WPIAL girls volleyball championship preview: 3 teams look to defend titles

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, November 4, 2021 | 3:32 PM

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A pair of WPIAL schools will be playing for the Triple Crown this week.

Both North Catholic and Greensburg Central Catholic have teams playing for WPIAL championships in boys soccer, girls soccer and girls volleyball Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

A year ago, the Mars and Greensburg Central Catholic boys and girls soccer teams both won district crowns. They became the ninth and 10th schools in WPIAL history to pull off that rare feat and it was the first time two teams did it in the same year.

No district school has ever won WPIAL titles in all three sports; boys soccer, girls soccer and girls volleyball, in the same season.

Three other schools have a chance to win two WPIAL titles in the next few days. Seneca Valley has both the boys and girls soccer teams in the 4A finals, Hampton has their boys soccer and girls volleyball teams in the 3A finals and Avonworth has teams playing for gold in girls soccer and girls volleyball.

All eight soccer finals are at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh and the four volleyball championships are Saturday at the new UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris University.

All 12 title matches will be video streamed only at TribHSSN.TribLive.com.

Here is a look at the four WPIAL girls volleyball championships coming up on Saturday.

WPIAL Class A championship

No. 1 Bishop Canevin (23-1) vs. No. 3 Greensburg Central Catholic (14-3)

1:30 p.m. Saturday, Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center

Playoff path: Bishop Canevin defeated Cornell, 3-0, Fort Cherry, 3-0, Leechburg, 3-0; Greensburg Central Catholic defeated South Side, 3-0, OLSH, 3-1, California, 3-2.

Golden history: The Crusaders have won four straight and six WPIAL girls volleyball crowns overall in 2013, ’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ‘20. The Centurions won WPIAL titles in 2012, ’14, ’16.

Players to watch: Abbie Maziarz, Bishop Canevin; Rebecca Hess, Greensburg Central Catholic

Factoids: The last time a team not named Bishop Canevin or Greensburg Central Catholic won the WPIAL Class A title was 10 years ago when now closed Elderton won district gold. These two storied programs met in the title match last year with the Crusaders winning in three games, 25-19, 26-24 and 25-21. If BC wins, its fifth straight title would be tied for fourth longest girls volleyball district championship run behind Norwin (13), Farrell (7) and Farrell again (6).

WPIAL Class 2A championship

No. 1 North Catholic (16-1) vs. No. 2 Avonworth (16-2)

3:30 p.m. Saturday, Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center

Playoff path: North Catholic defeated Ligonier Valley, 3-0, Frazier, 3-0, Seton LaSalle, 3-0; Avonworth defeated Ellwood City, 3-1, Shenango, 3-2, Laurel, 3-1.

Golden history: The Trojans have won two WPIAL girls volleyball championships in 2018 and 2020. The Antelopes have never won a district title.

Players to watch: Riley Warda, North Catholic; Maggie Colenbrader, Avonworth

Factoids: These two programs meet for the third time after finishing first and second in Section 2-2A. Both of the Antelopes’ losses came in section play against the Trojans, 3-1 at North Catholic and 3-0 at Avonworth. With their win over Laurel in the semifinals, a hurdle was cleared for Avonworth, which had lost in the semifinals in three of the last four years. North Catholic is appearing in its fourth straight WPIAL title match.

WPIAL Class 3A championship

No. 1 Freeport (15-1) vs. No. 3 Hampton (15-2)

5:30 p.m. Saturday, Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center

Playoff path: Freeport defeated Hopewell, 3-0, Beaver, 3-0, Armstrong, 3-2; Hampton defeated Albert Gallatin, 3-0, Montour, 3-1, Plum, 3-2.

Golden history: The Yellowjackets have won five WPIAL girls volleyball championships: 2010, ’13, ’15, ’16, ‘19. The Talbots have never won a district title.

Players to watch: Erica Lampus, Freeport; Kai Herchenroether, Hampton

Factoids: Both teams are coming off grueling semifinals matches that each went five games. This is the third meeting of the year between the two Section 5-3A rivals who split and ended up as section co-champs. Both won five- game matches at home with Hampton winning 3-2 on Sept. 16 and Freeport claiming a 3-2 win Oct. 12. Both the Yellowjackets and Talbots lost in the first round of the 2020 Class 3A playoffs.

WPIAL Class 4A championship

No. 1 North Allegheny (15-1) vs. No. 2 Shaler (17-1)

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center

Playoff path: North Allegheny defeated Seneca Valley, 3-0, Moon, 3-0; Shaler defeated Latrobe, 3-0, Oakland Catholic, 3-0.

Golden history: The Tigers have won seven WPIAL girls volleyball championships: 1993, ’96, 2008, ’13, ’17, ’18, ‘20. The Titans have never won a WPIAL crown.

Players to watch: Jadyn Perkins, North Allegheny; Sierra Ricci, Shaler

Factoids: North Allegheny is participating in the Class 4A championship match for the fifth straight year, winning it all in 2017, 2018 and 2020 and falling to Canon-McMillan in the 2019 finals. This is the third meeting of the year between the two teams that split in the regular season and finished as co-champs in Section 1-4A. The Titans won at home, 3-0 on Sept. 23 while the Tigers won the rematch at NA, 3-2 on Oct. 19. These two rivals met in the 2020 WPIAL finals with North Allegheny beating Shaler in four games, 25-22, 25-19, 23-25, 25-17.

Tags: Avonworth, Bishop Canevin, Freeport, Greensburg C.C., Hampton, North Allegheny, North Catholic, Shaler