By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, October 30, 2022 | 11:01 AM

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review

Quaker Valley’s Vanessa Pickett hits against Burrell during WPIAL 2A first round volleyball action Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at Avonworth High School.

Quaker Valley veteran girls volleyball coach Mike Vavrek knew his team was talented this season.

The QV netters finished third in Section 4-2A with an 11-3 record behind only Avonworth (13-1) and Central Valley (12-2).

“At the start of the season, I expected this team to work hard and improve every day they stepped in the gym,” Vavrek said. “I knew we had a talented team that would be very competitive in every match, and we had to learn how to finish out games.”

Quaker Valley went from being unranked in Class 2A in the Western PA Coaches Association WPIAL girls volleyball top 10 poll to No. 5 early on.

Quaker Valley split decisions with Central Valley this year and lost twice to Avonworth. The Quakers ended up 15-3 overall and won 12 times by 3-0 scores.

The QV girls settled in at a No. 4 ranking for most of the season and landed the fifth seed in 2A for the WPIAL playoffs.

QV was scheduled to play No.12 Burrell on Oct. 26 in a first-round match. Burrell defeated Fort Cherry, 3-1, in the preliminaries.

A total of 21 teams advanced to the 2A tournament including five from Section 4-2A — Avonworth, Central Valley, Quaker Valley, Hopewell and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Needless to say, Vavrek anxiously awaited the start of the tournament.

“I expect us to continue to work hard and be very competitive,” he said. “A lot of these girls are in their first playoff action this year and I’m looking forward to seeing them compete.”

One of the Quakers’ biggest wins of the season was a 3-0 decision against South Park, the Section 2-2A champion with a 14-0 record.

“I think the big thing with that match was we served them very tough and took them out of their offensive system, which led to them making a lot of mistakes that we capitalized on,” Vavrek said. “On our end, we passed pretty well and took care of the ball, really limiting our mistakes.”

Quaker Valley won nine of its first 10 matches before losing twice at midseason. The Quakers headed into the playoffs riding a six-game winning streak.

“I thought we played fairly consistent volleyball for the most part in the regular season,” Vavrek said. “I think we have been working hard and improving in some of the areas that we need improvement in.”

QV’s veteran coach — Vavrek has coached at QV for 12 years after coaching at Sto-Rox for six seasons — consistently used three seniors, two juniors and three sophomores in his starting rotation.

“Our lineup has been the same for the entire year,” Vavrek said. “We play eight girls in our rotation.”

Senior starters consist of libero Hannah Lubert, middle hitter Kathryn Karwoski and setter Shayna Cunnard.

“I think these three seniors have done a great job leading this team,” Vavrek said. “They have created a great culture in our gym. This entire group just really plays well together, gets along well, and the seniors have played a big part in that.”

The two juniors in the lineup are Katelyn Clark, a middle hitter, and Annica Kagle, a right-side hitter.

Sophomore starters consist of outside hitters Molly MacDonald and Nora Hammond and setter Vanessa Pickett.

Prior to the playoffs, Kagle and Clark led the Quakers in kills while Lubert and MacDonald finished one-two in digs.

Lubert, a three-sport athlete, already has met one of her goals.

“I have been a part of the girls lacrosse team that has made it to playoffs for the past two years,” Lubert said. “It is a whole different game and scenery. I really want to experience that same adrenaline, energy and motivation with the volleyball girls this season.”

Pickett and Cunnard were the team leaders in assists while Karwoski and Hammond recorded the most aces.

Karwoski, Hammond, Pickett, Cunnard and Clark combined for 143 aces in the serving department.

Cunnard was hoping the Quakers would continue to play “fluent volleyball” in the postseason.

“Our strength is our team dynamic and the chemistry between the varsity players,” she said.

By: Jerin Steele
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 | 8:48 PM

Quaker Valley pushed Freeport as hard as a Class 2A team has this season in the second set of Tuesday’s WPIAL semifinal match, and the Yellowjackets responded like a team with championship pedigree.

The top-seeded Yellowjackets trailed for the majority of the set but rallied to secure a 25-23 win and went on to sweep the No. 5 Quakers, 3-0, at North Allegheny.

Freeport will try for a second consecutive title and seventh overall when it faces Shenango in the WPIAL Class 2A championship match at 1 p.m. Saturday at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center. Quaker Valley’s season will continue in the PIAA tournament.

“They changed things up a lot (in the second set) from what we had seen, and it confused us a little bit,” Freeport coach Tom Phillips said. “They’re a solid team. Their lefty (Annica Kagle) can put a dent in you. We were a little flat tonight. I don’t know what it was, but we didn’t have that spark. A win is a win, though. I’m not going to complain about winning 3-0.”

