Lady Cats Volleyball Team Downs Bishop Canevin In Quarters, Will Face GCC In Semi-Final (11/10/14)

The Clarion Area Volleyball Team gained a berth in the Class-A Semi-Finals of the PIAA State Volleyball Tournament, with a five set victory over Bishop Canevin, in a Quarter-Final game at Mercer High School on Saturday (November 8).

Anna Reed had a great game.

Whereas most of the Lady Cats victories, against Single-A competition, are one sided affairs, this one was an extremely exciting, nip and tuck contest. One where the Bobcats had to dig down deep. One of those, contests where you see what you are made of. And Clarion came through with flying colors.

The first game was close throughout, but the Lady Crusaders came away with a 25-23 win to take a 1-0 lead. Anna Reed had 5 service points, Olivia Burns had 4 and Jen Ochs had three as the Cats tied the match at 1 game apiece, with a 25-20 victory in game two.

Five service points by Anna McNamara early in game three, moved Clarion to a 5-2 lead, but it wasn’t enough as Bishop Canevin came back for a 25-16 win, in game three. The Crusaders led 2-1 and were one victory away from moving on to the Semi-Finals. The Cats were one loss away from having their season come to an end.

But reminiscent of the 2012 State Championship Team’s dramatic come from behind victory over Greensburg Central Catholic, in the Semi-Finals, this team didn’t know the word quit. It would take two straight victories for the Lady Cats to advance.

Jenn Ochs opened game four, a game in which the Cats would never trail, with two service points. The Cats would take a one-point lead and the Crusaders would come back to tie, over and over, until Clarion opened up some breathing room. Tied ten-all, the Cats broke service and then had two service points by Anna Reed to move the score to 13-0.

Jen Ochs, Anna Reed and Anna McNamara

Later, with three straight service points by McNamara the Bobcats had a 6 point cushion, at 17-11. The Cats would have their biggest lead of the game when three points by Burns moved the score to 24-17. The final was 25-19 and the match was tied 2-2.

The fifth and deciding game, was close throughout. Down by one at 10-9, Katie Eustice had three straight service points moving the score to 13-10,  Cats. The Crusaders would come back to tie it at 12-all, but the Cats would break service and Reed would close it out, giving Clarion a well deserved 15-12 win and the victory at 3 games to 2.

With the victory, the Lady Cats, who were solid throughout the contest, with fine setting, great digs, key ball placement and some real power shots earned a Semi-Final matchup with GCC, tomorrow (Tuesday, November 10), at 7:00PM at Indiana High School.

Reed had a super game at Libero, with 34 digs. She scored 12 service points, including 5 aces. Ochs had 27 digs to go along with 12 service points and 11 kills. Eustice had her usual outstanding game setting her teammates, with 41 assists. She had five service points (1 ace), a kill and nine digs.

Burns had 12 service points, 4 of them aces, 6 digs and nine kills. Anna McNamara had 11 service points, 11 kills, a pair of digs and two assists. Keanna Over had nine digs. Gloria Kroh had 4 kills and a dig. Johnna Rapp had 1 point, an ace and Sophie Wolf had a kill and a dig.

LADY CAT QUOTES

Coach Shari Campbell: “I knew that we had this in us. We’re a hardworking, hardworking crew. And they did it.

“What a match she (Libero Anna Reed) had. She was amazing.
“Our key was our passing. Our passing was amazing. They were a tough serving team. I think we served tough which is what we needed to do. Boy, our offense really showed up. So I’m excited about that.

“Pretty fun.”

Anna Reed: “I felt like we played unafraid. We played with all our hearts and we went out and accomplished so much, this season. We didn’t want to lose it. We’ve been here last year and we thought this game was different. We were a new team and all the leaders were on the court and we felt we played to our full potential this game.”

(Comparing this game to GCC game, two years ago) “It didn’t feel quite like that, but it was up there, in the stress end and everything. It was up there.”

(Did they ever feel like giving up?) “No. We kept positive energy and our coach told us to ‘Keep riding the energy bus.’ And we’re all positive energy from here on out and going for the State Title.”