November 5, 2009 — Cochranton put itself in quite a precarious situation last season when a loss to Saegertown pit the Cardinals against rival Maplewood in the District 10 Class A semifinals.
The Cards wound up losing to the Tigers in a classic ending their chance at a record-tying fifth straight District 10 title and a trip to the PIAA state playoffs.
Goal No. 1 for head coach Marci Malliard and Co. this year was to not let that happen again. But nothing the Cardinals did during Wednesday’s District 10 Class A quarterfinals at Meadville High School’s House of Thrills could control what Maplewood did on the other side of the bracket. And for a while, it looked like the Tigers might spoil plans.
But the Tigers wound up pulling off the most thrilling win of the tournament yesterday, downing unbeaten Sharpsville, 26-28, 25-20, 25-15, in the evening’s final match to win Pool A, prolonging a meeting with the Cardinals for at least another round.
Maplewood also defeated Mercer, 25-11, 25-11, to finish a perfect 2-0 in its pool. Cochranton went 2-0 in Pool B with wins over Youngsville (25-7, 25-22) and Jamestown (25-13, 25-23).
“I knew Sharpsville was going to give us a good match,” Maplewood coach Sheila Bancroft said. “And they did. They made us play. Fortunately, we had to play all year. That’s a key.
“Our region is tough, and night in and night out we had to play every night. We played from behind a lot of times and that was a benefit to us (last night).”
Sharpsville came into the tournament as the Region 1 champion with a record of 16-0 and opened with a relatively easy 25-8, 25-23 win over Region 1 foe Mercer. The Blue Devils couldn’t maintain that momentum, however, against the Tigers and fell behind early, trailing by as many as five.
But Sharpsville, looking to prove it can play with District 10’s elite like Cochranton and Maplewood, ranked seventh and 10th, respectively, in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s latest state rankings, didn’t give up and eventually rallied back to tie the game at 24-all. It went on to win the game, 28-26, putting the Tigers’ backs against the wall.
Maplewood, though, led by Lindsay Hasbrouck and Nicole Brunot, rose to the challenge. Hasbrouck finished the Sharpsville match with 17 kills, while Brunot added 16. Aleah Mailliard chipped in with 26 digs and eight points, including three aces.
The real story for the Tigers, however, may have been the play of sophomores Olivia Graff and Emma Parker. Graff had 42 assists and four aces against the Blue Devils. Parker had nine kills after recording five in the win over Mercer.
“They stepped up very big,” Bancroft said. “Olivia got to some bad passes. And Emma, I switched her off to the right side where she has a tendancy to be more comfortable and it paid off. There was a stuff block and then two kills like boom, boom, boom. Those are big plays for a sophomore.
“They’ve matured a lot this season.” And were huge in taming the Blue Devils.
“I’mhappy with the way my girls played,” Sharpsville coach Scott Scurpa said. “We got in a little serve-receive rutt. We weren’t passing the ball. And instead of hitting at them, they were hitting at us.
“Maplewood is a great program. I’m just happy our girls can come up here and know they can compete with the teams up here.”
Sharpsville gets a shot to do it again on Saturday when it meets the Cardinals (16-0) in the semifinals at noon back at the House of Thrills.
The Cardinals had an interesting start to the tournament. Cochranton handled both of its opponents in the first game, but got into a battle with each in the second set.
Malliard said she thinks her team might have gotten a little too comfortable against the Eagles, but really got a test in its second game with the Muskies.
“We couldn’t put the ball to the floor (against Jamestown),” she said. “They played great defense. We passed well, we just couldn’t find the floor. Then you have those fluky things, those off plays that just happen and there you go.”
Jamestown went 0-2 during pool play — also falling to Youngsville, 25-14, 25-17 — and ended its season at 17-4. The Eagles (13-3) will meet Maplewood (13-3) in the semifinals on Saturday at noon.
The semifinal winners automatically advance to the PIAA tournament and will face each other at 2 p.m. for the District 10 title.
Local Sports
Cardinals and Tigers win pools, advance to semis
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DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Big Reds shut down Lions
SLIPPERY ROCK — The Linesville baseball team, with its mix of experienced and lesser-experienced players, has been capable of two different kinds of games this season.
The first is the sharp, skillful kind of effort the Lions put together Monday in their 10-7 win over Cochranton in the District 10 Class A quarterfinals. -
DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Mercyhurst outslugs Lake in D-10 semis
ERIE — After a District 10 Class A championship game appearance last year, the Conneaut Lake baseball team lost four seniors who were important to the team’s success.
Even though the talented quartet graduated and Lake featured just three seniors this year, the team came together and reached the district semifinals. The team’s end result, and the school’s last game as a baseball team due to Conneaut Lake, Conneaut Valley, and Linesville consolidating into Conneaut Area Senior High, was a 15-4 loss in six innings to Mercyhurst Prep on Friday at Ainsworth Field in Erie. -
DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Panthers edge Tigers, reach D-10 title game
ERIE — The Saegertown baseball team made an art form of compiling mercy rule wins this season. Nearly all of the Panthers’ 20 regular season victories were by 10 runs or more, as double-digit hits and runs scored were the norm.
The playoffs have been a different beast for the defending District 10 Class AA champion Cats, but they continue to find ways to win. -
BOYS VOLLEYBALL: Cardinals come back from losers’ bracket to win D-10 title
The very first word spoken by Cochranton boys volleyball coach Brad Custead in his post-match interview will sum up Friday night’s District 10 championship finale better than all the words that follow it.
“Incredible,” he said. -
Bulldogs' trio ready for state track and field meet
Meadville’s best now look to be among Pennsylvania’s best as Paige Kassab, Chaykala Lindsey and Heather Sternby compete in the PIAA Class AAA Track and Field Championships, which run Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium.
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D-10 SOFTBALL: Tigers no-hit in loss to Braves
HARBORCREEK TOWNSHIP — The Maplewood softball team had no answer for Iroquois starting pitcher Megan Martin on Tuesday during the District 10 Class AA quarterfinals on the campus of Penn State Behrend in Erie.
Martin worked around two errors during a no-hitter that included zero walks. And the Braves’ offense was sure to back her up during Iroquois’ 10-0 victory in five innings. -
D-10 BASEBALL: Prep rolls past ’Dogs in four innings
ERIE — Hitting, they say, is contagious. And the Cathedral Prep baseball team had a full-blown outbreak against Meadville on Tuesday at Ainsworth Field, notching 13 base hits in a 16-1, four-inning rout of the Bulldogs during opening round action of the District 10 Class AAA playoffs.
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DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Lake storms past Eisenhower
ERIE — The Conneaut Lake baseball team started off its postseason with a bang. Numerous bangs, actually.
The Indians (12-7) slugged 19 base hits while bumping off Eisenhower 15-5 in six innings during opening round action in the District 10 Class A playoff tournament Monday at Ainsworth Field. -
DISTRICT 10 BASEBALL: Lions top Cards
ERIE — If this story had to describe every clutch hit, gutsy pitch, run-saving defensive play, or momentum-shifting moment during Monday’s playoff classic between Region 3 foes Cochranton and Linesville; there wouldn’t be room for much else in today’s newspaper.
The bottom line is: You should have been there. -
BOYS VOLLEYBALL: Bulldogs stop Trojans to cap perfect region slate
Meadville junior Matt Izbinski laced a hard spike down the line, and so ended the regular season for the Bulldogs boys volleyball team — with a 3-1 win over McDowell, and a 9-0 run through Region 1. It all summed up on Friday night at the House of Thrills.
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