California无毛视频檚 furious rally falls short against Serra Catholic
McMURRAY 无毛视频� Just when it looked like California was about to be swept out of the arena the Lady Trojans came alive.
Serra Catholic took the first two sets in the WPIAL Class A girls volleyball semifinal match but eventually found itself in a five-set battle with the gallant Lady Trojans.
The Lady Eagles survived, regrouping to take the fifth set for a hard-fought 3-2 victory by scores of 25-22, 25-19, 22-25, 21-25 and 15-8 at Peters Township High School无毛视频檚 AHN Arena.
Serra Catholic (12-5) advances to Saturday无毛视频檚 final also at AHN Arena against Section 5 rival Eden Christian, which defeated Frazier 3-1 in the night无毛视频檚 earlier match. The match begins at 11 a.m.
California (13-5) will play the Lady Commodores in the third-place consolation match at 12 p.m. Saturday at Charleroi High School with a PIAA tournament berth on the line.
无毛视频淲e lost 3-1 each time to Frazier but we无毛视频檝e seen them enough we know what to do,无毛视频� California head coach Jennifer Phillips said. 无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 just about showing up and doing it.无毛视频�
The seventh-seeded Lady Trojans didn无毛视频檛 show up completely when Wednesday无毛视频檚 match with Serra Catholic began, falling behind 8-2 in the first set, but they rallied back to take a 19-18 lead. The sixth-seeded Lady Eagles answered with a 7-3 run to close out the set.
Serra Catholic again took a quick 6-2 lead in the second set. Again California fought back and went ahead 13-12 thanks to a four-point run that included a block point by Hayley Gibson, a service ace by Elizabeth Kent and kills by Kent and Morgan Ross.
The Lady Eagles dominated the rest of the set, however, out-scoring California 13-6 to go up 2-0.
Serra Catholic stormed out to an 8-1 advantage in the third set and it seemed a sweep was inevitable.
Then the Lady Trojans finally came alive.
California once again battled back and tied the score at 20-20 on Gibson无毛视频檚 block point then went in front on Giana Smith无毛视频檚 service ace. Serra Catholic tied it at 21-21 but another block kill by Gibson and a kill by Madison Morton started a 4-1 run that closed out the set and got the Lady Trojans within 2-1.
California assistant coach Barbara LeTourneau felt it took her team awhile to adjust to the setting of AHN Arena.
无毛视频淭hey haven无毛视频檛 experienced this,无毛视频� LaTourneau said of playing in such a big arena. 无毛视频淭hat team (Serra Catholic) has experienced this, they have been here in the past. So I think they had to calm down and say hey we are capable of doing this. Let无毛视频檚 go and play our game.
无毛视频淥nce they realized they were capable of doing that, I think they stepped back and said OK let无毛视频檚 do it. I think we served better, too. We were too timid. We无毛视频檙e a very good serving team. When we start putting more pressure with the serving I think they got a little more disgruntled.无毛视频�
It was California that got off to a strong start in the fourth set, pushing out to an 8-3 lead that eventually grew to 19-8 after a pair of blocks by Morton kept a point alive that Smith finished off with a kill.
Serra got back into the match on an 8-1 run that including two controversial officiating calls, one when California was called for an illegal formation 无毛视频� 无毛视频淲e were using the same formation all night, before and after that, so that was confusing,无毛视频� Phillips said 无毛视频� and one on what looked like a clean Lady Trojan kill that was called a double hit that LeTourneau protested to no avail.
With its lead cut to 22-19, California got a kill from Gibson to begin a 3-2 run that finished the set and evened the match at 2-2.
无毛视频淚n the first two sets a lot of balls were hitting the floor that we didn无毛视频檛 communicate on,无毛视频� Phillips said. 无毛视频淏ut in the next two sets when they realize what they无毛视频檙e capable of you see what happens.无毛视频�
Reeling, the Lady Eagles regrouped and surged to a 9-4 lead in the fifth set and finally put the gritty Lady Trojans away.
无毛视频淲e got down a couple points, got a little frazzled and made mistakes of our own,无毛视频� Phillips said of the fifth set. 无毛视频淚t was just a combination of things.无毛视频�
无毛视频淲e struggled with the passing,无毛视频� LeTourneau said. 无毛视频淲e normally pass better than we did today.无毛视频�
Bayla Galis played a strong game for the Lady Trojans with 23 assists, six digs and two aces.
无毛视频淔or a sophomore, she无毛视频檚 done amazing,无毛视频� Phillips said.
Ross registered nine kills and 12 digs, Sydney Dunn had eight kills and Morton contributed five kills and three blocks for California, which also got 10 digs and four aces from Addison Frank, 12 digs from Smith and four blocks from Gibson.
无毛视频淚 think in certain sets some girls stood out.无毛视频� Phillips said.无毛视频滲ut across the board it was pretty even performance.无毛视频