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By Matt Michelone
sports@altoonamirror.com
It's tough enough to beat a team once, even tougher when you're asked to do it twice and in a matter of three contests.
During Tuesday night's District 6 Class 4A girls volleyball semifinal, the No. 2 seed Altoona Lady Spikers were tasked with trying to do just that after sweeping No. 3 seed Central Mountain as both teams wrapped up their regular season schedules two weeks ago.
With a mix of hot starts, and some challenging waters, the Lady Spikers ended up sweeping the Lady Wildcats again, this time 25-17, 25-22, 25-21 at the Altoona Fieldhouse.
"Our kids in the back of their minds, they knew what they were getting with Central Mountain, but at the same time, you know you got to work," Altoona coach John Saboe said. "No team is going to walk into your gym and just roll over and let you beat them. We jumped on them early, which plays into what we want to do. Game 3, they came out a little bit quick, and we were able to maintain a lead with them."
Both teams went back-and-forth in set 1 before Altoona started to pull away as it went on a 13-4 run powered by four Megan Kelly kills. Annalyse Yost finished the off the set with a kill.
"We dig ourselves in a hole, we'd get back within it and start missing a serve or hitting the ball out. Credit to Altoona, they showed up," Central Mountain coach Chip McCann said. "We played well, it just wasn't our night. You never want to see the season end, but there are four teams in the state it doesn't end in a loss for."
Moving ahead to the second set Sami Page set the tempo with three of her five aces right off the top of the set. Things leveled off for awhile before a finish from Ava Steinbugl's kill to make the set 10-7 Altoona.
The Lady Wildcats made things interesting as Keely Rohrbach deposited a pair of finishes and Katelyn Bowman added one to tighten the set at 19-17.
Altoona ended up pulling away. Page set up Ella Albright for the match point, which ended up being her 1,000th career assist.
It ended up being a pleasant surprise as intended by the Lady Spikers coaching staff for the junior setter.
"Sometimes we like it to be a surprise for them to let them know, 'hey, all of your hard work is paying off, and here is what you've earned,'" Saboe said. "Sami's a fantastic setter, she does a good job of moving the ball around the court, and it's nice to have that kind of athlete on the court who really knows how to distribute the ball and leading your team well running the offense."
Page finished with 16 kills, five aces and eight digs.
Central Mountain didn't go quietly in set 3 as neither side led by more than four points. Albright, though, put the match away as she got the game's final kill.
Ava Steinbugl led Altoona with 10 services points, eight kills and eight digs. Aunye Counsman racked up 24 digs.
Saboe's squad is looking forward to the chance to win district gold against State College on Thursday night at Bald Eagle Area at 7 p.m.
"We had what we would say is a very successful Mid-Penn Conference season," Saboe said. "We're battle tested with a win over Cumberland Valley in the middle of the season, a sweep of Central Dauphin, and we got a split with State College.
"We feel like we're prepared for playoffs. We went through the Mid-Penn, and we established that we belong there and that we know how to play in the Mid-Penn."
SERVICE POINTS
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN: Hardy 10, Walizer 6, Bowman 9, Stratts 8, Rauch 5.
ALTOONA: Counsman 2, Reed 2, Steinbugl 10, Albright 3, Treece 3, Page 8.
Records: Central Mountain (8-6), Altoona (9-7).