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Penns Valley volleyball closes season in D6-AA semis, falls to Northern Cambria, 3-1

By KENNY VARNER 3 min read

SPRING MILLS – Looking back at the season, the Penns Valley girls volleyball team will have a lot to be proud of. Sporting a sparkling 20-2 record, the Rams hosted 14-5 Northern Cambria at Penns Valley in the semifinals of the District 6 Class AA playoffs.

Things started out strong for the Rams, as they won the first set 29-27. However, the Colts were able to win a close second set, 25-22. In the final two games, Penns Valley left everything it had on the court, but succumbed to a 3-1 loss, losing the final two sets, 25-16.

"I am beyond proud of this team. I mean, they’ve had the best record in Penns Valley history. We were the first ever Penn Valley team to be the number one seed," said Penns Valley coach Skylar Fleshman. "A lot of good things happened this year, and yes, it didn't go our way tonight. But what I can say about our team is we fought until the very last point."

The battle started immediately in the first game.

The Colts started with an ace by Quinn Bernecky. A block at the net by Penns Valley's Nova Kerstetter evened things at one and that would start the side out exchanges. With a service point from Caroline Wert, Penns Valley took a 3-2 lead.

Northern Cambria battled back to tie the score.

But the Rams forced another side out and was able to add to the lead. And with Sydnie Dalton at the service line, the home team added two more points to go up 6-3, with Jordan Johnson slamming a shot to pick up a point within the run.

Penns Valley would maintain that lead to 8-5 before the Colts rolled out five consecutive points. Four of those came from Ally Lieb at the service line, putting her team on top 10-8.

Penns Valley had an answer for the mini run as they battled to score the next four points, three from Taylor Homan. The game would go back-and-forth like that for the rest of the set, with Northern Cambria holding game point at 24-23 late.

Ultimately, the Rams’ patience paid off as they let the serve go long, tying the set and getting the ball back in their possession. The teams traded points to 27-27. Then, Penns Valley went up by one when Peyton Confer blasted a shot in opening in the middle. Wert then put the set on ice as she hit a cross court slam in the back corner for the 29-27 victory.

In the second game, the Rams held a large 9-3 lead before the Colts started to find their shots and openings in the Rams defense. Northern Cambria took the momentum to tie the contest. Both teams were once again locked in a battle as the two were tied at 21. But the Colts were able to get hot when they needed to, taking the hard-fought set, 25-22.

In the final two games, the Rams battled hard and made some memorable saves and scores to stay in the contests. But on this night, the Colts just had a little more in the tank.

"They’ve always battled. This team is the most resilient team. They want to work. We don’t care what the score is. This is the best team that I’ve ever coached, and they will come back, and they will fight," said Fleshman. So, especially that first set, when we went, however many points, over almost 30 points, they never stopped fighting."

Starting at /week.