Penn Hills notebook: Boys volleyball team shows competitiveness

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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The Penn Hills boys volleyball team has a team loaded with juniors and seniors. The Indians also have the benefit of having coach Will Piccolino back for his third season.

Penn Hills is more capable of playing his system now. While the Indians dropped their first two matches of the season, they are more competitive than they were last year.

Having middle blockers Calix Clark and Tristan Davis make improvements has paid dividends for the Indians (0-2).

“Both of my middles have made massive improvements and demand attention from opposing blockers, which will lead to one-on-one opportunities for our other hitters,” Piccolino said. “Expecting a blocker to respect our middles and still be able to get out and block at the pins with the pace we run is a very tall task.”

Penn Hills opened with a 3-1 loss to Bethel Park. The Indians followed that up with a 3-2 defeat against Franklin Regional.

“I thought we opened well against Bethel,” Piccolino said. “Two of their three set victories were by two points, so it was very close the whole time.”

In addition to Penn Hills’ middles, the Indians have two setters they will rely on in Anthony Collins and Lucian McCollum.

Both players have gained experience over the past few seasons.

“Our team has grown simply with experience,” Piccolino said. “I also have hitters at all positions to win us points.”

Softball slams McKeesport

The Penn Hills softball team picked up its second win of the season against McKeesport on March 26.

London Seymore hit a grand slam to spark the Indians during the 12-1 win. Seymour drove in six runs on two hits.

Isabella DeCarlo struck out eight batters and allowed two hits for Penn Hills (2-3) to earn the win in the circle.

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