Lady Cats Finish Second In Clarion Volleyball Tournament, Defeat Cranberry Earlier In Week (09/22/12)

The Clarion Area Lady Cats Volleyball Team hosted the 14th Annual Clarion Area Varsity Volleyball Tournament on Saturday (September 19), finishing second to Corry. There were 19 teams involved in this year’s matches, which were played in the Clarion Area High School main gym and the auxiliary gym, as well as, the Keystone High School gym.

Anna Reed returning

Participants in the tournament were: Clarion, Altoona, Bradford, Cambridge Springs, Cochranton, Corry, Cranberry, Dubois, Elk County Catholic, Franklin, Huntingdon, Keystone, Maplewood, North Clarion, North Star, Northern Cambria, Richland, Union and Warren.

The Lady Cats won 11 of 14 sets and 6 of 7 matches. They downed Cranberry 2-0 (25-11, 25-18), Northern Cambria 2-0 (25-19, 25-20), Cochranton 2-0 (25-19, 25-21) and Richland 2-0 (25-18, 25-17) and Huntingdon 1-0 (25-16), to reach the Semi-Finals, undefeated.

Clarion suffered their first loss of the tournament, in game one of the Semis, when they were downed by North Star 25-22. But the Lady Cats came back to take two from North Star, 25-23 and 15-10, moving them to the finals where they would face Class-AA State ranked Corry.

Katie Eustice setting

Clarion dropped the first game of the Championship matchup, 25-19. The second game was close, with the Lady Cats leading much of the way. But in the end Corry prevailed 26-24, to win the title.

Tournament totals for the Lady Cats were: Jenn Ochs – 46 points, 7 aces, 38 kills, 55 digs; Anna McNamara – 31 points, 6 aces, 25 kills, 4 assists, 28 digs; Keanna Over – 29 [points, 29 kills, 27 digs; Gloria Kroh – 26 points, 19 kills, 2 digs; Katie Eustice – 10 points, 101 assists, 2 aces, 6 kills, 27 digs; Anna Reed – 9 points, 9 aces, 1 assist, 48 kills; Sophie Wolf – 8 points, 1 ace, 5 kills, 3 digs; Brooke Allen – 4 digs; Morgan Dehner – 1 dig.

Corry – 2014 Champions: Front (L-R) Junior JoJo Kusiak, Sophomore Rachel Dingfelder, Senior Maddie Merkle, Senior Abby Gluvna, and Senior Allison Mitchell. Back (L-R) Freshman Haley Kurelowech, Sophomore Megan Steele, Senior Rachel Tasker, Junior Bret Anderson, Alumni Statistician – Morgan Woodin, Coach – Kelly Goodsel, Freshman – Ryann Brundage, Senior Brooklyn Goodsel, Senior Emily Zaczkiewicz.

Coach Shari Campbell was pleased with the strong competition in the tournament. Campbell commented, “I was really pleased with the quality this year. We had nineteen teams coming in and some different teams coming in that are strong. Corry is strong. They’re Double-A. The last time I checked they were ranked number two in the Coaches Poll.

“We just try to keep this really competitive and kind of a mid-season tournament that helps all these teams that come here get better.”

The KSAC was represented at the tournament by five schools (Clarion, A-C Valley, Cranberry, North Clarion and Union). Coach Campbell sees the conference’s level of play improving. She commented, “The KSAC schools are starting to come and I think the KSAC is getting stronger. Keystone had a great showing. And Keystone and A-C Valley, in other tournaments, are placing. I think that we have a strong league that’s working hard.”

Of her own team’s performance in the tournament, Campbell said, “I’m pleased where we played. We were 8-0 in pool play. We beat a bunch of Single-A teams, that it is really important to know that we can beat. That feels really good.

“There is a bad taste in their mouth about losing that one (the Championship Match), which makes me happy. That’s a good thing. But they are upbeat. But Corry is a good team. They’ve got a good hitter. There are six seniors. They are a Double-A, They’re ranked. Knowing that we wanted to (beat Corry for the Championship) and maybe could have, is motivating this time of year.”
And of the local support she gets for the tournament, Campbell said, “This is a great event. Really two weekends in a row. We’re running a JV and a Varsity Tournament. We are bringing in T-Shirt people and providing a really great concession stand. Our Booster Club is great. Just our athletic training staff, parents and our JV Team supporting our Varsity Team and vice versa. It’s just good to see.”

(Congratulations to the Lady Cats on their fine showing!!!! Also congratulations to Team Champion Corry!!!!)

The Bobcats also had a dual match victory several days earlier, as they visited Cranberry, on Thursday (September 17), and came away with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-7, 25-18) win.

Totals for the Lady Cats included: Jenn Ochs – 14 points, 2 aces, 9 kills, 6 digs; Gloria Kroh – 9 points, 2 aces, 4 kills, 2 digs; Katie Eustice – 8 points, 3 aces, 5 kills, 17 assists, 12 digs; Maya Thornton – 6 points, 3 kills; Sophie Wolf – 5 points, 1 dig; Anna McNamara – 4 points, 2 aces, 2 kills, 4 digs; Keanna Over – 2 points, 1 ace, 1 kill, 5 digs; Anna Reed – 7 digs; Brooke Allen – 5 digs; Johnna Rapp – 6 digs, 2 assists; Morgan Dehner – 1 dig.

The Lady Cats will visit Moniteau on Tuesday (September 23).