won in four sets. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
DENVER, Pa. — Tri-Valley has been tested — physically, mentally, emotionally.
Playing in the Schuylkill League, then competing in the league, district and state playoffs, the Bulldogs have learned how to cope with immense pressure and wild momentum swings. They know how to dig deep — and when to do it — to pull out victory after victory.
So, when state power Linville Hill stormed back into the match in the third set, the Dawgs didn’t panic. Instead, they regrouped, reset and rebounded for a 25-22, 26-24, 4-25, 25-20 win over the Warriors on Tuesday night in a PIAA Class A girls’ volleyball semifinal at Cocalico High School.
“It’s scary going against an undefeated team,” Tri-Valley coach Courtney Scheib said. “We also knew we could kind of use that to our advantage if we got in their heads because they haven’t had to fight yet this season. They’ve won all of their games. We’ve had to fight for quite a few of our games, and we’ve had losses. We know when to push it when we need to.
“I feel that once we got in their heads, that helped us,” Scheib added.
With the victory, District 11 champion Tri-Valley (24-1) will go where no Tri-Valley volleyball team has gone before — the state finals. The Dawgs will play for state gold at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School. The opponent will be District 10 champion Maplewood (22-2), which outlasted District 7 champ Eden Christian, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9 in the other semifinal Tuesday night.
“It’s been one of our biggest goals since the beginning of the year,” senior Liv Lupole said. “So, being here, and winning this game tonight means everything to us. And Saturday is going to be huge.”
Coming into the match, Linville Hill ranked No. 1 and Tri-Valley sat at No. 2 in the latest Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches’ Association poll. This one shaped up as a classic, and it didn’t disappoint. Both teams threw themselves all over the court to keep balls in play. The result: Acrobatic saves and long rallies that brought both fan bases to their feet and drew oohs and ahhs in amazement from the crowd.
Tri-Valley won the first two sets to seemingly take control against District 3 champ and 2024 state runner-up Linville Hill. Suddenly, the Warriors (25-1) could do no wrong in the third set. Behind strong serving by senior Courtney Good, big hitting on the outside by senior Carrie Fisher and slams and blocks in the middle by 6-foot-1 senior Sabrina Swann, Linville Hill jumped out to a 14-1 lead and cruised to a 25-4 romp to cut the deficit to two sets to one.
During the three minutes between sets, Tri-Valley’s players got their minds right again.
“We took the time between the third and fourth sets to say some prayers and to calm ourselves and settle ourselves down,” Scheib said. “The fourth set is a brand new start, so it doesn’t matter what just happened.”
Tri-Valley started a little better in the fourth set but still trailed 6-3, 8-5 and 14-12.
The Dawgs earned a sideout, and Lupole took the ball to serve. When she finished, Tri-Valley had gone on a 9-0 that turned a two-point deficit into a 21-14 lead. Faith Melocheck, who had been quiet in the third set, found her hitting stroke again, posting three kills in four points during the run. Lupole added an ace, while Lexi Lesher scored a kill and teamed with Callie Melocheck for a block.
“My mindset was just ‘Get it over the net,’ ” Lupole said of her serving run.
The Warriors made one final push, cutting the deficit to 23-19. A Faith Melocheck dink into the open court set up match point. After a Tri-Valley error, Callie Melocheck pushed a ball into open spaces that Linville Hill couldn’t handle on match point to set off a red, white and black celebration.
Tri-Valley also got off to a strong start in the first set, sending a message to Linville Hill that the Dawgs were here to play and up to the challenge.
The Dawgs jumped out 11-3 in Set 1 as the hitting of Faith Melocheck and Lupole and the setting and serving of Callie Melocheck carried the Dawgs early. Linville Hill rallied to tie the set several times, including at 22. But a Faith Melocheck dink and a strong hit from the back row set up match point, and a dink by Emma Moore gave the Dawgs the first set.
The second set featured 18 ties as the teams went back and forth gaining sideouts. Tied at 24, a Linville Hill error and a Lupole kill clinched the set 26-24 for a 2-0 lead.
As usual, Tri-Valley’s stat sheet is filled with big performances, not just from one or two girls, but from the whole team. Faith Melocheck led the way with 23 kills, 11 digs and one block assist. Callie Melocheck dished out 43 assists, and added five digs, three aces and four kills; Lupole connected for 15 kills, 16 digs and one ace; and Kirra Klinger made 25 digs and three assists. Also for the Dawgs, Hope Bruso made eight digs; Lesher compiled five kills, two blocks and one dig; and Moore hit three kills.
“It’s been so awesome, just watching the girls work together and play together,” Scheib said. “All the hard work that we put into it is paying off. It’s an amazing feeling.”