After cruising to a 25-10 win in the first set, the Yellowjackets fell behind early in Set 2. Quaker Valley took a 7-6 lead and continued to build. An ace by Kathryn Karwoski made it 17-12 Quakers, which was the largest lead they held.

A hitting error off a serve made it 20-16 Quakers, and Phillips called timeout.

“He just told us to settle down and play our game,” Freeport outside hitter Cassidy Dell said. “He told us to focus on ourselves and not worry about what they are doing on their side of the net. Get a good pass and put the ball away.”

Following the timeout, Freeport reeled off four straight points, including a pair of kills by sophomore Alaina Whitlinger to tie it 20-20.

Freeport took a brief lead at 22-21 after a sensational sliding dig by Ava Soilis kept the point alive before an eventual hitting error by Quaker Valley. Consecutive kills from Amalia MacDonald and Annica Kagle gave the Quakers a 23-22 lead, but Freeport finished the comeback with three straight points. Dell and Sydney Selker had back-to-back kills, and a Quaker Valley block attempt went out of bounds to clinch the set.

“I think we needed a match like this to push us into Saturday,” Soilis said. “Last year we played Armstrong (in the semifinals) and won in five sets, and it ended at like nine o’clock at night. That was a difficult match, so I think we needed this tonight to give us some motivation going into the finals.”

The Yellowjackets finished the match with a 25-17 win in the third set. Leah Schrecongost recorded a pair of aces, and Hadley Hellgren and Dell had a kill apiece for Freeport’s final four points.

Dell had 11 kills, including five in the important second set. Josie Russo had four of her five kills in the final set and added four points on blocks. Kagle had seven kills to pace Quaker Valley.

Freeport will have a unique opportunity to win WPIAL titles in consecutive seasons in different classes after winning the Class 3A title a season ago.

“This has been our goal all along,” Dell said. “We knew we wanted this, so it feels great.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

By: Jerin Steele
Saturday, November 12, 2022 | 5:35 PM

The Freeport girls volleyball team took one step closer to its ultimate goal of winning the program’s second state title with a dominant performance in the quarterfinals.

The Yellowjackets built early leads in each set and rolled to a 3-0 sweep over Quaker Valley on Saturday at North Allegheny.

Freeport advanced to play District 6 champion Phillipsburg-Oceola in the Class 2A state semifinals Tuesday.

“We played exceptional today,” Freeport coach Tom Phillips said. “Josie (Russo) dominated in the middle. Both of our middles did. I thought Hadley Hellgren played a great game as well. We came to play today. It was an all-around total effort.”

The Yellowjackets won 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 in a rematch of a WPIAL semifinal, which they also won via a sweep.

Freeport took the lead 5-4 in the first set and never relinquished it.

Russo had three kills and a couple of blocks in the first set. Sydney Selker, Hellgren and Leah Schrecongost also had kills in the first.

Freeport was also boosted by four aces from the service line, including back-to-back aces by Ava Soilis, which made it 7-4. Alaina Whitlinger and Schrecongost also had aces.

“We knew coming in that Game 1 was very important,” Phillips said. “(Quaker Valley) is a really good team. The lefty (Annica Kagle) and (Amalia) MacDonald on the right side are two solid players that you have to account for at all times. We worked hard this week on a lot of things preparing for them.

“We scrimmaged them at the beginning of the season, then we played them in the (WPIAL) playoffs and then again. Sometimes you have to be careful you don’t overthink things or take things for granted. But we came to play today.”

In Freeport’s WPIAL semifinal match with Quaker Valley, the Quakers pushed the issue in the second set and led late before the Yellowjackets rallied to win 25-23.

In the rematch Saturday, Freeport took a 7-6 lead and stretched it out from there.

Part of the reason the Yellowjackets could keep the Quakers at arm’s length was the play in the middle by Russo and Hellgren with help from good sets by Grace Beach and Cassidy Dell.

“Cassidy and I have been working really hard in the middle getting that quick set,” Russo said. “We worked on it practice yesterday and also worked on going against double blocks, because we knew Quaker Valley would have double blocks. We worked on hitting around the block and having a fast tempo. It really paid off.”

Russo finished with nine kills, Selker had six and Hellgren recorded four.

Quaker Valley stayed close to Freeport in the third set and got it to 23-20 after a kill by Kagle. Selker won the next point with a kill, however, after a long volley back and forth, which saw the ball go over the net a dozen times to make it 24-20. Whitlinger got match point on a kill that ricocheted off a Quaker Valley block attempt before falling to the ground.

“(Freeport) is very good and very disciplined,” Quaker Valley coach Mike Vavrek said. “They do a lot of good things, and they don’t make mistakes. You can’t make mistakes, and you have to play extremely good volleyball if you’re going to beat them.”

