Girls’ Volleyball: Pottsville sweeps Panther Valley to claim Schuylkill League championship

The Pottsville girls' volleyball team poses with the Schuylkill League championship trophy (Photo by Eli Doyle).

POTTSVILLE — It was all Pottsville from start to finish.

Lainey Dusel totaled 23 digs and seven kills, Anna Burke collected 11 kills and six blocks, and Megan Yost poured in 38 assists and 15 digs as the Crimson Tide swept Panther Valley 25-11, 25-14, 25-20 on Thursday to capture the Schuylkill League girls’ volleyball championship at Martz Hall.

“The girls played great today, I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Pottsville coach Maria Sherakas said with tears in her eyes. “That is exactly the way they know how to play.”

It was a match Pottsville (17-3) had its eye on for some time as each team is very familiar with each other.

Panther Valley (18-3) and the Crimson Tide split regular-season league matchups. Pottsville won the first match 18-25, 25-16, 14-25, 25-17, 19-17 on Sept. 17 and the Panthers took the latter 23-25, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19, 16-14 on Oct. 10.

It goes back even further, too.

The match was a rematch of the 2023 championship that saw Panther Valley defeat the Tide 25-20, 23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-9.

“We worked hard for this, we had this goal in sight we lost last year,” Sherakas said. “And our girls did amazing today. They all played amazing. The defense was stellar today, they didn’t let anything drop.

“We anticipated, Panther Valley’s a great team. I mean, you have to make less mistakes against a great team and we did. We moved the ball around, we picked up their shots and we didn’t let anything drop.”

Pottsville wasted no tome burying the Panthers in the first set. The Tide only committed three errors and saw kills from a multitude of players, including Maggie Brennan, Rhyan Brennan, Ava Schwartz, Dusel, Burke and Yost.

The Tide rattled off seven consecutive points early to lead 10-3 and didn’t take their foot off the pedal. A Panthers’ ball handling error capped the set for Pottsville 25-11.

The second set the same as the Crimson Tide got rolling and there was no stopping.

Burke started the set with a kill assisted by Yost and Schwartz followed with an ace for Pottsville to push ahead 2-0, but this time Panther Valley answered.

Morgan Orsulak tied the set for the Panthers at 2-2 and 3-3, and then added a block for a score to push Panther Valley ahead 4-3. But not so fast, as Pottsville began to rally and gain momentum down the stretch.

The back row was huge for the Tide down the stretch of the second set as Maggie Brennan, Dusel, Yost and libero Lizzy Martinko dug out some hard-hit scoring attempts by the Panthers. Dusel added two key kills and Schwartz totaled four kills and two aces to propel Pottsville to take the second set 25-14.

In the third set, Panther Valley was not going to be swept easily. The Crimson Tide jumped ahead early 8-2 before the Panthers began to mount a comeback.

Natalie Vermillion collected an impressive six kills in the third set as Panther Valley climbed back into the match, trailing 23-19. Yost, a setter, added her second kill and the Tide capitalized on a Panthers’ return error to close the set 25-20.

For the Panthers, Orsulak had 13 digs, 11 kills, 10 assists, and an ace; Vermillion added 16 digs and eight kills; Emma Dacey chipped in 18 digs, two kills and an ace; and Caroline Breslin poured in 22 digs.

“I can’t ever say my kids don’t work hard,” Panther Valley coach Emilie Hannis said while getting emotional talking about the Panthers. “These girls work hard all the time. They didn’t give up tonight, we just didn’t play our A-game.”