No real surprises but it is fascinating that Freeport and Phillipsburg-Osceola are on a collision course to play on Saturday in 2A. That’s a huge game this early in the tournament.
PIAA VB Brackets
PIAA VB Brackets
OT: PIAA Volleyball Playoffs
- Thread starter pittdan77
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Our match with Beaver was a brutal war.
They won first two close. Then we won next two handily.
Jumped up 2-0 in 5th set but a couple unforced errors switched momentum and they went up 9-2
We battled back and tied it at 10 but a service error ended our run
They got to 14 and we needed 4 in a row but only got 3. Just missed a bump point that would have tied it!
Great match but credit to Beaver. That is a big talented team.
They won first two close. Then we won next two handily.
Jumped up 2-0 in 5th set but a couple unforced errors switched momentum and they went up 9-2
We battled back and tied it at 10 but a service error ended our run
They got to 14 and we needed 4 in a row but only got 3. Just missed a bump point that would have tied it!
Great match but credit to Beaver. That is a big talented team.
Saw that result and wondered what happens. Freeport isn't known for making a lot of unforced errors. Seems like the fifth set can unravel so quickly and easily sometimes.
If that matchup happens Saturday, I'm going to try to be there.
See you there! Mine is #87.
Like the coach told them, sometimes the bounces don't go your way?
Volleyball is a weird sport that way. I'll post here if I'm able to make it.
Not sure if I can make it now. Punxsy is a lot further than I was planning with the other stuff I have going on this weekend. Two hours minimum for me. Will probably watch on NFHS.
I watched Phillipsburg Osceola on Youtube. Looks like they're actually better than they were last year!
I don't think we're quite as good as we were, so my hopes aren't high, but if it goes like I think it will, I imagine we'll be looking at the eventual state champions in 2A!
Yeah, I don't see anyone getting swept Saturday. Two outstanding programs.
Reese looks really strong. I'm sure Freeport will try to force her to locate her hits. That's the best way to defend her. Did hear she's enrolling early at Indiana. I will say that I think PO's biggest weakness is setting. If she's off it could get interesting.
My daughter wants to know why #87.
I did get to watch the second and third sets. Was wild watching PO get away with that little dump, over and over but honestly, just thought Freeport made too many errors. Can’t do that against good teams. Great season. I’m certain Freeport will be back.
She was named after Sydney Crosby.
Yeah, we've had trouble covering the middle all year. PO is a very good team. Their defense and serving is excellent, very well coached.
Plus they start 6 seniors, right? That's a pretty savvy bunch, and they were on a mission given last year.
We aren't the same team we were last year, we've had trouble accepting serves and getting into system against better teams.
All our warts were on display today.
The girls battled, but it was a lost cause.
The PO/Beaver game will be good. Beaver is very talented also and as a ton of height. 3 legitimate 6'ers and a star player not as good as PO's 24, but also a D1 player.
We'll miss volleyball, but now it is all about softball at Akron! Can't wait for the next chapter.
Wish her all the best at Akron. And the best part about it for you is it’s easy to get to for the matches. And the ones in Michigan or Buffalo or Indiana, etc…you can watch from your couch. !
My team(Trinity) is on the east side of the 2A bracket. They hadn't lost a set all season until the state playoffs. If they're fortunate enough to make the finals, it will be practically a home game for them. When do they announce the location of the semi-final matches? I don't see them on the bracket. ETA: locations are on the brackets now.
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Interesting. Over here, we wonder what is waiting on the eastern side of the state.
Last year, our team handled the Catholic school in the finals with ease.
It's all about the competition, not the W/L record.
No matter who comes out of the west, Trinity better buckle up because they will be facing a big, well coached and aggressive team.
Beaver has a tall and talented team, and PO has the best player in the state surrounded by a competent supporting cast.
I wouldn't be shocked if Tuesday's Beaver/PO game is the defacto state championship game.
We'll see..................
Trinity still has a match against Forrest Hills, so I'm not placing them in the finals just yet, lol. I haven't followed them closely, but they're the school closest to our home, and my son attends one of the feeder elementary/middle schools. I have no idea what type of competition that they've faced this season, but it's still pretty impressive to not lose any sets. The flip side of course, is that they entered the playoffs without having faced adversity, and how will they respond when they do. They lost the first set yesterday, then won the next 3. It's exciting for the girls, and they're now the only fall sport still playing for the school since football(coached by a couple of nitters) lost Friday.
Forest Hills is a decent team. I'm a little surprised they've gotten this far. Our school scrimmaged them before the season and it was close. Of course a lot happens during the season. They're roster is full of club players but they don't have a ton of size. Set nice blocks.
Weird location for that game, btw. McConnellsburg isn't exactly a great venue. No exactly the easiest place to get to either. Sort of a head scratcher. Could have easily scheduled a double-header at Hollidaysburg or something. Just a weird choice.
