Tonight, the Northern Lebanon Girls Volleyball Team has an opportunity to win the District 3 AAA Championship. Following an undefeated 14-0 regular season and the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 title. The team’s only blemish came in the LL Tournament, when they lost a hard fought match to a Hempfield team that will be playing tonight for the AAAA District 3 crown. The Lady Vikings have continued their stellar play in the District 3 Tournament with wins over Big Spring, James Buchanan, and the #1 seed, Greencastle-Antrim. In doing so, this team was able to clinch a berth in the PIAA State Tournament.
While States is a fine achievement, the Vikings remain focused on this evening’s contest against the #2 seeded Twin Valley. While Twin Valley will have the home court advantage in this contest, it is important to note that Greencastle-Antrim had the same edge and our Lebanon County volleyballers proved to be too strong for it to matter.
Here is a recap of how Northern Lebanon’s District 3 run has looked so far, along with some key stats from each of the matches.
First Round – October 25th
In the first round of the District 3 Tournament, the #4 Vikings hosted the #13 Big Spring Bulldogs. The Vikings took care of business, taking down Big Spring in straight sets 25-18, 25-23, 25-18.
Key contributors from this match included Hailey Pierce (35 assists, 15 digs) and Sam White (21 kills, 15 digs, 1 ace, 1 block). Alexis Shirk added 10 kills, with Hope Wentling providing 14 digs. Savannah Hollinger and Ayva Sechman each had 1 ace a piece.
In an important milestone, Hailey Pierce’s performance pushed her past the 1,000 career assist mark.
Quarterfinals – October 27th
In the quarterfinals match-up, Northern Lebanon hosted the #5 James Buchanan Rockets. This was an exciting affair that pushed to a full five sets and even a little extra. Buchanan took the first set, but the Vikings struck back in the second set to even the match. The teams then split tightly contested sets, with Buchanan taking the third and Northern Lebanon taking the fourth. In the all-important fifth and final set, with the rule of “first to 15, win by 2”, the Vikings ground out a 20-18 win. The final set scores were 18-25, 25-21, 23-25, 27-25, 20-18.
There were several impressive stat lines put up in this total team victory. Hailey “Assist Machine” Pierce set-up her teammates 61 times. Sam White had 30 kills, along with 2 blocks. Alexis Shirk added 9 kills and 20 digs. Also stuffing the box score were: Hope Wentling (15 digs); Savannah Hollinger (24 digs, 3 aces); Bailey McFeaters (18 kills); Ayva Sechman (15 digs).
Semifinals – November 1
For the first time in this tournament, the Vikings took to the road to visit the higher seeded #1 Greencastle-Antrim Blue Devils. Northern Lebanon came out swinging and won the first two sets in exciting fashion. The Blue Devils won the third set, again in a tight affair. With that, Greencastle-Antrim was thinking that they may be able to do what they had done in their prior match against Manheim Central, when they spotted Central a two set lead before winning the next three to advance. In the fourth set, the Vikings had other ideas and slammed the door on their dreams of a comeback. The final scores in this Northern Lebanon 3-1 victory were 28-26, 30-28, 24-26, 25-21.
Hailey Peirce had added 46 assists to her career total, while Sam White lit up the scoreboard with 26 kills and 2 blocks. Additional key contributions came from the following Vikings: Alexis Shirk (18 digs); Hope Wentling (4 aces); Grace Bomgardner (12 digs); Bailey McFeaters (10 kills).
District 3 Finals – November 3
The match will take place against Twin Valley at their home court. The match is set to begin at 7 pm. LebCoSports will attempt to update our Facebook viewers on the progress of the match. The match is also being live-streamed at the following link: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCGEW8lvidA-PcJvrFp3jlDw
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