Hollidaysburg girls volleyball season comes to a close in first-round defeat
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- One year ago, Hollidaysburg saw its girls volleyball season end in a sweep against Oakland Catholic in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A Tournament.
Fast forward to Tuesday night, the Lady Tigers found themselves on the same stage for the first time in Class 5A with Shaler awaiting them on the other side of the court.Both sides turned the match into a heavyweight fight.
Both teams showed why they're ranked sixth (Shaler) and seventh (Hollidaysburg), respectively, in the latest PA Volleyball Coaches Association rankings.
The Lady Titans (20-3) landed the first punch before the Lady Tigers answered in sets two and three, before both sides ended up taking it to set five.
Sophie Spynda's and Teagan Orga's kills, along with a pair Hollidaysburg attack errors, were the knockout blow as the Lady Tigers fell short against Shaler, 25-15, 20-25, 27-29, 25-19, 15-12 at the Hollidaysburg Area High School gym.
"We've got to learn how to take the knockout blow at this level," Hollidaysburg coach Brandon Stitt said. "That's a really good team, they got girls over there that are going to play college ball, D-I ball. They get to see that a little more than we do. We need to learn how to put teams away without giving them an opportunity to fight back."
The Lady Tigers started turning the tide late in se two as Bella Basenbeck and Delayni Baird (twice) came up with three kills to help put set two away.
Hollidaysburg took an early advantage in set three as Brooklyn Boggetta registered one of her nine kills and Genevieve Peacock added an ace to make it 12-7.
But fast forward, thanks to a two finishes by Spynda and another from Lucy Barr, to set three which was sent to extra points. It took a service error and a Lena Ransom kill to end the frame for the Lady Tigers. Ransom had nine kills with three blocks.
"Credit to Shaler; They got us all out of sorts," Stitt said. "We started to fight back, started to serve like we used to, but they got us out of sorts. We were able to get them out of sorts, it wasn't a big middle battle, it was a whole lot of pins."
But that's where the match flipped as Shaler jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Hollidaysburg cut that deficit back down to two. Brelynn Woodcook registered three kills on a 5-2 run to help the Lady Titans put away set four.
"We just started playing our game," Shaler coach Annie Carter said. "We talked all game about first state playoff game, hitting our stride, and we finally hit. Our game is aggressive. If we're swinging, and we're high error, and we're playing aggressive, I'm ok with it. We ride the wave."
Hollidaysburg took the lead in set five at one point following two of Kynlee Budny's13 kills, which went with her three aces on two separate occasions. Taryn Leighty added another one in the closing points, but an attack error ended the night.
The Lady Tiger season will end with an impressive 20-2 mark -- both losses coming in a five-set decision -- and the program's first ever Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference Championship and fifth district championship in the last eight years.
"What makes it really easy to console them is that they get to come back next year," Stitt said. "This isn't the end of anyone's career. We're just so close and they can see it, and they're starting to believe it. Every time Shaler took a punch at us tonight, we got back up and took our own. We know that we're so close, and that we just need a point here, a point there that's not going our way."
Stitt is looking forward to welcoming back this same team next year looking to make their return to the state quarterfinal for the first time since 2022.
"It makes me hungry," he said. I'm hungry for next year, I'm ready for it now, and I hope these girls are too.
"We got eight months until the next season. I told them to keep their head up and everyone in this huddle is back next year. We had so many good stepping stones to get here. We're only moving forward."
Shaler will take on WPIAL foe North Catholic -- who swept Garden Spot from District 3 -- on Saturday.