I was really surprised by some of the comments Phillips made to the Trib about the officials. I would agree that they missed a couple but I haven't been to a game all season that was called perfectly. I mean, that's why college has so many replay reviews. Calling them "junior high officials" was below the belt.
Won't argue with him that some of the venue choices are a bit questionable but it wasn't easy to get to for either squad. I think they were trying to use one school for multiple games. Not sure if there were issues getting enough refs and that's why they did it but it wasn't something that gave anyone an advantage.
That's actually cool. Hopefully Akron will accommodate her and allow her to wear that number out there. Please keep us updated on her college adventure. Very exciting.
Yes, I was taken aback reading that as well.
A little background though. That gym has a very short ceiling. It meets the PIAA minimum of 23', but just barely.
When you have a hitter like Hazleton, a dig goes pretty high, and we hit the ceiling probably a half a dozen times. That definitely was advantage PO.
Also, we're all pretty sure the net was higher than regulation. Our girls were all hitting the net in warmups with perfect sets, and THAT is very uncharacteristic. I saw Reese go up and measure the net with her arms, and she then went and talked to her teammates.
It was brought to the officials attention, and they ignored it. You'd think they would have simply measured the net to be sure??? It got into our girl's heads because we only have 2 girls who are tall enough to play with a high net with ease. Our other two big hitters are 5'8" and have to jump out of their shoes to hit.
The officials really missed some obvious infractions, an obvious 4 hit series on PO and a couple phamtom net calls. The final point my granddaughter was called for a net infraction, but she swears she didn't touch the tape, and she doesn't lie. You can't see it in the replay.
Phillips also got a yellow card, which we have NEVER seen before and we got called for being out of rotation on a point, something I've never seen in 4 years of watching this team??
So, no way is Freeport blaming the officials for losing, that was strictly on our play, but from our perspective, the officiating was poor and the facility was horrible.
Funny, the next round is at Keystone HS in Knox. Another small A school gym! You wonder what the PIAA is thinking??? We might go up and watch this one because it will be a great match.
I wonder if Phillips will be disciplined in some fashion over this??
Already done! She's thrilled.
I had to laugh because the girl Pitt signed from the WPIAL was highlighted by saying she only struck out 5 times in her WPIAL career.
Well, Syd racked up 3 of those! LOL
Freeport breezed through their regular season without losing a set in 2A competition.
Beaver did the same.
They lost their first sets when they played each other in the WPIAL playoffs.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think PO hasn't lost a set this year either.
I'm not sure who will win the Beaver/PO match. I lean toward PO, but Beaver's size could give them problems.
They both play good defense, but I think PO is slightly better there.
Pretty sure PO is the better serving team.
Two strong squads though. Will be a really good match.
If the Freeprt/PO game had officials from D9 it probably was an issue. They really are not good and do not attempt to improve. It has been an issue before in the state playoffs because game moves to fast. Also, they really do not understand the more modern volleyball game and officiate like the game is being played in the 1980's.
I did see a pretty nice dig on Reese go straight up and straight back down. I don't really understand the reasoning for the gym selection but like I mentioned in another post, it seems kind of random. One of our biggest rivals has a gym with a low ceiling that is complicated by the steel super structure. It really is a big deal so I get that.
The four hit sequence was a bad call. I had to go back and re-watch the rotation call four or five times and I think she was calling the movement of the the players prior to the serve putting someone in the wrong place. Very pretty soft call. Don't really have an answer for the net height. That should have been measured prior but it's so easily correctable that you'd think it would be easy to address if the coach asked. Not sure with the net calls but I'm familiar with how those end up getting called. I always tell my daughter that even NCAA officials struggle with calls when things are moving so fast but at least they have replay. It's a tough game to call.
Not sure what part of the state has a full compliment of good officials. We had to play away in our only district playoff game and the home team had three officials that are connected to the school. Game ended on a ridiculous lift call. Point could have extended the set. I've noticed that a lot of these officials are really old. I'm thinking that once my daughter graduates, I'm going to pick up a whistle. It's been a long time since I've officiated anything but I enjoy volleyball. Figure I can do some AAU work over the winter, too.
You make an excellent point.
They should never have a match end on a soft call. Let the kids play.
No one goes to watch the officials.
Honestly, you could call double hit, net violation, lift, rotation error on dozens of plays. Why wait until a match settling point??
They need to have some awareness. If a call is blatant, fine, that's the game. But these phantom calls are BS!
I think some of this was retribution on Phillips for being so upset and vocal about not calling the 4 hit play.
Calling the ball in or out on close plays is part of the game. Much worse when the kids are doing it. It is very hard at times and I think everyone gets it. Those seem to balance out.
Retribution is just as bad as the coach carrying on.
