JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Bald Eagle Area girls volleyball team took down Richland 3-1 Thursday night and advanced to the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship game.
The East Section runner-up Eagles prevailed 25-23, 21-25, 25-10, 25-22.
Junior outside hitter Emily Smith led the Eagles with 20 kills and three aces, while Addelyn Fisher added 11 kills, four blocks and two aces.
“Twenty kills is a big number,” Bald Eagle Area coach Larry Campbell said. “That’s tough to get over in four sets.
“That’s five kills a set. That’s impressive.”
Bald Eagle Area, which beat Richland in the 2024 LHAC final, will play West Section champ Hollidaysburg, which swept Somerset, Saturday at St. Francis University.
Bald Eagle Area leaped to an 11-6 lead in the first set, thanks to Smith’s hot start of two kills and two aces. Richland cut into the deficit with a 4-0 run that featured two kills from junior outside hitter Kiya Wise, who surpassed 1,000 career kills earlier this week.
Wise finished with 16 digs, 14 kills, six assists and two aces.
The Rams took the lead at 17-16 when Addison Hirsch got her first of 17 kills, and they held the advantage until the Eagles knotted it at 22-all.
Smith then powered two kills past Richland’s defense to take the opening set at 25-23.
The second set went the home team’s way at 25-21. The Rams took the lead at 4-3 and never relinquished it. Bald Eagle Area was able to tie it three separate times, but Richland regained the advantage each time.
The third set looked like it would also go the Rams’ way again with an 8-0 run to open the game. Brooklyn Roberts had three aces in the large run and also tallied a kill. Bald Eagle Area finally got on the board and flipped the rest of the night.
From then, the Eagles outscored the Rams 50-32 the rest of the match and 25-10 in the third set.
“A lot of these kids, they’ve been part of big games, but they haven’t been involved with them,” Campbell said. “Just doing this for 27 years, you see kids react very differently, so it was nice to see.”
An 8-0 run narrowed Richland’s lead to 14-13, but the Rams pulled away until an 8-1 run by the Eagles made it 21-17. It was all Smith and Fisher for the rest of the set.
Fisher had three kills and a block, while Smith notched a kill.
Richland took another commanding lead in the night’s final set, this one for a 7-3 advantage. That lead lasted until Smith’s kill gave the Eagles a 16-15 lead. Bald Eagle Area never relinquished the advantage after that and took the final set 25-22.
“We dropped one. We don’t have a chance for the LHAC title, but we have districts coming up,” Richland co-head coach David Livingston said.
“That’s just as important, if not more important, and we’ll regroup.”