Freeport is having its team banquet Sunday. Then the Yellowjackets will turn the focus towards advancing to the state finals. The Yellowjackets won the Class 2A state title in 2017.

“We’re going to hit it hard on Monday and see where we land on Tuesday,” Phillips said.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, November 13, 2022 | 11:01 AM

To the surprise of virtually no one associated with the program, the Quaker Valley girls volleyball team landed a spot in the PIAA Class 2A playoffs.

The Quakers finished in the top four in the WPIAL and took a 17-4 record into the state tournament

Freeport, Shenango, Avonworth and QV were PIAA qualifiers in Class 2A.

Freeport, ranked No. 1 in the state, defeated Shenango, 3-1, on Nov. 5 at the UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris, which left QV and Avonworth to fill the third and fourth berths in the state tournament.

Freeport blanked the Quakers, 3-0, and Shenango edged Avonworth, 3-2, Nov. 1 at North Allegheny. It was the sixth WPIAL championship in school history for the Yellowjackets.

“The PIAA playoffs are pre-seeded. They set everything up based on districts,” QV coach Mike Vavrek said. “When you get into states, you are usually facing some teams that you don’t know much about, so you have to try and figure them out early and make adjustments as needed.”

The Quakers landed the No. 5 seed for the WPIAL playoffs, where they beat No. 12 Burrell and No. 4 Central Calley by 3-1 scores before dropping a 3-0 decision to top seed Freeport in the semifinal round.

“I have been very happy with the team’s performance this year,” Vavrek said. “I think the girls have really stuck together and played as a team for each other, especially here in the playoffs where we’ve found a way to bounce back. We have gotten stronger as the matches have gone on. “

The Quakers finished third in Section 4-2A with an 11-3 record behind Avonworth (13-1) and Central Valley (12-2).

Quaker Valley split decisions with Central Valley and lost twice to Avonworth. The Quakers ended the regular season 15-3 overall and won 12 times by 3-0 scores.

“I thought we played fairly consistent volleyball for the most part in the regular season,” Vavrek said. “I think we have been working hard and improving in some of the areas that we need improvement in.”

QV went from being unranked to No. 5 in Class 2A early in the season in the Western PA Coaches Association WPIAL girls volleyball poll. The Quakers settled in at No. 4 for most of the season.

Quaker Valley won nine of its first 10 matches this year before losing twice at midseason.

“At the start of the season, I knew we had a talented team that would be very competitive in every match,” Vavrek said, “and we had to learn how to finish out games.”

The Quakers headed into the playoffs on a six-game winning streak.

QVs starting rotation consisted of middle hitters Katelyn Clark, a junior, and Kathryn Karwoski, a senior; sophomore outside hitters Molly MacDonald and Nora Hammond; Annica Kagle, a junior right-side hitter; setters Vanessa Pickett, a sophomore, and Shayna Cunnard, a senior; and Hannah Lubert, a senior libero.

At the end of the regular season, Kagle and Clark led the Quakers in kills while Lubert and MacDonald finished one-two in digs.

Five QV players were named all-section: Clark (first team), Kagle (first team), Lubert (second team), Pickett (second team) and MacDonald (third team). All but Lubert are underclassmen.

“Yes, we do have a lot of pieces from this team back next year,” Vavrek said. “But we will also be losing three key seniors, three seniors who do a lot for this team every day.

“We are going to have to find some other girls to step up next year and fill the loss of these seniors.”

By: Michael Love 
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 | 1:58 PM

The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association recognized the top players from each of the four girls volleyball classifications Tuesday with the release of the all-state selections.

Five members of the team from North Allegheny, which captured its sixth straight Class 4A state title with a 3-1 win over Garnet Valley on Nov. 19, were all-state picks led by now three-time honoree Mia Tuman, a senior outside hitter

Also garnering all-state recognition from the Tigers were second-time honoree Caroline Curran, a senior libero; and first-time selections in senior outside/right side hitter Ella Deeter, senior outside hitter Carissa Treser, and senior middle hitter Ella Zimmer.

Freeport, which won its first state title since 2017 with a 3-0 sweep of York Catholic in the Class 2A title game, placed three members on the all-state list: senior setter Cassidy Dell, junior middle hitter Josie Russo and junior outside hitter Sydney Selker.

Dell also was recognized as an all-state player last year in Class 3A.

Others earning a third all-state nod are North Catholic seniors Ally Feczko (outside hitter) and Sydney Jones (setter), Frazier senior outside hitter Jensyn Hartman, and Pine-Richland senior outside hitter Kaili Doctor.

