On Tuesday afternoon, Eastern Pennsylvania Conference girls volleyball chairperson Jessica Johnson released the list of this year’s league all-stars to the media.
On Tuesday night, many of those newly-named all-stars shined bright in the EPC semifinals at Whitehall High School.
In the end, the brightest stars belonged to Bethlehem Catholic and Allentown Central Catholic as the top two seeded teams advanced to the championship game with semifinal victories.
No. 2 seed Becahi outlasted Liberty in a five-set thriller in the first semifinal 25-13, 15-25, 25-15, 17-25, 15-12 and in the nightcap top-seeded and undefeated ACCHS ended Parkland’s run of four consecutive league championships three sets to one — 18-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-20.
The volleyball version of the Holy War with the EPC gold at stake will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday at Freedom. The Vikettes (18-0) swept Becahi 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-13) on Sept. 16 and will be favored to win their first league title since 2009.
End of title trail for Trojans
“This is very meaningful,” said longtime Central coach Laurie Corcoran. “It means a lot to our coaches, led by my daughter Katie, our head assistant coach, who taught these girls the right technique and the desire to never quit. And, of course, it means a lot to our players who are just relentless. We knew we had to hit the ball fast and hard tonight and we did that.”
On the all-conference team, Central had three first-team selections in Milly Wolf, Anna Quinn and Emerson Springs. Wolf, who recently committed to Boston College, was also voted a league tri-MVP with Liberty’s Bailey Corrigan and Parkland’s Izzy Fekula.
All three Vikette first-teamers showed their accolades were deserved. Springs had 23 kills, Quinn had 9 kills and 18 digs and Wolf showcased her all-around game with six kills, 41 assists and 12 digs.
Central started slow and lost just its second set of the season – both to Parkland – before regrouping.
“Milly Wolf is a very versatile player,” Corcoran said. “She can do multiple things because she’s so athletic.”
Wolf, a senior, said the team came out tense.
“We just had to have some fun, communicate more and play our game,” Wolf said. “The whole team really supports each other. We have great defense, a great front row and we just have balance. I think we’re a great team and we’re going to have a good run this year.”
Central went on a 10-2 run to start the second set and never looked back, but they never could let up either.
“Parkland had a really good EPC run for a long time and it’s cool to beat them in the semifinals and get to the finals,” Wolf said.
Quinn, another senior, called it a dream come true to beat Parkland.
“We’ve always wanted to beat them in the EPCs and now we’ve got to continue onward and go get the gold,” Quinn said. “We’re really excited to play Becahi. We don’t always start out the strongest, but we try to motivate each other and stay positive and stick to the fundamentals.”
Springs was a force at the net and had several big points to keep Parkland from going on extended runs.
“Parkland came out here with a lot of energy and they were trying to hold on to the championship because they’ve been league champions for a long time,” Springs said. “We were kind of nervous in the first set but we switched it after the first set. We got our passes up from Milly that gave us a chance to get some really aggressive swings and that changed it for us. We have a lot of talent all over the court and it’s really important for us to keep attacking. We don’t like to play a timid game.”
Parkland, which placed Sarah Furey on the second team of the all-EPC squad and Kasia Burda on the third squad, kept battling through long points and had its share of good moments to delight its portion of a large and noisy crowd.
Furey had 20 kills and 18 digs, Fekula had 38 digs and Burda and Genda Avdijaj had eight kills apiece.
“We had to play really good defense, which we did, and serve and pass,” said Parkland coach Mike Krause said. “We don’t match up well at the net with a lot of teams and Central has a lot of balance. We’re still trying to develop that. But we have some really good kids and we served well and served aggressively and we won a lot of rallies. We went back and forth with them, but they have a really good team and it showed.”
The Trojans (14-6) will try to regroup before the start of the District 11 4A tournament. They have won 10 straight district titles and 13 in the last 14 years and will be seeded second behind Liberty.
Becahi calms ‘Canes
In her first season in charge at her alma mater, Jessica Attieh has been emphasizing that winning volleyball comes down to serving and receiving serves well
Her team did those things well, particularly in the fifth set, and had just enough to win the rubber match with Liberty. Becahi built a 14-6 lead in the final set, but Liberty stormed back with six straight points before the Golden Hawks closed it out.
“Yes, I was getting a little nervous … Liberty is a very competitive team,” Attieh said. “Thankfully, we came out on top, but it was definitely a tight one. I was very nervous at the end.”
The Golden Hawks roster has just three seniors, but they play like a group of seasoned veterans.
“They’re a very mature team, even though their age level doesn’t show it,” Attieh said. “They play very well together, they communicate well together and they’re friends on and off the court. It’s a geat group of kids.”
Becahi (17-2) placed Jocelyn Bell on the first team of the all-conference squad, Piper Ruggiero on the second team and Sophia Becker on the third squad.
All three made their presence felt against Liberty.
Bell had 22 kills and 16 digs. Becker and Leah Bender had 10 kills apiece. Ruggiero had 45 assists and 20 digs and Madeline Ahner had 28 digs.
“We had a lot of energy and the people in the stands gave us a lot of energy,” Ruggiero said. “We played well as a team and not as individuals. Our coach always tells us we’re going to play how we practice and we scored off that.”
Bell, who like Ruggiero is a sophomore, said her team remembered what it was like to beat Liberty during the regular season and also how it felt to lose to Liberty.
“We knew what feeling we wanted to go home with tonight,” Bell said. “Every single point we all knew we wanted it. I knew my team’s energy and I knew how much we all wanted it and that’s all you need at the end of the day.”
Liberty coach Fernando Torres was proud of his team’s effort which included 21 kills and 15 digs by Corrigan, 31 assists by Mia Mitch and 16 digs by Abigail Schessler.
“Win or lose going into it, it was all about could we fight the entire match,” Torres said. “We knew it was going to be a long night. We knew it could go the distance and I am proud of their effort. They always seemed to bunce back when they got pushed. It’s a learning lesson for us. We can’t dig ourselves as big a hole as we did in every other set. We’ve got to be cleaner earlier on in the matches.”
Torres said Corrigan, a two-time all-state player, is definitely “the straw that stirs the drink.”
“She goes out there on offense and defense, hits front row, back row, she gets the digs … she does everything a coach can ask for and more,” Torres said. “We are proud to have her on our team and we had other girls step up tonight. The team as a whole fought hard. We’ve just got to be a little more consistent earlier on.”
