Girls’ Volleyball: Panther Valley, Tri-Valley advance to Schuylkill League semis

Tri-Valley's Olivia Lupole prepares to serve (Photo by Eli Doyle).

MINERSVILLE — The Panthers and Dawgs are heading to the semifinals of the Schuylkill League girls’ volleyball playoffs.

Panther Valley swept Nativity 25-17, 25-11, 25-16 and Tri-Valley defeated Mahanoy Area 25-17, 25-14, 17-25, 25-23 in a Schuylkill League quarterfinal doubleheader Monday at the Thomas Fitzpatrick Gymnasium.

The Panthers (17-2) and Dawgs (16-3) advance to Tuesday’s semifinals at Martz Hall. Panther Valley faces Division II champion Marian (17-3) in the first game of the doubleheader at 5:30 p.m. and Tri-Valley faces Division I champion Pottsville (15-3) at 6:45 p.m. The semifinal winners will square off Thursday at 7 p.m. at Martz Hall for the championship.

Morgan Orsulak led the way for Panther Valley, totaling 11 kills, six digs, six assists and two aces. Emma Lacey poured in six kills and two aces for the Panthers, while Natalie Vermillion added eight kills in their win over the Green Wave.

“We played Nativity technically twice this season, once at their place and once in a tournament,” Panther Valley head coach Emilie Hannis said. “It’s really hard to beat a team three times. As a former player myself, you come in thinking we already beat this team. I think we came in with that mentality that we already beat them, so it won’t be a hard match, but Nativity really showed up to play tonight and that was a good thing because it makes for a good game.”

The Green Wave led early in set one and jumped ahead 4-0 after an ace from Sara Spolski and a kill from Lily Baran kept the Panthers on their heels.

That was until Panther Valley got consecutive kills from Orsulak, Jessica Hackash and JaeLynn Browdy that pushed the Panthers ahead 9-8. From there it was all Panther Valley as the Panthers ripped off consecutive scoring streaks of six and seven before Caroline Breslin scored an ace to cap the first set 25-17.

Breslin, a libero, was all over the floor for Panther Valley. She totaled 22 digs and two aces.

The Panthers took off running from there on out. Panther Valley led early and used an 8-0 scoring run to separate from the Green Wave and take the second set 25-11. It was a spread attack from the Panthers as Orsulak, Vermillion, Dacey, Hackash and Browdy each tallied a successful attack in the set.

And there was no quiet on the Nativity side of the net, even trailing 2-0.

Senior Julianna Carlson came up with two big blocks and a thunderous kill for the Green Wave in the third set. But Panther Valley continued to fire on all cylinders and score points. Orsulak scored five of her 11 kills in the set and added two blocks, while Vermillion added one more kill to cap the third set 25-17.

“(Panther Valley) is an amazing team, for sure, they are the defending Schuylkill League champions for a reason,” Nativity coach Jennifer Daubert said. “They’re so tough because they keep every ball in play, they have firepower from everywhere and their defense is truly amazing, but I thought we really came out and competed.

“We were diving all over the place, we were going for everything, we were staying aggressive, and we were trying to take a lot of good swings. In a lot of ways, I thought this was maybe one of the best matches we played all year.”

In the second match of Monday’s quarterfinal doubleheader, Tri-Valley rode an early wave before battling through late adversity.

“We wanted to come out strong and get the lead right away,” Dawgs coach Courtney Campbell said. “We have to stay mentally strong; it felt like we hit a wall in the third set. But we just have to keep pushing like our first and second set.”

The first set was back-and-forth until Tri-Valley pulled ahead following two blocks and a kill from Ellie Dunkleberger, an ace by Olivia Lupole and a kill from Faith Melocheck gave the Dawgs the lead 18-14. Try-Valley went on to take the first set 25-17.

In the second set, Mahanoy Area’s Caylin Blashock started the set with a kill to give the Golden Bears the advantage. But Mahanoy Area’s lead wouldn’t last long as Tri-Valley’s Emma Moore tied the set at 4-4 with a successful attack. From there the Dawgs minimized errors, worked the ball around, and outscored the Bears 21-10 to take the second set 25-14.

But then things began to change.

After Tri-Valley leaped ahead 3-1 to begin the third set, Mahanoy Area’s game intensified. The Golden Bears tied the set at 6-6 and again at 9-9 before taking advantage of three straight errors from the Dawgs followed by a kill from Blashock to take the lead 13-9. Tri-Valley committed 15 errors in the set and Mahanoy Area capitalized to win the set 25-17.

The fourth set was the closest as neither team could break away. The lead swapped seven times with the Dawgs holding the largest lead by three midway through. Faith Melocheck was the hero for Tri-Valley as she scored back-to-back aces with the game tied at 23-23 to give the Dawgs the set 25-23 and win the match.

“Early on (Mahanoy Area) made some mental mistakes, serving errors, different things like that,” Golden Bears coach Jason Green said. “Once they finally settled down in the third set, they showed what they’re capable of and that they can hang and play.”

Mahanoy Area and Nativity’s seasons are not finished yet, as both the Golden Bears and Green Wave will compete in the District 11 Class A and AA playoff tournaments, respectively.

“We’re going to have to keep battling,” Green said, “we’re going to face some good teams and we’re going to have to battle and we’re going to have to swing away. We can’t get into that shell of just being careful. We’ve got to get after it. At this point in the season nobody is going to give anybody anything. You’ve got to attack it and go get it.”