My biggest problem with up officials is that they rarely call the R2 or line judges over to get clarification on a call. I know they don't want to slow the game down but I thought the down ref was more active than any other R2 I've seen all year and you're probably right about the retribution. Now, some coaches like to try to sell calls and seed doubt on things that are close. Like, if you have a good blocker, they go out of their way to say she's tipping balls that go long. I saw one coach, this year, do it to the point it was whipping up the crowd by sending her captain over to constantly ask for the call and that should have gotten a yellow card.
At least they use four adults in the playoffs. Still can't get over how it's completely normal to use two JV players to call lines during varsity games.
The officials in our regular season games are great. They make the obvious calls, and don't inject themselves with unnecessary "technical" calls.
It all changes when you get into the playoffs. It is quite noticeable and annoying. Not to mention unnecessary.
The kids should decide the games through their skill and play. Not some goofy subjective judgement call. But it is what it is.
Our seniors record over their 4 years was impressive.
1 PIAA championship
2 WPIAL championships
1 WPIAL runner up
4 Section champ titles.
48-4 section record (39-1 excluding their freshman year.)
For an example, look at the end of the Pitt - FSU match last weekend. Florida State got away with a player reaching way over the net to play a ball, and neither official noticed it. It was clear on the replay what had happened, but for some reason that is not a call that can be challenged in college.
That's a good example of a rule that never gets called the same. Not sure why some calls can be challenged and some can't.
Sometimes you're allowed to go over the net and sometimes you're not.
You can to block.
You can if ball isn't 100% over the plane of the net. (Good luck calling that correctly)
You can't any other time!
In HS, you do it all without video replay. LOL
If the attacking side is trying to play the ball, you cannot. If they're not, you can abuse their back middle. Of course, the official has to decide when attacking is happening and yada, yada.
Since we discussed it before, my daughter is getting her offer today for another club season. Our club had a record number of girls try out. She was sweating the fact that she didn't try out for another club. Rosters were posted with letters due to arrive today. Was tense but she's moving over to middle after playing opposite last winter. She's been playing middle for her JV team so it's good.
Club is where it's at if you're serious about the sport. Same as softball.
Funny, Reese asked my granddaughter which club she played for and she said none! She was shocked, said she should, but volleyball isn't her sport.
They were talking on the broadcast that she's probably the only All State VB player who doesn't play club! That's probably true.
How tall is your daughter? So glad its working out for her. Some of these club teams are pretty elite. She'll get great coaching and experience, as I'm sure you well know.
HS is a crapshoot depending on who happens to be there with you. Club is the best of the best, and the rosters are manufactured for strength.
Completely different animal!
Softball coaches say don't even pay attention to HS. They recruit travel ball exclusively!
Best of luck to her going forward. It sure is fun to watch!!
Yeah, that's pretty rare. We have a junior that was all district who doesn't play club so it happens.
She's 5'9" and still growing. She didn't make the national team but that's okay. She's a couple of years behind some of those girls as she has only been playing for 2-1/2 years. She needs the practice but she also needs to elevate more and work on her timing. Strength and plyometrics will be part of the winter routine. Not sure if college is in her future (she knows she's not anywhere near a D-1 talent) but she wants to at least be the best she can be.
Side note, she may be better at throwing discus and javelin. The two events correlate well with VB. Looking for a club to at least affiliate with but there isn't anything out here. Would like to at least get her in a couple meets next summer. Same deal as VB. She needs to improve strength. She likes winning more than anything so she understands the assignment.
PO had little trouble eliminating Beaver.
Pretty much the way I thought it would go.
Hazleton in beast mode early.
Lyst kept hitting but a lot over the line.
PO up 2-0 Beaver wins set 3, but PO wins a close one to close it out.
Also Hampton sweeps NC behind Emmy Schrom. Another old nemesis from our days in 3A. Those were some epic battles.
We won 2, and the WPIAL, they won 2 and made it to PIAA finals and lost.
Pretty much the way I thought it would go.
Hazleton in beast mode early.
Lyst kept hitting but a lot over the line.
PO up 2-0 Beaver wins set 3, but PO wins a close one to close it out.
Also Hampton sweeps NC behind Emmy Schrom. Another old nemesis from our days in 3A. Those were some epic battles.
We won 2, and the WPIAL, they won 2 and made it to PIAA finals and lost.
Wonder how many of their girls play for PGH Elite? You don't have that sort of success without a ton of offseason playing time.
Beaver is just young and it showed. They got a little rattled a couple times and made too many service receive errors. They're just going to get better.
They aren't that young, they lose Lyst for sure, and a couple back row players too.
I'll give you PO being the more experienced, battle tested team. They put a full compliment of seniors out there.
They will be hard to beat.
As far as getting rattled, PO will do that to you. They are a very good serving team, and Hazleton causes teams to over adjust creating opportunities for others. When we played Beaver, Lyst had a tendency to over hit her spikes and that continued in this game.
Freeport won't be nearly as good next year, losing 4 senior starters and moving up to 3A again. Hampton, North Catholic, Mars, Armstrong, etc. are far better than the teams they faced in section this year.
