×

Huskies’ season comes to a close

By Jaclyn Yingling

For the Mirror

ALLPORT — West Branch coach Terry Trude has always given credit where its due.

And after finding out the Lady Warriors were going to face Bishop Carroll in the semifinals of the District 6 Class 1A tournament on Wednesday, he definitely was a little nervous.

“I was really worried about this matchup, because physically they match up with us really well and I think anything can happen in high school volleyball,” Trude said. “We wanted to have a chance for another state tournament and get to the district finals to go in a compete.”

Turns out Trude didn’t have to worry too much about the Lady Huskies, as West Branch went on to win 25-12, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17.

The Lady Warriors will now face second-seeded Northern Cambria in the finals on Saturday at the Altoona Fieldhouse beginning at noon.

On Wednesday, the Lady Warriors jumped out to a 5-0 advantage in the first set.

Haley Woodling served up four of those points, helped along with kills from Makiya Mack and Bella Koleno.

The Lady Huskies eventually cut it to 13-9, before the Lady Warriors got a three-point service run from Woodling and a five-point run from Mack to set the final at 25-12.

West Branch had little trouble with Carroll in the second set, with the Lady Warriors getting four runs of two-points or more.

The Lady Huskies did well with their big hitters up front, but struggled with the serve receive in the first two sets.

“We scouted them on like five hours of tape, and what we saw was that they were very athletic at the net,” Trude said. “They are tall and they take big swings. But they had some serve-receive weakness and we thought we could exploit that. And, we did. They were out of system when we did. That was the difference in the outcome of the game.”

Mack had another big run at the line, serving up five straight points to get it to 23-16.

Kyla Kephart finished it off with two service points, helped with a Madison Korb kill.

Wooding also had four points in the set and was a big presence in the back row all night. She had 18 service points and eight kills.

West Branch led the third set 16-8 as Bishop Carroll called its first timeout of the game.

The Lady Huskies got a sideout on a kill by Olivia Gregg. Greta Krumenacker served up three points to cut the lead to 16-12, prompting Trude to call a timeout.

West Branch got the sideout on a Mack kill, but Carroll got it right back on a kill from Melinda Harker.

Gregg served up two points to trim the lead to 17-15 before West Branch got a sideout on a Woodling kill.

A hitting error by the Lady Warriors (37-3-2) gave the ball right back to the Lady Huskies before a Lexi Mulhollem kill and a service point from Kephart made it 20-16.

Emily Olienyk had a big block to get the sideout for the Lady Huskies (13-6) before a hitting error by WB made it 20-18.

West Branch got the ball back on a service error and got a kill from Koleno to make it 22-18, but another big hit by Olienyk gave Carroll the sideout.

Sophie Becquet stepped to the line and reeled off five straight points, helped along with four kills from Olienyk to give the Lady Huskies a 24-22 advantage.

West Branch got a sideout on a Woodling kill to make it 24-23, but a service error gave Carroll the 25-23 victory.

West Branch jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the fourth set, led by kills from Koleno and Mack and four points from Woodling.

The Lady Warriors led 8-5 when a kill from Mack gave them a sideout. She then stepped to the line and served up six straight points, including an ace, forcing the Lady Huskies to call a timeout down 15-5.

Carroll got the ball back on a sideout, but West Branch got it right back.

The Lady Warriors allowed just one two-point run the rest of the way and went on to win 25-17.

“We are very proud of the entire team this year. Our younger players developed into a strong force on the team and they continued to work very hard throughout the season to grow as a team,” BC coach Jackie Koscho said. “The season ended too fast for us. We were very ready to keep going.”

Mack had 16 kills for WB, while Mulhollem had 15. Koleno finished with 12.

Kephart had 34 assists and five service points.

Brielle Bainey finished the night with 17 digs and six service points.

Olienyk had 10 kills, three service points and two blocks. Gregg added nine kills and seven service points. Becquet had seven service points and five kills.

“The seniors on our team were all new varsity starters this year. They brought so much to the program,” Koscho said. “Strong leadership and a lot of determination. They will all be missed greatly next year.”

Krumenacker tallied eight service points, while Harker had five.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
I'm interested in (please check all that apply)(Required)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?(Required)