North Allegheny, Shaler awarded No. 1 seeds for WPIAL boys volleyball tournament

By: Michael Love
Friday, May 9, 2025 | 2:20 PM

North Allegheny and Shaler are the top seeds for their respective WPIAL boys volleyball tournaments.

The WPIAL released the Class 3A and Class 2A brackets Friday afternoon after the regular season concluded with section finales Thursday evening.

There will be a new WPIAL champion in Class 3A with Shaler, the 2023 and 2024 titlist, moving down to Class 2A.

North Allegheny, runner-up to Shaler last year, won Class 3A gold five straight seasons from 2017-22, and it hopes to add a 23rd overall WPIAL championship trophy to its awards case.

The Tigers, one of 14 teams in the Class 3A field, will host either No. 8 Mt. Lebanon or No. 9 Gateway in next Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Blue Devils and the Gators play their first-round game Tuesday at Mt. Lebanon.

Seneca Valley, runner-up to North Allegheny in Section 3, also received a bye as the No. 2 seed and will await the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between No. 7 Canon-McMillan and No. 10 Central Catholic at Canon-McMillan.

The other four Tuesday first-round matchups have No. 13 Upper St. Clair at No. 4 Hempfield, No. 12 Baldwin at No. 5 Pine-Richland, No. 14 North Hills at No. 3 Latrobe and No. 11 Peters Township at No. 6 Penn-Trafford.

The top four and ties in each section with seven or more teams and the top three and ties in each section with six teams or fewer punched their ticket for the playoffs. A total of 26 teams qualified.

Twelve Class 2A teams will join the 14 from Class 3A with the hopes of reaching the WPIAL championship games set for the weekend of May 24 at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.

From the WPIAL playoffs, three teams in Class 3A and three from Class 2A will continue on in their respective state tournaments.

Shaler, gunning for its third WPIAL championship overall and first in Class 2A, not only won WPIAL Class 3A titles the past two years but followed those WPIAL runs with a PIAA runner-up finish in 2023 and last year’s state title at Penn State.

The Titans (13-1) captured the Section 2 title with an unblemished 8-0 record. Their only loss in the regular season was to North Allegheny, 3-0, on March 18.

Shaler’s hopeful run this year begins in the quarterfinals next Thursday against the winner of No. 9 Hopewell’s game Tuesday at No. 8 Derry.

The other top seeds in Class 2A are No. 2 Ambridge, No. 3 Seton LaSalle and No. 4 North Catholic. They, too, earned byes to Thursday‘s quarterfinals.

Mars is the defending Class 2A champion.

The Fightin’ Planets, the third-place team from Section 2 behind Shaler and North Catholic, have a challenging road in front of them as the No. 6 seed in the bracket.

Mars opens the playoffs Tuesday at home against No. 11 South Park with the winner advancing to meet Seton LaSalle.

The other two first-round games Tuesday will have No. 12 McKeesport at No. 5 South Fayette, and No. 10 Deer Lakes at No. 7 Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson, Ambridge and Armstrong joined Mars as WPIAL Class 2A semifinalists last year, and the Planets, Bridgers and River Hawks represented the WPIAL in the PIAA tournament.

Class 3A

First round

Tuesday’s schedule

Gateway (10-2) at Mt. Lebanon (13-1), 7 p.m.

Upper St. Clair (5-8) at Hempfield (11-4), 7 p.m.

Baldwin (6-10) at Pine-Richland (9-5), 7 p.m.

Central Catholic (9-8) at Canon-McMillan (14-2), 7 p.m.

North Hills (8-9) at Latrobe (15-1), 7 p.m.

Peters Township (7-11) at Penn-Trafford (10-6), 7 p.m.

Byes: North Allegheny (12-1), Seneca Valley (12-3)

Class 2A

First round

Tuesday’s schedule

Hopewell (8-8) at Derry (11-6), 7 p.m.

McKeesport (8-8) at South Fayette (13-4), 7 p.m.

Deer Lakes (10-5) at Thomas Jefferson (9-6), 7 p.m.

South Park (8-8) at Mars (8-10), 7 p.m.

Byes: Shaler (13-1), Ambridge (13-1), Seton LaSalle (16-3), North Catholic (9-5)

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Ambridge, Baldwin, Canon-McMillan, Central Catholic, Deer Lakes, Derry Area, Gateway, Hempfield, Hopewell, Latrobe, Mars, McKeesport, Mt. lebanon, North Allegheny, North Catholic, North Hills, Penn-Trafford, Peters Township, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley, Seton La Salle, Shaler, South Fayette, South Park, Thomas Jefferson, Upper St. Clair