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By Bryanna McDermott
For the Mirror
HOMER CITY -- It was a bad night to have an off night.
Second-seeded Homer-Center swept No. 3 Bishop Carrol, 25-12, 25-18, 25-18, Wednesday night in the District 6 Class 1A girls volleyball semifinals.
The Huskies couldn't find any momentum on a night nothing fell in their favor as they struggled against the Wildcats' power hitters while Homer-Center continued to stay hot.
"I can honestly say, we probably just made more mistakes than we're used to making," Bishop Carroll co-head coach Erin Becquet said. "I don't know that they knew how to accommodate for that, because they played so well the other night where everything fell into place. Every pass was on, every set was on. That didn't happen tonight. It was just an off night for us."
Homer-Center (13-5) punched its ticket to the state tournament for the second straight year and secured a rematch against No. 1 seed West Branch in Saturday's district championship game at Altoona.
"This win is absolutely huge," Wildcats head coach Sherri Williams said. "I have been telling this team all season that this is the caliber of play that they're able to do. Everybody did just an absolutely amazing job."
Homer-Center jumped out to a 12-4 lead on an Ashlyn Kerr kill to kick off the match, Meegan Williams landed a shot through a pair of blockers to make it 19-12, and the Huskies' attack attempt went out of bounds to hand the Wildcats the set win.
In Set 2, Alaina Fabin had three straight kills to push Homer-Center to a 5-0 start, a block by Grace Frazer and Emma-Lee Rouser on Bishop Carroll's Allie Dziabo pushed it to 11-4, and the Wildcats took a 10-point lead, 18-8, on a net foul by the Huskies. Meegan Williams earned the set-winning point on a tip past a falling Mary Golden, BC's senior setter.
Bishop Carroll came into the third set with a newfound intensity, taking a 4-1 lead after freshman Olivia Gregg struck home a kill off a Wildcat block. The Huskies kept pushing, getting an ace from Dziabo that made it 8-4 and another by Golden to go up 13-9.
"We just kind of told them that they have to really own that that was their opportunity to just show each other and show themselves what they're made of," Becquet said.
A Fabin spike that Sophie Becquet couldn't handle put the Wildcats within three at 13-10 and began Kerr's 10-point serving streak that led Homer-Center's comeback.
Back-to-back aces gave Homer-Center a 14-13 lead the Wildcats wouldn't give up.
Gregg led the Huskies' offense with six kills and came up with three digs, while Dziabo and Golden had four kills apiece for Bishop Carroll (11-9).
"It wasn't what the girls wanted," Huskies' co-head coach Jackie Koscho said. "They were excited to play. They never gave up."