Corry volleyball sweeps Waynesburg Central Raiders; advance to the quarterfinals in the PIAA state playoffs

Junior middle hitter Riley Nickerson crushes a ball mid third set to give the Beavers a 13-9 lead while up two sets to none in Tuesday's first round of the PIAA state Playoffs.

Report by Kelly Goodsel

Corry Volleyball Head Coach

Corry, PA- The Corry volleyball team hosted the opening round of the PIAA AA state playoffs on Tuesday night in the Beaver Dam. The Raiders of Waynesburg Central came in as the three seed out of district seven, or better know as the WPIAL. Led by the very dynamic and explosive senior outside hitter Ani Cree, the Raiders look to give the Beavers all the could handle but the results were the same as they have been for weeks now, another Beaver sweep. Corry came out on top 26-24, 25-19, and 25-15.

It the first set of action, Corry only earned two of the first sixteen contested points - on kills by Grace Allen - and coach Goodsel called timeout to calm his squad down, trailing 11-5. The timeout worked, the Waynesburg server put the ball in the net and then senior Brynley Watrous served an ace, followed by three more tough serves to get Corry within one, trailing 11-10.  Corry’s passing started to settle in which allowed the lady beavers to run the middle.  Rylee Nickerson scored two kills off sets by Haley Mumau, and several Waynesburg errors put Corry ahead 17-14.  Two consecutive kills by Allen forced the Raiders timeout trailing 19-14.    Waynesburg reeled off six of the next seven points on several big blocks and the game was tied at 20-20. 

With Waynesburg in the lead 22-21 on an Allen hitting error, Waynesburg had a serving error and Allen returned fire with an ace to put Corry up 23-22, causing the second Waynesburg timeout. Cree for Waynesburg tailed one of her many kills from the back row on a very slight touch by the Corry block and the game was tied 23-23.  Regan Kemp dug a Waynesburg attack tight to the net and setter Haley Mumau jumped up and won the joust at the net as the ball fell to the floor on the Waynesburg side for the Corry kill.  Waynesburg scored a kill on a swing off the Corry block out of bounds and the first set was going to extra points.  Waynesburg was unable to clear the net on their attack and Regan Kemp finished off the set with a kill, 26-24.

Like the first set, Corry trailed early in the second set and were down 11-7 before Corry turned the game around.  Regan Kemp sandwiched two service aces around two Waynesburg hitting errors and Corry was up 14-11 at the first time out. Corry maintained the three point lead to 18-15 when Regan Kemp had a kill, and Kendall Donoghue / Kemp combined for a block.  Corry kept the lead until Kemp had another kill and Allen / Donoghue combined for another block to make the score 24-18 and Waynesburg called its second and final timeout.  Grace Allen had a kill to close out the second set 25-19.

Corry finally jumped out to a lead in the third set 4-1 on three kills by Kemp, freshmen Ava West, and Allen.    Waynesburg cut the score to one at 9-8 but never gained the lead.  The raiders took at timeout at 15-13 after Nickerson and Allen kills.   Corry went on a 10-2 run behind tough serving by senior Sydney Mineo to close out the set 25-15, points included another Kendall Donoghue kill and a Mineo service ace.  A couple of highlights included juniors Ali Yetzer and Ellie Carey playing great defense and serve receiving, Mumau and Donoghue both scoring on kills, senior Ava Hallberg playing defense and setting an Allen kill that resulted in match point.  

“After the match I told the team I was proud of how everyone played and prepared.  There are lots of behind the scenes contributors… assistant coaches, team managers, younger players that run the scout team… without good competition in the gym and without a good scout team, our team isn’t as well prepared for a big match like this.  Everyone did a great job preparing for tonight’s match and it showed”  commented coach Goodsel.  “We had eleven players contribute on the stats sheet and everyone of them contributed… it was a complete team win” concluded Goodsel.

 “Lastly, a couple of off the court contributing factors… our community showed up and was loud and super supportive; and because of some families and local businesses supporting the program, we had a huge student section which really helped when the things were tight in the first and second set.

With the win, Corry remains undefeated on the year at 18-0 with their 14th straight sweep. More importantly, the number one ranked team in the state advances to the Quarterfinals where they will face Bald Eagle Area, the District six champions. Bald Eagle defeated Hopewell (the second seed out of the WIPAL) 3-0 with scores of 25-11, 27-25, and 25-21. The game between Corry and Bald Eagle Area will be played on Saturday with the Place and Time to be determined. DeeJ Experience plans to cover the match on the road with permission pending from PIAA.

Hear from our Crotty Chevrolet Co-Players of the game Grace Allen & Riley Nickerson. Also hear from Head Coach Kelly Goodsel.

Statistical Leaders for the match.