Volleyball Opens Season at Northern Cambria Tournament (09/05/2018)

Hailey Sintobin at the net.

(by CSZ Sports Writer Kenn Staub)  The Clarion volleyball team, ranked second in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Class A preseason poll, started the 2018 campaign by competing in the Eighth Annual Northern Cambria Tournament on Saturday, September 1. The Bobcats finished with a 3-2 record for the event, which attracted a quality field of fifteen teams ranging from Class A to Class AAAA.

Clarion compiled a 3-1 record in a pool play. The Bobcats split sets with Class AA Penn Cambria, losing the first 24-26 and winning the second 25-15, and defending District 9 Class AAA champion DuBois, dropping the opener 25-20 before taking the next 25-19. The team downed Class A Blairsville in two sets (25-20, 25-7), before falling to defending District 5 Class A champion Berlin Brothersvalley by identical 25-23 scores in both sets.  In single set bracket play, the Bobcats were bested by Class A Bishop Guilfoyle 25-23.

Brenna Campbell

Sophomore Brenna Campbell led the Bobcats with 35 points from the line, six of which were aces. She was followed by junior Maddie Schill with 24 points (88.9% conversion rate, four aces), junior Kaitlyn Constantino with 13 (five aces), and freshman Jordan Best with 10. Campbell also led the team with 55 assists.

Schill was a force at the net, driving home a team high 20 kills. Freshman Korrin Burns also had a double digit total, collecting 13 kills.

Junior KK Girvan collected 24 digs for the Bobcats. Burns had 21, Campbell and Schill 16, and Constantino 12. Senior Ali Troese had three blocks, followed by fellow senior Hailey Sintobin with two. Schill was good for one.

KK Girvan

Head Coach Shari Campbell thought her squad did everything they needed to do to be successful, noting that the Bobcats’ serving, passing, and setting were all solid. She singled out Campbell, Girvan, and Schill for playing well.

That said, Coach Campbell was critical of the team’s third ball hitting errors, adding “it’s hard to be the team you are capable of when you are scoring points for the other team.”

(featured picture shows Maddie Schill and Ali Troese going up for a block)

(action photographs courtesy of Kim Constantino)