PIAA Volleyball: Faith Christian ends Dawgs’ magical run

Tri-Valley gathers in the huddle during Saturday's PIAA Class A girls' volleyball quarterfinal against Faith Christian at Exeter Township High School in Reading. The Dawgs saw their season come to an end with a 25-19, 25-12, 13-25, 25-18 defeat (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

EXETER — The best season in Tri-Valley girls’ volleyball history came to end Saturday morning, but not without a fight.

The Dawgs were ousted from the PIAA Class A playoffs with a 25-19, 25-12, 13-25, 25-18 loss to District 1 champion Faith Christian in a quarterfinal match at Exeter Township High School.

After winning the program’s first-ever District 11 championship and recording the school’s first PIAA victory in the opening round, Tri-Valley ends its season 19-5.

Faith Christian (21-5) advances to Tuesday’s semifinals against the winner of the match between District 2 champion Mountain View (19-4) and District 3 champ Linville Hill (20-2).

“We fought hard and we tried our best, they were just better than us today,” Tri-Valley head coach Courtney Scheib said. “Maybe, hopefully, next year we’ll get another chance to play them.

“This gives us confidence to know that we can go this far again. We’re pretty much going to have the same team next year. I think it really helps us feel like we can do it and we can go as far as we want.”

Tri-Valley started the match on fire, building a quick 7-1 lead in the first set. Lexi Lesher had a pair of kills, Faith Melocheck tipped one over the net, Ellie Dunkelberger had a kill and Callie Melocheck had two assists.

After a timeout, Faith Christian got its offense in gear. Payton Robillard had four straight kills to get the Lions back in it and Faith used a 13-3 run to close the set and take a 25-19 victory.

Robillard’s run was a sign of things to come for Faith Christian.

The Lions ran their offense through setter Aubrey Pringle, who finished with 42 assists, an ace, two blocks, three kills and an acrobatic save out of bounds that landed in Tri-Valley territory for a point.

Most of her sets went to the left wing, where Robillard and Maddy Bowersock went to work. Bowersock collected 19 kills, while Robillard finished with 16. Kinsey Reptsik added four late in the match and middle hitter Lauren Noel tallied six from the middle.

Tri-Valley had some success blocking the duo of Robillard and Bowersock, but the pair was too much for the Dawgs to handle.

“They have some strong hitters,” Scheib said. “The girls were telling me it was hard to read their sets. Something we had to adjust to, and we didn’t quite get there today.”

Bowersock had nine kills in the second set as Faith broke open a 6-6 score with a 14-2 spurt. Sophia Sebastian served eight straight points as the Lions took the second set 25-12.

Tri-Valley, however, didn’t go quietly. Behind the serving of Kylie Clemmer, the Dawgs went on an 8-0 run early in the set and never let go, claiming a 25-13 victory.

Clemmer had two aces in the spurt, while Dunkelberger was dominant at the net with two big blocks and a kill.

“That was amazing,” Dunkelberger said of the third set. “It really gets the energy up for the team and that was what mattered.”

Faith Christian ended the Dawgs’ dreams with a 5-0 run midway through the fourth set, a spurt that included Pringle’s save for a point, to end the match with a 25-18 victory.

Tri-Valley hung tough for most of the fourth set, which went back-and-forth, but in the end the Dawgs couldn’t establish enough offensive rhythm to keep the match alive.

“They were able to get around our blocks and put the ball on the court where we weren’t,” Dunkelberger said. “That’s something we’ll have to work on for next season.”

Despite the loss, the future looks incredibly bright for Tri-Valley.

The Dawgs only have two seniors, Dunkelberger and Jamie Fetteroff, who served during the fourth set. Starters Liv Lupole, Callie Melocheck and Emma Moore are juniors, while Kirra Klinger, Faith Melocheck, Clemmer and Lesher are sophomores.

Most of these girls also play basketball and/or softball, which gives promising hope for those two programs this winter and spring.

“It was amazing, especially since the school has ever won districts, make it to states,” Dunkelberger said of the Dawgs’ season. She plans to play volleyball next fall at Lycoming College.

“I’m going to miss them a lot. They’re going to need to step up, and I know they will.”