Mounties capture another district title

Jaclyn Yingling For the CDT

ALTOONA — The Philipsburg- Osceola girls’ volleyball team came into Saturday’s District 6 Class AA final against Somerset as the top seed. But for the first set, the Lady Mounties looked like the underdogs.

Harpster

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P-O fell to the Lady Eagles, 25-23, in the first set. But the Lady Mounties got it together quickly, taking the next three sets, 25-13, 25-16 and 25-19, to capture the school’s first-ever back-to-back district titles in volleyball.

“We were a little funky in Game 1,” said P-O head coach Mick Dininno. “We acted like we were the ones who hadn’t been here before and played timid. We weren’t as aggressive as we should’ve been serving the ball. There was a lot of standing around. They got motivated in Game 2 and pushed the lead out.”

Somerset completely took the Lady Mounties out of their offense in the first game, forcing P-O into several uncanny errors.

Lady Eagles setter Emily Faust had six service points in the set, while Bits Barron, Brooke Spangler and Katie Custer each had three kills.

P-O had a 20-19 lead in the first set, but a sideout by the Eagles helped them tie the game and eventually take the 25-23 victory.

The second set was all P-O, as Taylor Harpster staked her team to a 9-3 lead with a six-point service run, five of which were aces. Harpster also put down two kills in the frame to help the Lady Mounties grab momentum.

“We knew that they would quick-set,” Dininno said. “We probably didn’t block them the way I thought we could block them, but we wanted to keep a big perimeter and keep No. 10 (Foust) from dumping on us a lot.

“But we also wanted to serve them tough and attack. I think we accomplished that. I thought we

could win the game at the service line to be honest. As long as we took care of the regular business, I thought we were stronger at the net and we could out-serve them.”

The Lady Eagles couldn’t catch up after that, falling to P-O, 25-13.

The Lady Mounties jumped out to the early lead in the third set, thanks to four service points from Kelsey Gonder and three kills from Harpster.

Somerset fought back to get as close as 6-5, but the Lady Mounties cruised the rest of the way to a 25-16 set victory.

Harpster had six kills in the set, along with four service points.

P-O fell behind 5-4 in the fourth set, as Barron served up three points to give her team the lead.

But the Lady Mounties weren’t fazed, and outhit the Lady Eagles in the final set to take home the 25-19 victory.

“Overall, I’m pleased with everything after Game 1,” said Dininno. “The girls played well. And, Taylor is just phenomenal all around. We didn’t show as much of a cut serve or a serve with a spin. You have to be a strong girl to do it, and Taylor has it. I think we surprised them. She did a real nice job.”

Harpster finished the night with 21 kills and 14 service points, including nine aces. Gonder had 39 assists and nine service points, while Julianne Gray added 10 service points. Carolyn Gallagher notched six kills. Natasha Frank, Brittany Flango and Megan Yonushonis each had six service points. Frank also had nine kills.

The Lady Mounties (21-0) will play the District 7 third-place team, either Black-hawk or Mars, on Tuesday at Central Cambria High School. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. District 6 Class A champ Northern Cambria, which dropped West Branch also in four sets, will play at 6 p.m. in the first part of the doubleheader.