Lady Cats Down Neshannock In First Round Of State Playoffs (11/05/14)
The Clarion Area Volleyball Team won its First Round PIAA State Playoff game, on Tuesday (November 4), downing Neshannock in straight sets (25-12, 25-17, 25-19), at Dubois High School.
Lady Cat front line of defense
Katie Eustice provided bookends for the match, starting the opener with 5 straight service points and ending the contest with five straight service points.
The match featured strong setting, and hitting by the Lady Cats. Their dominance could be observed by the fact that they never trailed in the first two games. In game one they only allowed the Lady Lancers to score three service points.
Gloria Kroh had some very good power shots from in front of the net. Jenna Ochs and Anna Reed gathered dig after dig. Olivia Burns who has been battling an injury came up with a big night on defense also, collecting eleven digs on the night.
Lady Cats set to return
The Bobcat student cheering section made it presence known throughout the match as they encouraged the girls along under the leadership of Michael Bartley and Ryan Wiser.
Making it a very special night for Coach Shari Campbell, was that the match was played under the watchful eye of Priscilla Giboney, Campbell’s coach, in her scholastic playing days at Huntingdon High School.
For the Lady Cats, Eustice had 10 service points (4 aces), 29 assists, a pair of kills and five digs. Reed had 10 service points (1 ace), 18 digs and an assist. Ochs had 7 service points (2 aces), 22 digs and nine kills. Kroh had six kills. Anna McNamara contributed 8 service points, 8 digs, 4 kills and eight digs.
Burns had 5 service points (2 aces), 11 kills and three digs. Keanna Over had 10 digs, 3 service points and a pair of kills. Brooke Allen and Morgan Dehner each had a dig and Sophie Wolf had a kill.
Coach Giboney and Coach Campbell
Lady Cat Quotes:
Katie Eustice: (On five straight service points to open the match, five straight to end the match) “Did I really? It’s very rewarding, but I mean, I contributed but it’s the whole team.
“I can’t express how I feel… Gloria Kroh had some crazy kills tonight. Jenn as always; Jenn does great. Everybody did amazing tonight.”
Coach Shari Campbell: “(Katie’s) serving very well for us, right now. The ball kind of drops and it’s hard to deal with. I think that she is setting extremely well. She has a maturity on the court, kind of runs it really. She had a nice match tonight.”
(On Gloria Kroh) “Every once in a while she gets ahold of a ball and it’s gorgeous, isn’t it.”
“I think of Olivia Burns; came in and contributed. It’s fun to have her back. We passed extremely well. I think we passed a 2.5 on a 3.0 scale. I’m really happy with that. Neshannock passed well; didn’t let a lot of balls hit the floor. So we had to work hard offensively. But I feel we got some big things from Jenn Ochs and Olivia and Gloria.”
“I think we passed very well. But it’s one of our trademarks. We’ve got some good ball control kids and we’re hoping that takes us far.”
The Lady Cats will face Bishop Canevin in the Quarter-Finals, on Saturday at a time and location to be announced.