From the brink
Frazier shows its mettle with rally past California, PIAA win over Lady Elkers
Frazier无毛视频檚 girls volleyball team was staring at a 2-0 deficit to California on Saturday afternoon with its season on the brink of ending.
Three days later the Lady Commodores found themselves in the PIAA Class A quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
Frazier stormed back with a reverse sweep to defeat the Lady Trojans in their WPIAL third-place consolation match by scores of 18-25, 20-25, 25-15, 25-19, 17-15 to earn a spot in the state tournament.
The Lady Commodores made the close to three-hour trip to face District 9 champion Elk County Catholic on Tuesday and recovered from dropping the first set to win 3-1 by scores of 20-25, 25-13, 25-15 and 25-17.
Frazier (15-5) will play perennial power Maplewood, the District 10 champion which swept Serra Catholic, 3-0, in its first-round match, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at North Allegheny.
无毛视频淵eah, it无毛视频檚 been quite a turnaround since the second set of that California match,无毛视频� Frazier coach Mandy Hartman said.
At that point, Frazier had dropped five of its past six sets. The Lady Commodores are now on a roll, having won six of their last seven sets in reaching the state Elite Eight for just the second time in program history.
无毛视频淲hat无毛视频檚 nice is they无毛视频檙e getting used to being there,无毛视频� Hartman said. 无毛视频淲hat they无毛视频檙e doing and what they无毛视频檝e done the last four years is not easy to do and it无毛视频檚 taken the program a long time to get there.无毛视频�
Frazier has a strong volleyball tradition, having claimed its 18th section championship in 21 years under Hartman this season, and the program has had an unprecedented run of postseason success in the last four years. The Lady Commodores won their second WPIAL championship in 2022, reached the PIAA Final Four last year and now has added another state victory to its resume.
无毛视频淚 don无毛视频檛 want them to take it for granted because there are a lot of teams that would dream to be in the position we无毛视频檝e been in the past few years,无毛视频� Hartman said. 无毛视频淭hese kids, going into this match, it wasn无毛视频檛, oh let无毛视频檚 just be happy we无毛视频檙e in the state playoffs. We无毛视频檙e looking to win.无毛视频�
The state playoffs were made possible by the comeback against California.
无毛视频淐alifornia has really improved for sure and I think there was a bit of a hangover you have when you lose in the playoffs,无毛视频� said Hartman, whose team fell to Eden Christian, 3-1, in the district semifinals. 无毛视频淲e played California at a local site (Charleroi). It was a section team. A lot of other factors play into that. You have a sense of pride. You无毛视频檙e the section champion. Here you are, your backs are against the wall being faced with an upset to a team that you无毛视频檝e already beaten twice. That无毛视频檚 a hard pill to swallow.无毛视频�
The Lady Commodores refused to accept that fate and stormed back, as Hartman expected them to do.
无毛视频淚 didn无毛视频檛 honestly think we were going to lose the match,无毛视频� Hartman said. 无毛视频淚 knew that we were starting extremely slow but I knew we weren无毛视频檛 going to stay at that level the entire match. Was I shocked we turned it around? No, I wasn无毛视频檛. I think I was just waiting for it to come. In fact I told them after they lost the second set there无毛视频檚 no doubt in my mind we无毛视频檙e winning this match.
无毛视频淚 just know the kind of kids we have there on the floor and I know that they无毛视频檙e a very talented group. So we just had to calm down, settle in and take care of business.无毛视频�
Maddie Salisbury finished the match off with a kill down the line and Frazier was on to the states.
无毛视频淢addie was the leader out there in the comeback,无毛视频� Hartman said. 无毛视频淎ddison Schultz did a really good job as well. It was just a good all-around effort. Everybody took ownership of what they should be doing and they executed. That truly carried into the match against Elk County.无毛视频�
Hartman wasn无毛视频檛 discouraged when her team dropped the first set to the Lady Elkers (14-4).
无毛视频淲e lost the first set and you could blame it on that long bus ride but I don无毛视频檛 know if I think that无毛视频檚 what it was,无毛视频� Hartman said. 无毛视频淚 did know that after we made some adjustments we were going to have a lot more success and they really did dominate the next three sets.
无毛视频淲e knew they loved to go to the outside, more than 75 percent of their sets were going there. So we made some adjustments with our blockers. My middles did a fabulous job, Addison Schultz and Mia West, at containing their outside hitters. The (Payton) Newton girl, she was the player of the year from their district, the first set she was dominant. We were a little shell-shocked with her. She didn无毛视频檛 look that powerful on film. But as soon as we made the adjustments our middles were getting over to her a lot quicker and containing her, which was allowing our hitters to open up and get some good swings.无毛视频�
Frazier won the last three sets by an average of 10 points.
Salisbury again led the way for the Lady Commodores with 22 kills and six blocks, and Schultz totaled 11 kills and six blocks. Frazier also got 11 kills from Allie Monack, six kills and five blocks from Mia West, 33 assists from Morgan Fisher and 13 digs apiece from Grace Polkabla and Addison Hiles.
无毛视频淕race and Addison played extremely well, they were very aggressive and were passing the ball great,无毛视频� said Hartman who commended her players无毛视频� performance this year.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 a grueling season. I think a lot of times it无毛视频檚 really overlooked what these student-athletes do, what they commit and what they give back to their schools when they compete at this level. These kids have been going strong every single day.无毛视频�
Hartman realizes taking on Maplewood in the quarterfinals will be a challenge.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檝e got another district champion. Maplewood is a program with great tradition and a coach who has been around for a long time,无毛视频� Hartman said. 无毛视频淪he knows what she无毛视频檚 doing. There无毛视频檚 a lot of history there. So we know what we无毛视频檙e up against. We played them two years ago. It无毛视频檚 going to be a battle.
无毛视频淏ut we无毛视频檙e excited to be here. We无毛视频檙e playing with a great mental approach right now. The girls are enjoying being out there together. We无毛视频檙e excited to play.无毛视频