By Matt Michelone

For the Mirror

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Starting from behind has been a problem for the second-seeded Hollidaysburg girls volleyball team this season and Monday’s District 5-6 Class 3A semifinal was no different.

The Lady Tigers fell behind at the start of each set to varying margins — sometimes as large as six to seven points.

However, much like they’ve done for the bulk of the season, Hollidaysburg found a way to win as the Lady Tigers eliminated No. 3 Somerset 25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 25-12, to make another return to the championship match on Wednesday night.

They will play Central Mountain on Wednesday at Bald Eagle Area at 7 p.m. The Lady Wildcats beat Bellefonte in the other semifinal on Monday.

“That’s kind of how we’ve played all season,” Hollidaysburg coach Brandon Stitt said. “We’re comfortable there, and we have a lot of inexperienced girls. (The coaches are) trying to get them to understand that it is easier to play with a lead than it is from behind. They’re comfortable there, so we’re not every really worried at any point in the game.”

They fell behind by five early as the Lady Eagles picked up a kill from Abby Ledney, an ace from Eve Housley and a finish from Reagan Holmes.

Fast forward and that’s when things began to shift as Addie Basenback registered a pair of aces, followed by an Emily Clapper kill to pull Hollidaysburg within two at 17-15.

The Lady Tigers put the set away as Delayni Baird and Lila Dellinger teamed up for the block, and Delllinger stuffed another Somerset attempt to give the home team the early advantage.

“We just didn’t control the ball,” Somerset coach Scott Shirley said. “The name of the game is ball control, and we did not serve-receive at an efficient rate to be competitive. Our strongest asset is our attack and we couldn’t get moving with our hitters hitting. We have a balanced offense, but you got to pass to be successful. We fell apart passing wise.”

In the second set, things were back and forth to the point where extra points were needed to decide it following Basenbeck and Dillinger teamed up for the set tying point. Emily Clapper finished things off with an ace for the two-set advantage.

“She has been under these lights for a long time,” Stitt said. “She’s just so athletic. All she does is have fun (on the court). That’s all you really want is for them to have fun, ball out and do their thing.”

Stitt also credited the Lady Tigers serving efforts all season for why they’ve racked up a 17-3 record to this point in the season.

“Our serving is great; our serving is what separates us from everyone else,” he said. “Whenever we do that, it gets everyone else that we’re playing flustered, out of their system, out of what they’re used to doing. Whenever we’re serving, we’re hard to beat.”

After dropping set three, the fourth resembled more of where the Lady Tigers want to be as they jumped out a 7-2 lead, thanks as they cashed in on a Somerset service and attack error.

Basenback helped finish off the efforts of her team in the fourth as she registered a pair of kills which helped Hollidaysburg build a 20-9 lead.

“Addi is starting to understand what she can do for this team,” Stitt said. “She is starting to understand she could be a leader; she can be our go-to hitter.”

Wednesday night the Lady Tigers will look to return a familiar territory as district champions for the fourth time in six years. They are looking to redeem themselves after coming up short a year ago to Bald Eagle Area, who has since moved down to 2A.

“We talk about it at least once a week of how we look at that banner and how that year (2023) not being up there hurts,” Stitt said. “That group of seniors we had last year did a really good job of establishing what we have going now which is starting to be that premier program in the area, and this team is looking to recapture that for us.”