‘Surreal’ win gave Knoch its first title
Tri-State Sports & News Service
JOHNSTOWN — Hannah Rowe dropped to her knees and let out tears of joy after her block registered the final point in Knoch’s 3-2 win over defending champion Allentown Central Catholic in the PIAA Class 3A championship match, held Saturday at Johnstown RichlandHigh School.
“I didn’t even know how to react,” said Rowe, a sophomore middle hitter. “It was insane. The moment it happened felt so surreal. I don’t even know how todescribe it. It was an amazing feeling.”
The victory ended an improbable comeback from a 2-1 deficit and gave Knoch its first PIAA girls volleyball title. The Knights are also the first girls team in school history to claim astate title.
Knoch (24-0), the WPIAL champion, recorded a 26-24 victory in the first set. Allentown Central (22-4) rebounded with wins of 25-17 and 25-20 to take a 2-1lead.
“Everyone said take it one at a time. Just relax and play our game,” said sophomore middle hitter Kennedy Christy, when asked what was said in the huddle after the third set. “Just try as hard as we can and we know wewill come out as winners.”
The Knights posted a 25-18 victory to tie the match at 2-2. In the fifth set, the Knights rallied from a 10-7 deficit to pull out a 15-12 victory. Rowe accounted for the final three points with two kills and added a matchwinningblock.
“I had faith in my team,” Rowe said. “I knew from the start we were going to win. We just had to pull through and get extra momentum, the extra push that we’ve been getting all year.”
Knoch was led by senior middle hitter Sarah Armahizer,who recorded a match high21 kills and 14 blocks.
North Allegheny
Thefirst set of the Class 4A title match between North Allegheny and Bishop Shanahan wastied at 16-16 when Tigers senior Kayla Dinkins accounted for three straight points. The first two came on dominating blocksand the third on a powerfulkill.
That set the tone for the rest of the match. North Allegheny (23-0), the WPIAL champion, tookcharge from that point and rolled to a 3-0 sweep of the District1 champions.
North Allegheny (24-0) posteda 25-21 victory in the first set, then dominated 25-12 and 25-16 in the next two sets to claim its fourth PIAA title, and first since claiming three straight titles from 1992-94. It was the Tigers sixth appearance in the finals and first since 2008.
“We were clicking in all four phases of the game, serving, passing, blocking, and hitting,” North Allegheny coach Heidi Miller said. “It was clearly our best performance of the season. Wesaved the best for last.”
Mika Logan, a senior opposite, led North Allegheny with nine kills. Dinkins and Anna Sprys, a junior middle hitter, hadeight kills.
Freeport
Three of the four teams that claimed PIAA titles on Saturday were district champions. Freeport was the only district runner-up.
The Yellow Jackets suffered a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to Beaver in the WPIAL Class 2A title match. The two teams met again in the PIAA semifinals and Freeport avenged that loss with a 3-1 win to earn their first statetitle berth.
“The loss to Beaver played a big part in us winning the state title,” said Haley Graham, a junior middle hitter. “After that loss, we said we’re never losing again and we’re going all the way,no matter what it takes.”
Freeport (21-4) posted a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over District 3 champion Delone Catholic (20-1) in Saturday’s title match. It’s the first PIAA title in school history, in any sport.
Allison DeJidas, a junior opposite, capped the victory with the last of her match-high 20 kills.