Seneca Valley tops Penn-Trafford, gets another shot at WPIAL boys volleyball title

By: Josh Rizzo
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 | 9:11 PM

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Jordan Hoover desperately wants to be part of the Seneca Valley boys volleyball team that kicks down the door and wins a WPIAL Class 3A championship.

The 6-foot-5 senior middle hitter and his teammates needed a strong fifth set to make sure they didn’t fall over the front stoop on their way in Tuesday night at Fox Chapel. Seneca Valley held off a ferocious effort from sixth-seeded Penn-Trafford, picking up a 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-3) win to reach the WPIAL title game for the fourth time in the past 10 years.

The Raiders lost to Fox Chapel in 2015 and had a pair off losses to North Allegheny in 2021 and 2022.

“It would mean a lot,” Hoover said. “My older brother, Grant, came through the program, and he was on one of the teams that lost to NA. Just to be able to be the one to finally win and get a WPIAL banner up would be a big deal for me.”

The second-seeded Raiders (13-4) couldn’t get out of their own way. Seneca Valley had 23 errors during the first two sets.

The Raiders’ serving was erratic through the match.

“We struggled all night,” Seneca Valley coach Brett Poirier said. “This was probably the worst match we played all year. I can’t believe it came in the semis. When you struggle, you need little breaks and little things to go through. In the fifth set, I said we have to block better, pass better and do everything better.”

The Raiders made sure the fifth set was a formality. Penn-Trafford gave away the first point on an attack error. Mario Adolino followed with a service ace that dipped inside the line.

After a service error from Penn-Trafford, Malachi DeGraaf and Hoover had kills to stake the Raiders out to a 5-1 lead in the final set.

Penn-Trafford (12-7) wouldn’t get any closer.

Warriors coach Jim Schall said he was happy with the Warriors’ effort. Penn-Trafford still has a chance to reach the PIAA playoffs with a win in the third-place match.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” Schall said. “We were a third-place team in our section, I thought we were pretty good. I’m proud of the guys for the way they fought hard through the match. Unfortunately, we needed to get through that stretch in the fifth set still in the ballgame.”

Schall’s greatest challenge was to find a way to handle Seneca Valley’s middle blockers, 6-foot-9 Brandon Suski and Hoover. Once Penn-Trafford dropped a closely contested first set, Schall believed the Warriors would have a chance to make Seneca Valley sweat.

Owen Gisi and Nick Laskey hit well for the Warriors.

“For the most part, we handled their middle guys OK,” Schall said. “(Hoover) has a fantastic fifth game hitting and blocking. We did well enough to take their big guy (Suski) out. They had to put another guy in. We had to serve well.”

Hoover finished with 15 kills for the Raiders, and DeGraaf had 12. Seneca Valley now needs to find the combination necessary to earn a long-coveted championship.

“I just wanted our team to stay up and have the energy,” Hoover said. “When we get down on ourselves, that’s when we play worse. Even when we are playing badly, we have to keep the energy up.”

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Seneca Valley