Penn-Trafford volleyball sweeps Peters Township in 1st round

By: Dave Mackall
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 | 9:58 PM

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Surrounded by a group of former Penn-Trafford players, coach Jim Schall couldn’t stop smiling in the aftermath of the Warriors’ convincing, 3-0 blanking of visiting Peters Township on Tuesday night in a first-round WPIAL Class 3A boys volleyball playoff.

No doubt he was glad for their support.

“These guys are alumni. They all played for me,” said Schall, beaming as he turned in their direction. “They said we looked good tonight. I told them beforehand that we might need them to suit up, but we didn’t need them at all.”

No. 6 seed Penn-Trafford (11-6) used a balanced attack, led by senior Caiden McDonald’s eight kills, to dispatch No. 11 Peters Township and advance to the quarterfinals Thursday night at No. 3 Latrobe.

The Wildcats eliminated No. 14 North Hills, 3-0, in another first-round match.

“It gets tougher now. We’ve lost to Latrobe twice this season,” Schall said. “But we’ll look forward to seeing them Thursday and hope to advance. We’ll have to be at our best because they’re really good.”

So, too, was Penn-Trafford.

The two Westmoreland County schools have turned up the intensity of their series in recent years.

Latrobe shut out P-T on May 6 in their most recent meeting. Earlier, in an April 10 match, the Wildcats slipped past the Warriors, 3-2.

Penn-Trafford marched past outmanned Peters Township (7-12) on scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-18, with Schall emptying his bench midway through the third set.

“We got a lot of guys in tonight,” he said. “Some are young guys that have some potential and some are senior guys that haven’t played a whole lot. All the junior and senior guys that haven’t played and have worked hard, I wanted to get them in.”

Seniors Connor Evangeliste and Owen Gisi contributed six kills apiece for Penn-Trafford, and junior Billy Spena logged three service aces.

It was Spena’s work on the back line that impressed Schall as much as anything in the match. That and McDonald’s bounce-back effort after a time on the injured list with an ankle sprain.

“Billy served a ton of balls, and it’s hard to get an ace,” Schall said. “He served it well. For instance, in Game 1, we were up 9-1 before you knew it, and it was his serves that got us going.”

Peters Township showed life to start the second set, taking early leads of 3-2 and 4-3, but the Indians couldn’t match Penn-Trafford’s skill and athleticism and quickly fell behind.

“I thought we were in this one, and we had a chance at it,” first-year Peters Township coach Jordan Ray said. “But I was excited to be here and see a lot of the young talent that we had.”

Ray is Peters Township’s third coach in four years. A former four-year varsity player at Butler, he most recently served as coach of Seneca Valley’s eighth-grade program.

He said his first year went better than expected.

“I’m happy with what we accomplished,” he said. “Three coaches in four years is a tough thing to deal with, and I think the guys bounced back and really responded better than I ever thought they would.”

Peters Township played with just three seniors on the roster.

“My goal for the first season was to make the playoffs,” Ray said. “All the credit goes to the players. We had a lot of good leadership from (seniors) Lucas Eynon and Ben Dummer and (juniors) Alex and Andrew Klein, who were our captains and really led the charge every day at practice, working hard towards this goal.

“This is a good environment for our guys to be in. You love to see a student section like this for boys volleyball. I wish it was on our side of the game. But even so, it was a fun experience.”

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Peters Township