State College recovers from early struggles for 7th straight District 6 girls’ volleyball title

The State College girls’ volleyball team could have been shaken by the way the team played in its opening set Wednesday night. Did the Lady Little Lions wonder if their run of District 6 championships was going to end?

“There were no doubts,” junior Leah Henderson said, savoring a seventh consecutive district title for the program.

State College rebounded to knock off Altoona 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-14 at Tyrone Middle School, sending them to a PIAA subregional Saturday against McDowell, the District 10 champion. The time and place for the match have not been announced as State College (14-3) looks to duplicate or exceed last season’s run to the state semifinals.

“It’s always the same great feeling getting a win, especially as a district title,” Henderson said. “Coming in with a fresh new group, it was a new experience on the court, but overall the same competitiveness is there and the same goal is there.”

Henderson led three in double figures with 16 kills, while Chloe Thompson added 12 and Kacy Sekunda had 11. Kate Lachendro nearly made it a quartet with nine kills. Henderson also gave out 26 assists and had 23 digs, Sekunda posted 20 assists, and Katie Finlan picked up 19 digs.

Bridgid Fox’s 12 kills, Kenzie Kirwin’s 10 kills and Kaila Clawson’s 32 digs led the Lady Spikers (8-7).

Altoona seemed primed for the upset after taking the first set, closing with a 16-6 run. However, most of that run of points came courtesy of State College errors. The Lady Little Lions had 14 miscues either from the service line or hitting in the set.

“We realized we lost that set due to our errors, not necessarily Altoona’s strength,” Henderson said. “We had to learn to incorporate our strengths and really get after it and forget about that set.”

When the teams took the break between sets, head coach Chad Weight yielded much of the time to assistant coach Jim Gonder, who has close to 40 years of experience coaching volleyball and softball. Gonder told the team they were playing tentatively and implored them to play to win.

“There weren’t any doubts,” Weight said of his team trailing after the opening set. “We were playing much like we (often do). I think every year we come in here, we’re just a little hesitant because we don’t want to be that group that breaks the streak. It’s a lot of tightness.”

The Lady Little Lions relaxed and found their game, keeping the errors in single digits in each of the final three sets.

The team found its service game, with seven aces including three for Jess Irwin. Even serves that did not produce errors often had the Lady Spikers scrambling and off-balance.

“State College always serves extremely well,” Altoona coach Karan Price said. “We had to pass well. We had to manage the service line. We knew we had to keep our unforced errors down. We didn’t do that.”

The Lady Little Lions also ran a more efficient offense, boosting the tempo and dictating play. They finished with a 54-36 advantage in kills.

“The speed of their offense from the last time we played them until now — totally different,” said Price, comparing the night to the teams’ first meeting Oct. 4. “That got us out of system, and that led to numerous unforced errors.”

The offensive efficiency produced plenty of choices for the two-setter system of Henderson and Sekunda.

“Some kids had some off nights tonight, and we made some adjustments,” Weight said. “Some kids were hot tonight. ... I told the kids tonight, ‘That’s what good teams do: They’re willing to make the adjustments to be successful.’”

By the time Thompson put down the final kill of the night, it was a chance to celebrate a seventh straight crown for the program, and the continuation of their dreams.

“It felt like all of our previous games this season,” Henderson said. “We said at practice (Tuesday), ‘This game is just like any other game, it’s just for a (district) title.’”

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 11:34 PM with the headline "State College recovers from early struggles for 7th straight District 6 girls’ volleyball title."