Lady Cats Volleyball Featured In Volleyballmag.com Article, Photo By Local Photographer Bri Kirkland Also Featured

(Photo by Bri Kirkland – Kirkland Photography) Lady Cats celebrate after State Championship victory

The PIAA Class-A StateVolleyball Champion Clarion Area Lady Cats were featured in a national review in Volleyballmag.com. The article by John Tawa, published on January 28th, is entitled “Tawa’s 2020 national fall HS review, part 4: New Mexico through South Carolina.”

This was the fourth installment in a six article series covering states whose girls’ high school teams competed in the fall of 2020. The installments came covered states in alphabetical order: Part 1 – Alabama through Georgia; Part 2 – Hawaii through Maryland; Part 3 – Massachusetts through Maryland; Part 4 – New Mexico through South Carolina; Part 5 – South Dakota through Wyoming (minus Texas); and Part 6 – Texas.

Part 5 included ten states including: New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island; and South Carolina, covering the various state champions from each state. Besides covering the state finals, the article also highlighted how various schools dealt with the Covid19 outbreak.

The Lady Cats were featured at the top of the Pennsylvania segment. A number of coaches from various states were quoted, including Clarion Area Coach Shari Campbell. Given special mention in the recap of the Lady Cats’ championship match were (in order): Aryana Girvan, Korrin Burns, Erica Selfridge and Brenna Campbell.

There were a number of photos of various championship teams, with the large feature photo at the top of the article, by none other than our own Bri Kirkland of Kirkland Photography, showing the Lady Cats celebrating immediately after claiming the Championship (also shown at the top of this article).

Below is the Clarion Area segment from the story. The complete article can be viewed by going to: https://volleyballmag.com/fall-2020-hs-volleyball-012821/

Clarion Area had gotten close the previous two years.

In 2018, the Bobcats lost in the PIAA Class A quarterfinals to eventual-champion Northern Cambria. Last year, Northern Cambria got them again, this time in the semifinals, on its way to repeating.

In 2020, Clarion was not going to be denied, even after falling behind 8-2 in the opening set of the Class A final versus Marian Catholic.

The Bobcats had set lofty goals at the beginning of the season: league championship, district championship, undefeated season, state championship. Shari Campbell’s team had already accomplished two of those goals. The other two lay just three set wins away …

Clarion did not panic. Behind the serving of Aryana Girvan, the Bobcats matched Marian’s 8-2 run with one of their own. And the rout was on. Clarion won, 25-16, 25-14, 25-15, to cap a 24-0 season and secure the school’s second volleyball championship of all time and first since 2012.

“This group of amazing young women, they have the best work ethic I have ever seen,” Campbell said. “This team stayed focused on the task of winning a state championship. That made for a great environment for a team to succeed.”

Junior Korrin Burns, a star since her freshman year, led the way with 19 kills, seven digs and two aces. Senior Erica Selfridge, a transfer from Bainbridge-Guilford, also had a huge match, with 18 kills, 16 digs and seven aces. Senior setter Brenna Campbell, the coach’s daughter, ran the show to perfection to the tune of 39 assists.

The season was memorable for so many reasons, Coach Campbell said. She eclipsed 400 career wins, her daughter went over 3,000 career assists and both Burns and Selfridge reached 1,000 career kills, to name a few.

“This team was all in and every day in the gym was a gift,” Campbell said. “The team achieved every goal it set and they did it in such a definitive way, only losing one set. 26-24, to Maplewood in September. Personally, achieving this with my daughter, Brenna, was very special. She has watched so many great teams before her go after their goals and has been influenced by it all.  It is very gratifying to see all the hard work come to fruition.”

(Congratulations to the Lady Cats for another fine recognition for your great season!!!!)

(Thanks to Bri Kirkland – Kirkland Photography for the photograph!)