Philipsburg-Osceola girls volleyball sweeps a depleted Bald Eagle Area team

It was billed to be a great match, and under regular circumstances it would have been, but the Philipsburg-Osceola vs. Bald Eagle Area rivalry barely got off the court on Thursday night.

With the Lady Eagles down several starters due to illness, the Lady Mounties swept the visitors 25-15, 25-14 and 25-18.

“Larry (Campbell) and I have battled it out for years and we’ve both been in that situation,” said P-O head coach Dave Eckberg. “I know how hard it is. For him to be able to let the kids go out and fight it out tonight ... it’s just tough to coach when you don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle. But they battled.”

Lady Mountie sophomore Reese Hazelton had 20 kills in the match, along with 10 service points and four blocks. Teammate Kalista Butler added 24 assists.

“We were down a couple of starters,” said BEA head coach Larry Campbell. “P-O is really good. They are No. 2 in the state for a reason. We haven’t really been at full capacity yet this year. We’ve had a practice and a half where we have had our whole team. So, that’s been difficult.

“There are just a lot of things we are working around and I think that is affecting our growth a little bit.”

The Lady Mounties led 24-15 in the first set, thanks to a five-point run at the service line from Hazelton.

A rotation violation gave P-O game point after Bald Eagle Area had rattled off three straight points.

The second set was much of the same, with the Lady Mounties pulled out to a 19-8 lead before going on to win 25-14.

P-O’s Janey Johnson had six service points during the set, while Hazelton had six kills and a block.

The third set proved to be the best set of the night for the Lady Eagles, who led at several different points of the match.

BEA took advantage of four service errors in the set to keep the game tied at 14-14.

The Lady Mounties got a sideout with the game tied at 16-16, and Johnson served up three points, helping along by a Paige Jarrett kill to take the 20-16 lead.

Philipsburg-Osceola cruised from there winning 25-18.

Johnson ended the night with 15 digs and 11 service points, while London Cutler tallied 15 digs and five kills.

“Fortunately we played a pretty clean game tonight,” Eckberg said. “The last couple of times we haven’t been clean. I was preaching to them to let our opponents make the mistakes first. Don’t let them off the hook, and they did a nice job of that tonight.

“I just like the fact that they were looking like they were having fun. And when they do that they just look relaxed, and they can beat anybody.”

Bald Eagle was led by Madison Perry’s 13 digs and three kills. Megan Reese tallied 13 assists, eight digs and four service points.

“I had multiple freshmen on the floor tonight,” said Campbell. “At times they looked it, but by the third set they settled down.

“We knew we were coming in with a brand new lineup. They hadn’t even practiced together. The communication was different. We had a lot of the key pieces. But it’s still tough in any sport when you are putting in starters out of nowhere.”

Bald Eagle Area dropped to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the ML. The Lady Eagles travel to West Branch on Monday.

Philipsburg-Osceola improved to 5-0 overall and in the Mountain League. The Lady Mounties travel to Central Mountain on Monday.

The junior varsity match was won by Bald Eagle 25-23, 25-21.

This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 11:25 PM.