Philipsburg-Osceola earns District 6 girls’ volleyball title with win over Bald Eagle Area
Philipsburg-Osceola clinched a spot in the PIAA Class 2A state quarterfinals with a 25-23, 25-18, 30-32, 25-16 victory over Bald Eagle Area Tuesday night in Altoona. It was the Mountaineers’ third victory over the Eagles this season, and the first time they gave up a set to their Mountain League rival.
Tuesday night’s match started with an early Mountaineer 6-3 lead in the first set, but Bald Eagle Areaquickly took over and built a 10-6 lead on seven straight points. Their 10-6 lead shrunk until it finally evaporated when Philipsburg-Osceola knotted the set up at 19. They were able to stretch it to a 24-21 lead, but back-to-back points for the Eagles put them in a precarious position. However, freshman Reese Hazelton was able to close the set out with a kill at 24-23 for the Mountaineers.
The second set was back-and-forth until the Mountaineers went on an extended run to build a lead. Up 13-11, they scored eight of the next nine points to go up 21-12. They extended that lead to 24-14 before the Eagles rallied for four straight points and a 6-point deficit. However, they were unable to close the gap any further and dropped the second set to Philipsburg-Osceola, 25-18.
The Mountaineers had several opportunities to close out the match in the third set but the Eagles refused to go away. The set was neck-and-neck the whole way through, with Bald Eagle Area holding a 24-22 lead and two set points before relinquishing the the lead. The two Mountain League teams went back and forth from there, with both having set points — which doubled as match points for the Mountaineers — until the Eagles finally closed the set out, 32-30 to force a fourth set.
That would be as close as Bald Eagle Area would get. The Mountaineers went up 7-2 early in the fourth set on the back of six kills by Hazelton. Their lead was difficult to come back from for the Eagles, who cut it to a 13-8 lead, but were unable to get any closer. The Mountaineers closed the set, match and tournament out with a 25-16 win in the fourth set to seal the victory.
Philipsburg-Osceola head coach David Eckberg said his team’s resilience after the third set impressed him most.
“I think just being able to gut it out,” Eckberg said. “Especially when they took the momentum back in game three. Just showing that character and that grit ... they showed it. They had to fight back and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
The victory propelled Philipsburg-Osceola to the state tournament for the first time since 2013 and to a perfect 18-0 record. They’ll take on Maplewood Saturday in the state quarterfinals. Eckberg said he’s happy for the team to earn the appearance in states after a tumultuous year.
“I’m just really happy for the kids because this has been a tough year with everything they’ve had to endure with masks and temperature checks,” he said.
“I’m just so excited for them. You can see it on their faces. Just proud of them.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 10:20 PM.