Second-time honorees are Shenango senior outside hitter Kylee Rubin, Latrobe senior setter Lily Fenton, Thomas Jefferson senior outside hitter Delaney DConcannon and Hampton junior outside hitter Emmy Schrom.

Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association

WPIAL all-state selections

Class 2A

Sophie Culley, Senior, Middle Hitter, Avonworth

Chloe List, Junior, Outside Hitter, Beaver 

Taylor Godshall, Senior, Middle Hitter, Central Valley

Cassidy Dell, Senior, Setter, Freeport

Josie Russo, Junior, Middle Hitter, Freeport

Sydney Selker, Junior, Outside Hitter, Freeport

Reese Bintrim, Senior, Middle Hitter, Laurel

Annica Kagle, Junior, Right Side, Quaker Valley

Emilee Fedrizzi, Senior, Outside Hitter, Shenango

Kylee Rubin, Senior, Outside Hitter, Shenango

Tide rising for Quaker Valley girls volleyball team

By: Ray Fisher 
Sunday, July 31, 2022 | 8:47 PM

Submitted | John Doucette

TIME TO SHINE

The senior members of the Quaker Valley girls volleyball team are, from left, Shayna Cunnard (3), Hannah Lubert (17) and Kathryn Karwoski (11). Story, page 16.

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The Quaker Valley volleyball team has it — the first full week of the season, that is — circled on the calendar.

The Quakers open their Section 4-2A schedule Sept. 6 at Freedom, followed by their first home match two days later against Central Valley. QV is hoping to turn things around from last year’s 5-11 season.

“My expectations are for us to improve every day we step in the gym,” coach Mike Vavrek said. “I would like us to compete in our new section and be in the mix for a playoff spot at the end of the season.

“We have a lot more experience than we did last year. We had three girls with at least a year of varsity experience (in 2021); this year we have eight. Also, I believe we have a lot more depth than last year, especially offensively. Our ball control and defense should be better, as well.”

The eight girls with varsity experience are a nice mix of three seniors, two juniors and three sophomores. Setter Shayna Cunnard, outside/middle hitter Kathryn Karwoski and libero Hannah Lubert are seniors.

Cunnard is hoping to make the 2022 season memorable for the Quakers. “My expectations are to compete well in our section, to (improve) our chances at winning in the playoffs, but most importantly, to make memories of our time on and off the court together,” Cunnard said.

“The team hopes to attract a bigger audience of supporters this year. Our social media stays updated with events going on involving the team. Make sure to follow Quaker Valley High School volleyball on Facebook and Instagram to stay posted.”

Karwoski’s goal for the team is a section championship.

“We weren’t able to go to the playoffs two years ago when I was a sophomore because of covid,” Karwoski said, “but looking at the talent this year, I think we have a good shot.”

Karwoski also participates in the track and field program at QV and had an outstanding spring season. “My 4-by-4 relay team actually made it to states and placed eighth,” she said.

Lubert, a three-sport athlete, expects the Quakers to secure a berth in the WPIAL playoffs this season.

“I think we will have a really good chance this year,” she said. “We are going to have a really strong defense and offense. I’ve never been in a playoff volleyball game, so making it would be a really great memory.”

Lubert also competes in lacrosse and track and field for the Quakers.“For the past two years, I have been a part of the girls lacrosse team that has made it to playoffs,” she said, “and it is a whole different game and scenery. I really want to experience that same adrenaline, energy and motivation with the volleyball girls this season.”

Cunnard, Karwoski and Lubert are joined in the QV lineup by juniors Katelyn Clark, a middle hitter, and Annica Kagle, a right-side hitter, and sophomores Nora Hammond, Molly MacDonald and Vanessa Pickett. Hammond is an outside hitter, MacDonald an outside/middle hitter and Pickett a setter/right-side hitter.

“We played in a few summer leagues,” Vavrek said, “but never had close to our full team. We are looking forward to getting a full team here and working on developing our team chemistry. Getting setters and hitters on the same page. Working on the consistency and chemistry of our serve receivers.

“We are also working on getting better when it comes to situational volleyball.”

The first practice date for the high school fall season is Aug. 15. The QV girls plan to participate in the Canon-McMillan tournament Aug. 27 before playing on the road against Beaver on Aug. 30 and at home against South Park on Sept. 1.

There are 41 teams participating in WPIAL Class 2A in 2022. Along with Freedom and Central Valley, QV’s other section opponents are Avonworth, Hopewell, New Brighton, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Sto-Rox.

Section foes in 2021 were Avonworth, Brentwood, Carlynton, Keystone Oaks, North Catholic and Seton LaSalle.

The QV girls were 4-8 in section matches a year ago.