Mahanoy sweeps Weatherly in volleyball

MAHANOY CITY – Weatherly volleyball team got a taste of what playoff fever is all about.

The Wreckers got to experience some unchartered waters in losing 25-10, 25-12,d 25-15 to a strong Mahanoy Area team in the District 11 Class A quarterfinals.

The key in the eyes of first-year coach Nikki Hinkle is can her team build on the experience? “I hope so,” she said with a smile.

“This is huge, my first year coming in, a completely different approach, with this new way of playing,” said Hinkle. “ I couldn’t be more proud of them making it to the playoffs.”

On the other side of the net, the Golden Bears are seasoned enough to run up an impressive 13-4 record. They head into the semifinals to face Nativity, a familiar Schuylkill League foe, who the Bears upset late in the season.

“We got to keep firing on all cylinders, and we’ve got to play mistake-free volleyball,” said Mahanoy Area coach Jason Green. “There’s no tomorrow, you’ve got to play like there’s no tomorrow.”

Indeed the Bears were playing on a high string from the start. Mahanoy broke away from a 6-3 lead in the opening set and outscored Weatherly 14-2 relying on the superb play junior middle hitter Allison Scheeler, freshman outside hitter Emily Lawrence, sophomore Caitlin Honus and junior Kendall Bernardyn.

Honus strung out 30 assists and a pair of aces in the match while Lawrence had nine kills and six digs. Toss in 10 kills by Bernardyn and six kills from Scheeler and the domination shows up not only on the scoreboard but the stats sheet too.

Obviously there was no lack of focus from the winners. “We want to continue our good run,” said Green. “We got a taste of it last year. I expect us to play to the best of our ability and to keep getting better.”

In the second set, Mahanoy Area took command in the middle. Leading 9-5, the Bears zoomed to a 21-10 lead registering four aces in the march.

Yet Weatherly stayed fluid and showed up big in the third set.

Trailing 16-7, the Wreckers made a stab at cutting into the deficit, rallying around the strong play of senior Samantha Andreuzzi, juniors Emily Zoscin, Deanna Strouse, Nikkie Polivka and Samantha Paisley.

“We did some nice things late,” continued Hinkle as the Wreckers sliced the lead down to 16-11, picking up a key ace by Katie Graham in the rally. “We can build off this. We have numbers with 10 players coming back.

“Now our job is to get more players to come out and get prepared for next season.”

STANDOUTS… Both sides had their share of performers. Weatherly’s departing senior Andreuzzi had a bang up night and fellow senior Necarlly Serrata (10 assists) did as well. They are the only two seniors on the roster. Bernardyn’s outside hitting along with Lawrence were impressive for the winners. Zoscin played well with five kills and seven digs while Graham had three kills and five digs

NERVOUS ENERGY… Weatherly gave up 13 points on unforced errors in the first set, eight in the second and eight in the final set.

DOUBLE BUBBLE… Mahanoy will face Nativity and Marian meets Salem Christian Thursday at Blue Mountain in a doubleheader. The winners advance to the district title game next Tuesday.