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Lady Cats Defeat Falcons, Move On To District Nine Class-A Volleyball Final (11/01/19)

(All photos by Kim Constantino)

The number 2 seed, and State number 1 ranked, Clarion Area Lady Cats downed the visiting number 3 seed, A-C Valley Falcons 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-15) in a District Nine Class-A semifinal match on Thursday (October 31st).

The Cats used strong serving, great passing, some of the hardest hitting you could ask for, and good ball placement to secure the win, which moves them to the district title match against number 1 seed, Elk County Catholic, who downed Cranberry in a hard fought four set (23-25, 25-10, 25-22, 27-25) match in the other semi.

The Lady Cats and Lady Crusaders square off at 3:00 tomorrow (Saturday, November 2nd), at St. Marys High School. It would be great to see the whole community show up in support of the Cats.

A-C Valley jumped out to an early lead in game one, but K.K. Girvan’s three service points put the Cats out in front 5-3, They would never relinquish the lead in the 25-16 win. Another key stretch in the game came shortly after. With a 6-4 lead, Jordan Best had seven straight service points to move the Bobcats to a commanding 13-4 advantage. Clarion led by as much eleven, late in the game, at 24-13.

The Falcons had a 6-5 lead in game two. The Cats broke serve to tie at 6-all. But Best would give Clarion the lead for good. Her three straight service points put the Cats up 9-6. A-C Valley closed the gap to just one, with Clarion up 9-8. But with a stretch that saw K.K. Girvan and Brenna Campbell with three service points each, Clarion built their biggest lead of the game, 19-10.

Clarion was up 23-15, but four service points by the Falcon’s Meah Lelase closed the gap to 23-19. Both teams broke service the rest of the way giving Clarion the 25-20 win.

The Lady Cats never trailed in the game three, 25-15 win. Campbell opened the contest with two straight service points. The Falcons would tie the game at 3-3, and 4-4, but would never gain the lead. Holding a 10-7 lead, Clarion would break serve. Campbell then recorded four straight service points, pushing the lead to 15-7.

The Cats held biggest lead came late in the game, with Grace Ochs served for four straight points, moving the advantage to eleven 22-11.

Best had a solid all-round match for Clarion with 11 points (4 aces), 2 kills and six digs. Campbell had 10 points, 10 digs and thirty assists. K.K. Girvan had 6 points (1 ace), 11 digs and an assist.

Korrin Burns had a big night on defense, with12 kills and eleven digs. She also had 3 points and two assists. Kait Constantino also came up big defensively, with 11 kills and five digs. She also scored three points.

Aryana Girvan had six kills. A number of her returns were big power slams, as was the case with a number of the Lady Cats. Grace Ochs registered 5 points (2 aces) and two digs. Maddie Schill had 2 points, 2 kills and a dig. Payton Simko scored a point and had a kill. Grace Matson scored a point (1 ace). Bri Pierce had three digs.

The number of points scored that weren’t aces, attest to the fact of how much these girls play as as team, moving the ball around and getting everyone on the court involved.

CAT QUOTES:

Coach Campbell:

“You saw offense from everywhere. We still had some mistakes. I think there is still a little fatigue. We’ve gone hard for two weeks. We were off (for awhile), so we’ve been working hard against ourselves. We need to get some rest and recovery, her tonight and tomorrow take it easy and get ready for (ECC).”

(About the Lady Cats hard hitting) “You saw a lot of really strong balls from everywhere.”

“The most solid was our passing. Our passing was very solid and that drives everything. When your passing is there, you can manage just about any situation. And with Brenna running the offense, it makes it easy.

“I think we also served very well. We had some other kids come in and serve very well for us.

“This is trying to get everything tuned up and everybody playoff ready, to feel like they can contribute. You saw little Bri Pierce come in, her first time to enter into a varsity match ever. (She) made her serve and made a couple digs. The whole entire team is growing and continues to grow, and that’s the goal.”

(Thanks to Kim Constantino for the photos. Great match Cats!!!! Beat ECC!!!)