‘Breaking the semifinal curse.’ Philipsburg-Osceola volleyball headed to state championship
The Lady Mounties had unfinished business on Tuesday night at Keystone Area High School, the place where they dropped 3-2 against Freeport on Nov. 15, 2022 in the PIAA Class 2A semifinals.
But 364 days later, Philipsburg-Osceola volleyball was vindicated of last year’s shortcomings, defeating Beaver 3-1 to advance to the PIAA Class 2A finals. It’s a moment that senior outside hitter and Indiana University commit Reese Hazelton has yearned for and often just missed throughout her career.
“We’ve always joked that there’s a curse that we can’t get past the semifinals and we lost in this gym last year in five (sets),” Hazelton said. “Winning in this gym, breaking the semifinal curse and getting to the finals is amazing. I’m really proud of the team.”
It’s not the first opportunity that P-O had to get the proverbial monkey off of its back in the semifinals. Two years ago, the Lady Mounties dropped 3-2 to North Catholic to end their season and followed up with the aforementioned loss to Freeport nearly a year later.
Guiding the team through it all is head coach Dave Eckberg. On Tuesday Eckberg stood on the sidelines, listening to the chants from the P-O faithful that lined Keystone’s stands, taking in each moment with a stoic look upon his face. After winning the match, Eckberg reflected on P-O’s schedule this season, which featured a matchup against Class 4A Altoona — a 2-0 victory against the Lady Mountain Lions on the road on Oct. 7.
Eckberg believes that preparing for the best competition begins with playing the highest level of competition in the regular season. His team overcame the obstacle as a stepping stone toward a title.
“Not only were we playing in some big tournaments against Quad A teams, but our league — Forest Hills is playing in the other half of the bracket, Hollidaysburg is a great team, they made the state playoffs last year and Bald Eagle made the playoffs,” Eckberg said. “The competition is great and keeps us sharp for these big moments.”
Style points may not exist in volleyball, but the Lady Mounties won emphatically. P-O took down Beaver 25-12 in the first set, followed by a 25-18 win in the second. While the Lady Mounties fell 25-20 in the third set, they bounced back by taking down Beaver 25-20 to win the match.
Not too far away in the stands was P-O athletic director Kelly Rees, who stood up for the final point, waiting patiently with a slight smile on her face. When the Lady Mounties put the Lady Bobcats down in the final set, Rees’ smile became wider as she descended from the stands and congratulated the team.
In her second year in the role, the P-O athletic director is elated for what the win has done for the community and school district as a whole.
“It’s interesting for me to hear of a team having a goal of getting to the state finals at the end of the season and to see it come to this and they achieved that goal,” Rees said. “It’s pretty exciting. They definitely have a strong bond as a team while they’re working together on the court. I’m not sure what’s happening off of the court, but when they get out there, they’re ready to play.”
The last time that P-O made it to the state finals was in 2020, falling 3-1 to Trinity. The seniors have made it to the state finals and the state semifinals twice. What would a victory mean to the Lady Mounties — a team that has come close and ended its semifinals “curse”?
“Oh my gosh, it would mean the absolute world,” senior outside hitter Sophie Granville said. “We’ve put in so much hard work and we’ve worked our butts off at practice. Winning a state championship would really just prove that it was really all worth it.”
The Class 2A finals will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School.