Norwin stops Raiders in semis
BRIDGEVILLE — While North Allegheny and Seneca Valley were ranked first and second, respectively, in the state boys volleyball rankings, Raiders coach Dan Mountain wasn't overlooking another team this year.
That team proved to keep the Raiders out of the WPIAL Class AAA title game.
Norwin, the No. 3 seed in the WPIAL playoffs, grabbed the first two games against the second-ranked Raiders and came away with a 25-21, 26-24, 12-25, 25-20 semifinal victory at Chartiers Valley High School.
The Knights (15-1) will face North Allegheny, a 3-2 winner over Bethel Park in the other semifinal game, on Friday. The Raiders will play the Black Hawks in the consolation game at 6 p.m. Friday with the winner getting the third and final PIAA playoff berth.
“I thought all year, along with us, it was Norwin and North Allegheny,” Mountain said. “They are definitely worthy. They have a lot of talent.”
The pivotal part of the match was Game 2, when the Raiders, having lost the first game, tried to even things up.
The Raiders trailed by as much as seven, 16-9, but a 10-3 run — highlighted by kills from Max McCloskey and Brian Pudlo, as well as a service ace by Pudlo — tied the game at 19.
The Knights would build the lead back to 24-21, before the Raiders tallied the next three points — the last a Norwin net error — to knot the game.
Norwin, however, received a kill by Chad Brough and a net violation by Seneca Valley to put the Knights up 2-0.
“(Seneca Valley's) really good,” Norwin coach Allen Warden said. “We were lucky enough to get the serve advantage early on. That carried us the first two games.
“We switched our line in Game 4. They knew what we were doing. ... We did a pretty good job scouting, my assistant coach at least, and knew who their bigger hitters were.”
“We're used to hitting around other teams,” Mountain said. “We're bigger than other teams. Norwin was able to get the blocks.”
In Game 3, the Raiders got their first big roll, racing out to an early 7-1 lead before Norwin sliced the deficit down to two, 9-7, thanks to a couple of errors by the Raiders and a block from Brian Ross.
Seneca Valley took charge the rest of the set, outscoring the Knights 16-5 — including a 7-0 run to take a 24-10 lead.
Said Warden, “I told our kids to play with a little desperation. We had to be physical. Now we have to go out and win it.”
The Raiders had difficulty mounting that momentum into the fourth game, which saw nine ties, the last at 15-all before Norwin scored the next three points, including a Jeff Springer kill and a Nick Idele tip-over, to take the lead for good.
The Raiders didn't falter, however, as they cut the deficit to one point twice, the final time at 21-20 following an Alex Berner kill. Norwin, though, countered with a Chad Brough point, a block by Nate Derry, a service ace by Nick Nguyen and a Derry kill, to close out the match.
“They wanted the chance at the gold medal after last year,” Mountain said of his team, which lost to North Allegheny 3-1 in the WPIAL finals in 2011. “I told them so many teams in the state want to be here.”
The Raiders received nine kills apiece from Pudlo and Berner, eight kills and six blocks from Eric Speicher, eight kills and five blocks from Albert and 45 assists from McCloskey.
Idele and Derry led the Knights with 10 and nine kills, respectively.
