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Bald Eagle volleyball hopes for bounce-back win in first round of states

By HENRY HUBER 3 min read

WELLSBORO – Bald Eagle volleyball’s second state-tournament appearance in two seasons officially begins on Tuesday.

In the first round of the PIAA Class AAA championships, the Eagles (16-4) will be facing a formidable foe in District 4 champion Wellsboro (19-3) on the road. They’re hoping to make it to back-to-back quarterfinal bids after opening last year’s tournament with a 3-0 win over Hopewell.

That first-round match begins at 5 p.m.

While not being named in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaching Association’s (PVCA) rankings for Class 3A, the Hornets have put together a commendable campaign.

Wellsboro went into the District 4 Class AAA tournament as the No. 1 seed and came out of it without dropping a set, repping an eight-match win streak. Their 86 percent win rate is among the top five in the Class 3A field, and they’re making their second states appearance in the last three seasons under head coach Darci Pollock.

Offensively, the Hornets are led by junior outside hitters Peyton Keane and Kendall Sweet and middle hitter Ady Frantz, who each have 180 or more kills on the season. Frantz and Sweet have potent serves, with 135 combined aces. And Ellie Largey and Jillian Mickey have each proven capable at setter, with 790 combined assists.

Defensively, senior libero Maddy Cruttenden leads the team with 427 digs while Keane, Sweet, Mickey and Largy all have over 130 in the category.

“District 4 is a bit of a different animal. They play a different type of volleyball,” said Bald Eagle volleyball head coach Larry Campbell when discussing the team’s round-one opponent. “We have one common opponent that we’ve both played (Williamsport), so we’ll kind of see where we go from there.”

Though the Eagles rep the freshest loss, having fallen to Richland, 3-2, in Saturday’s D6-AAA championship, there’s plenty of reason for Bald Eagle to be confident heading into Tuesday. For one, the Rams are state-ranked No. 3 in Class AAA according to the PVCA, so that narrow loss reflects competitiveness against the state’s elite.

Against common opponents, the Eagles do have an edge. In mid October, Bald Eagle faced Williamsport, sweeping the Millionaires 3-0. Wellsboro faced Williamsport back in September and suffered a 3-2 loss in that matchup on the road.

On Saturday, two Eagles finished with 19 or more kills against the Rams in juniors Emily Smith and Kinsey Clark, with Clark leading the team with 23 digs. Addelyn Fisher had double-digit aces with ten alongside six kills, and freshman setter Ella Simpson had a match-high 45 assists.

Facing a 2-0 set deficit, the team outscored Richland 50-34 in the next two sets to force a fifth set, doing so with one starter sick and multiple others banged up. Even in defeat, it was a performance that mirrored what’s been a successful last three weeks of volleyball for the program.

Bald Eagle finished a grueling LHAC tournament in late October as a runner-up, defeating Richland before falling to one of Class 5A’s top teams in Hollidaysburg, 3-1, a team it previously beat the week prior. It swept Huntingdon and West Shamokin – another state-ranked team – in route to Saturday’s district final, and has won six of its last eight matches while facing multiple tough foes.

“There’s no roll over,” said Campbell when discussing the team following Saturday’s performance. “My main takeaway is that we’re ready to be tough in the state tournament.”

The winner of Tuesday’s first-round matchup faces the winner of District 12 champ Neumann Goretti (4-8) and District 11 champ Allentown CC (16-4) in the quarterfinals. That quarterfinal match is set for Saturday, at a location and time to be determined.

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