Seizing the sweep
MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Down six in the opening set of the PIAA Class 2A girls volleyball final, then tied with momentum gone in the middle of the next, Freeport needed to respond.
Their answer was that of a champion.
The Yellowjackets continued forward and won the state crown in three sets against York Catholic at Cumberland Valley High School Saturday afternoon — the scores being 25-21, 25-15, and 25-18.
“We talk about finishing,” Freeport coach Tom Phillips said. “We talk about working hard and finishing the match, finishing the game. In Game 1, once we started to get a little momentum and we started believing in ourselves a little bit, that changed the tide.
“Some timely kills, we really solidified our middles, and we had serving targets that we really worked on. We were very regimented as far as where we wanted to put the ball.”
In the first set, the Fighting Irish (23-2) owned 10 of the next 14 points after the scoreboard was leveled at eight. They climbed ahead, 18-12, before Phillips called a timeout.
The stoppage in play made a huge difference, as the ‘Jackets finished on a 12-3 run. Sophomore Leah Shrecongost helped the ‘Jackets (23-2) climb out of the hole with two kills and a block in that stretch. Junior Grace Beach had an ace and sophomore Alaina Whitlinger two kills to help the effort.
Freeport had knotted the score three times in the game, but hadn’t led up until it overtook York, 20-19.
“They’ve worked hard and battled,” York Catholic coach Phillip Autrey said. “When we let that run go in set one … We started watching what was happening on the court.”
Freeport put up six of the second game’s first seven points and got out to a 12-4 edge. The Fighting Irish pulled back even with points on eight straight serves and the teams were even twice more after that.
“In sets two and three, they (York Catholic) came back to playing the kind of volleyball that we do every day in the gym,” Autrey said. “But, at that point, Freeport was running on all cylinders and it was just going to be a tough battle to try to stop them.”
York missed the mark four times the rest of the way and four ‘Jackets — Shrecongost, Whitlinger, and juniors Sydney Selker and Josie Russo — finished off the set with scores.
“I literally couldn’t think of a better birthday present,” said Russo, who was also celebrating turning 17. “We worked so hard for this. Winning WPIALs and then winning states, it’s just unreal.”
The target issues that affected the Fighting Irish bled into the third game, as they’d commit four hitting errors in the initial eight serves. Still, senior Adeline Phillips kept her team in it with three straight kills, bringing the score to 8-7.
Freeport would allow York Catholic to get ahead briefly before ending matters with an 11-2 surge, including eight points in a row to put the match away.
“We just realized, ‘We have 25 more points,’” Russo said. “We refused to lose and just kept pushing.”
This marks the ‘Jackets first state championship since they won it all in 2017.
“Hard work pays off,” Phillips said before admitting that key senior Cassidy Dell was dealing with an injury. “She injured herself against Phillpsburg and we weren’t even sure if she was going to play today … She was outstanding.”
Dell turned in nine kills in the victory, while Russo had three blocks and five kills.
“I think we just pushed ourselves and we picked each other up and did it together as a team,” Whitlinger said.
