Hazleton Area Falls To Abington In Title Match
By KEVIN KEARNEY [email protected]
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 Page: 3B
CLARKS SUMMIT – An off night can sneak up on any team. That night came Tuesday
for the Hazleton Area girls volleyball team, and at the most inopportune time.
The Lady Cougars managed to squeak by Wyoming Valley West in the District 2
Class 3A semifinals, but never threatened Abington Heights in the finals, as
the Lady Comets captured district gold with consecutive set wins, 15-8, 15-3.
“We made countless amounts of unforced errors,” said Hazleton coach Cal
Ferrari, whose Cougars were the 2000 district champions. “We just got into a
slump and didn’t execute.”
While the Lady Cougars struggled, Abington excelled. It took Hazleton three
sets to get by Valley West, 15-9, 15-17, 15-9. The Lady Comets advanced to the
championship game after defeating Delaware Valley, 15-10, 21-19, in the
semifinals. They then watched as Hazleton struggled with Valley West.
“We had time to rest and I think that gave us a bit of an advantage,”
Abington coach Sue Dempsey said. “We were pumped. This has been a long time
coming.”
The Lady Cougars took an early lead in the first set, using two Joy
Gallagher kills and an ace by Melissa Klinke to jump out to a 3-0 advantage.
But Abington stole the momentum by scoring 10 of the next 12 points.
Monica Burkavage led the run by recording four kills and Kristen Wynn added
four service points as the Lady Comets took a 10-5 lead. Hazleton cut the
deficit to two after two aces by Erin Miller, followed by a Lindsey Kost kill.
The Lady Comets answered with five consecutive points to take the set.
“They made the right plays at the right time,” Ferrari said of the Lady
Comets. “They just had our number.”
Abington finished off the Lady Cougars with a convincing 15-3 win in the
final set. Wynn recorded four aces and six service points, and Jen Beck added
four assists.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Ferrari, whose team finishes the
season at 13-7. “We know we’re as good as they are, but we certainly didn’t
show it to anyone in this gym tonight.”
In the semifinals, the Lady Cougars took the opening set, 15-9, and jumped
out to a 7-1 lead in the second, but Valley West stormed back. Kristen
Mikolosko had an ace to go with two digs, and Annie Ritsick and Holli Janoski
each scored two service points as Valley West knotted the score at 15-15.
Consecutive aces by Erin McCormick gave the Lady Spartans the 17-15 win.
“I told the girls `Let’s just play our game,”’ Valley West coach Rick
Harned said of his team’s comeback. “We took the momentum but we couldn’t
keep it.”
The Lady Cougars quickly recovered to record a decisive 15-9 win to advance
to the championship.
“Our nerves just killed us in the last game,” Harned said.
Gallagher led Hazleton in the semifinals with 19 kills, six service points
and three aces. Jenna Umbriac and Francesca Chupela each added 14 and 13
service points, respectively. Kost notched 10 kills, three service points and
three aces.
Valley West (12-6) was led by McCormick’s 13 service points and six aces,
while Janoski scored seven service points.
