Corry volleyball drops the semi finals match to Warren at Cochranton tournament

Scott Lockwood
Oct 13
3 min read

Report by Kelly Goodsell

Corry Volleyball Head Coach

Cochranton, PA- The Corry volleyball team finished off a busy week with the annual Cochranton Tournament. It was a 12-team tournament with a number of very good teams, including number one ranked Portville High School out of New York and the always well coached teams from Warren, Cochranton, and Meadville.

It turned out to be a day of “so close”… in the first pool play match, Corry (#1 in the PA AA

classification) facing Portville (#1 in the NY class C rankings) lost the first set 21-25 on a number of uncharacteristic mistakes, but came back and won 25-22 in the second set. The one point differential (Portville scoring 22 in the loss versus Corry scoring 21) would be extremely critical later in the day.

Corry handled host Cochranton and Northwestern in the second and third pool play matches on strong serving and a balanced offense. The fourth opponent Cambridge Springs was able to rally from a first set loss to squeak out a 25-23 win in the second set, giving Corry two set losses in pool action. At the same time, Meadville was handling Portville 25-16 and so both teams were still tied for first place. Corry finished pool play with a sweep of Meadville and after pool play – both Corry and Portville had a 8-2 record. Based on predetermined rules, the head-to-head points difference was the determining factor and so Portville finished first in the pool and Corry finished second.

Corry dominated the quarterfinals against Conneaut, a potential District 10 playoff opponent 25-4 and set the stage for a well-known opponent in the semifinals… the Warren Dragons. As good as Corry played in the quarterfinals is about as poorly it looked in the semifinals. All the small details (serving targets, freeball locations, setting locations, defensive plays that resulted in balls going too close to the net, and more) were just not being accomplished, and against a very good team like Warren, that resulted in point scoring opportunities for the Dragons. Portville, who had an easier path to the finals ended up winning the tournament over Warren in one game to 25.

“Overall, it was a good day of volleyball and I thought our kids played well for the most part. While you always want to win every game you play, I was disappointed that we didn’t make the finals and get one more game against a quality opponent. As a coach, I knew how important that one point differential was in the first pool play match against Portville; had we been able to score one more point and be tied, we would have been first in the pool and had an easier path to the finals” said Coach Goodsel. “With that said, we got a lot of great touches and everyone contributed to a good day."

Freshmen Ava West got her first varsity tournament starting role at opposite hitter and did well; seniors Brynley Watrous and Sydney Mineo made great plays all day rotating between libero and defensive specialist; Rylee Nickerson and Kendall Donoghue played middle, Regan Kemp and Grace Allen on the outside, and senior Ava Hallberg ran the offense from the setter position collecting 95-plus assists throughout the day. Juniors Ali Yetzer and Ellie Carey played defensive specialist most of the day, with each one taking a game at libero noted Goodsel.

The Beaves remain 12-0 overall, 8-0 in Region 4 action on the season. Corry will have two matches this week. Tuesday Corry hosts the Northwestern Wildcats on Senior Night where we will celebrate the careers of Ava Hallberg, Brynley Watrous and Sydney Mineo. Then on Thursday, the lady beavers will host Saegertown in a non-region match. Both matches will be live on the DeeJ Experience Sports Stream. www.deejexperience.com