Cardinals and Tigers win pools, advance to semis

Local Sports

Discussion

November 4, 2009

By Lisa Byers The Meadville Tribune Wed Nov 04, 2009, 11:23 PM EST

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.

Text Only

Local Sports

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Indians notch win despite shooting, rebounding woes
CONNEAUTVILLE — Many believe strange things happen when there’s a full moon in the sky. Perhaps they happen even a few days later.
Conneaut Valley shot under 24 percent from the field and was out-rebounded 32-20 on Thursday night. But the Indians found a way as they wrapped up at least a share of the Region 3 girls basketball title with a 36-23 win over Cochranton.

February 10, 2012
WRESTLING: Close decisions push Bears past Blue Devils
CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — Non-region wrestling foes Union City and Cambridge Springs seemed to want to savor nearly every second of their respective regular season finales.
Going head-to-head Thursday night, eight of the 12 contested bouts went the distance; seven of them were won by decision; and five of those seven were decided by two points or less.

February 10, 2012
Maplewood could be getting a Little Gridders program
It’s still in the early stages, but Maplewood football could be welcoming a new team into its community come August.

February 8, 2012
Lady Scots roar back vs. Knights
Edinboro had trailed just once at halftime heading into Wednesday night’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference women’s basketball showdown with Gannon.

February 8, 2012
Lancers roll through MASH wrestlers
It was the Meadville seniors’ party, but they were the only ones that really got to enjoy it, as the Bulldogs’ two 12th-graders were MASH’s only winners on the mat during a 56-15 loss to a talented General McLane squad on Wednesday at the House of Thrills.

February 8, 2012
Farell beats Meadville
The Meadville boys basketball team hits the road on Friday, traveling to Grove City.

February 7, 2012
Panthers earn huge win
ne of the perks of playing boys basketball in Region 4 is that what you do during the first month and a half of the season can, if you’re lucky, be forgotten. It’s those games within the region that matter the most.

February 7, 2012
MASH swimming falls to Lakers
The Meadville swim team faced one of its last big challenges of the season against Mercyhurst Prep at the Meadville Recreation Complex on Monday and, early on, both the boys and the girls were up to the challenge. After the diving break, however, the Lakers put the meet away.

February 6, 2012
Meadville downs rival Prep
Facing its private-school rival from up north, the Meadville Bulldogs hockey team put together one of its best performances of the season, sending Cathedral Prep back to Erie with a 4-1 defeat on Monday at the DeArment Ice Arena.

February 6, 2012
D-10 CLASS AA DUALS: Bison win title, snap Reynolds’ streak of seven straight
EDINBORO — As if it was destiny, wrestling powerhouses Fort LeBoeuf and Reynolds met in the District 10 Class AA Team Dual final on Saturday at Edinboro University’s McComb Fieldhouse.
After Fort LeBoeuf earned a paper-thin 28-27 win over Reynolds on Jan. 21 that came down to the tiebreaker, the Bison once again came out on top. The Bison made up for last year’s loss to the Raiders in the final by earning a 31-28 victory on Saturday.

February 5, 2012
More Local Sports Headlines

Mitt Romney has surged to major campaign wins in recent weeks. If he is the GOP candidate for president:

Local Sports

Search Results

Discussion

Cardinals and Tigers win pools, advance to semis

Mitt Romney has surged to major campaign wins in recent weeks. If he is the GOP candidate for president:

Site Map

Contact Us