November 6, 2009 — In the game of volleyball, very little can be predicted. That became quite clear Thursday during the District 10 Class AA quarterfinals at Meadville High School’s House of Thrills.
Unpredictable, however, was just fine by General McLane and Meadville, who needed the bare minimum to decide their fate in Saturday’s semifinal round back at the House of Thrills. That wasn’t the case on the other side of the bracket.
While McLane and Meadville settled Pool B well ahead of schedule yesterday with the defending District 10 Class AA champions winning the pool and Meadville finishing second, it wasn’t until nearly two hours later that either of those teams knew just who they would be playing in Saturday’s semifinals. That is because there was an all out dogfight happening on the other side of the gym in Pool A, a fight that included unbeaten Wilmington falling into a one-game playoff with Warren for its survival.
In the end, it was Fort LeBoeuf coming away with the Pool A title and Wilmington hanging on for second place to put Fort LeBoeuf, Wilmington, Meadville and General McLane in the semifinals for the second year in a row.
“I tell the girls every day, ‘you haven’t done anything yet,’” General McLane coach Mike Merriam said. “These teams aren’t going to lay down. You have to bring it every play, every day. And that’s what we all saw here (last night).”
With that said, Merriam was extremely pleased with not only his team’s performance yesterday, but Fort LeBoeuf as well, and hopes that Erie County will begin earning some respect in volleyball. Last year, General McLane became the first team from outside Crawford County to win a District 10 championship in Class A or AA since 2000.
Never has a team outside of Crawford County won a title in either of those classifications two years in a row. There is a 75 percent chance of that happening Saturday.
“It’s commendable for Erie volleyball,” Merriam said. “Ft. LeBoeuf plays in our region. It speaks well that volleyball is maybe getting better here in Erie. We don’t get a good (reputation). Everyone thinks French Creek (Crawford County) volleyball is strong. Maybe now we’ll start getting some credit.”
They are part of the way there.
In order to get a chance at repeating that District 10 championship, though, General McLane will have to first get past Wilmington in a rematch of last year’s title match. The Greyhounds had their backs against the wall early when they suffered a two-game loss to Warren in pool play, but came back to beat Warren, 25-18, in a playoff to earn a spot in the semifinals.
On the other side, Meadville avoids that third meeting of the season with the Greyhounds for now and will face Fort LeBoeuf, which captured the Pool A title on tie-breaker criteria, in the semifinals.
The semifinals begin at 1 p.m. with the finals at 3 p.m.
Meadville is thankful for a second opportunity after not playing as well as it would have liked in pool play. The Bulldogs finished the pool at 2-1 with wins over North East (26-24, 25-18) and Harbor Creek (25-20, 25-10), but were not particularly thrilled with their performance against the Lancers.
Going into its match against the Lancers, Meadville already knew it had advanced to the semifinals.
“Knowing we were coming back on Saturday caused us to play a little relaxed, I think,” Meadville coach Tammy Webber said. “I told them to play aggressive, but we played a little tentative. You can’t do that against good teams. You have to play aggressive. They need to learn not to just play safe.”
Still, Webber is just thankful she wasn’t involved in the thrilling action on the other side of the gym.
“All it takes is one match,” Webber said. “We’ve seen it before. It really is unpredictable.”
Local Sports
’Dogs, Lancers 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.
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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. -
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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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