LEECHBURG, Pa. – Richland’s girls volleyball players and their fans mingled amid tears of sorrow and joy alike Saturday after the Rams’ season ended in the PIAA quarterfinals for the second time in three years.
This time, playing up in Class 3A, the District 6 champions unraveled in the first set and never recovered in a 3-0 loss to defending Class 2A state champion Avonworth at Kiski Area High School.
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The Antelopes befuddled the Rams with a flurry of effective serves to break open a close set, sending Richland on its heels.
“They served aggressively,” Richland coach Dave Livingston said. “They were a great team.”
Avonworth (20-4), the Class 3A runner-up in District 7, accumulated 15 service aces – six by Ali Colasante – and dispatched Richland on scores of 25-15, 25-19, 27-25.
“I will never take anything away from my girls. They’ve worked their butts off all year,” Livingston said. “We had a great record, and once you get to this point in the playoffs, every team’s going to be good.
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“Including us.”
Julie Cernich led Avonworth with 22 kills.
Richland (20-3) was led by Kiya Wise’s 17 kills. Brooklyn Roberts contributed 29 assists for the Rams. They are among eight juniors on a team that loses just two seniors next season.
“Just a scrappy team,” Avonworth coach John Skarupa said of Richland. “They showed a lot of grit today after we got them off a little bit with our serves. You saw what a great, great team they are when they came in that third set.”
For at least one outgoing Richland player, the final game felt bittersweet.
“My senior year, ending in the (quarterfinals) is pretty memorable, and I’m very proud of it,” said Addison Hirsch, wiping away tears. “And I’m proud of the people that I’ve been playing with these past few years.”
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Hirsch was joined by Sara Levander as Richland’s two seniors this season.
It marked the third consecutive appearance in the state playoffs for the Rams, who seamlessly adjusted to a bump up to Class 3A following the PIAA’s expansion to six classes from four.
Richland also reached the quarterfinals as District 6-2A champ in 2024, losing a 3-2 decision to District 10 champion Corry. The Rams entered the 2025 state tournament as District 6 runner-up and were sidelined in the first round by District 3 champion Delone Catholic 3-2.
They ran into another roadblock in the Class 3A quarterfinals Saturday, fading down the stretch of the first set, when Avonworth closed it out with 10 consecutive points to break a 15-15 tie.
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From there, Richland never regained its footing until rallying late in a see-saw third set to force a win-by-two outcome after Avonworth had tied the score at 25-all.
“Avonworth did everything to keep us out of system, and we didn’t respond as well as we could have to get back in system,” Livingston said. “It took us about 2 1/2 sets to figure out how to counter them.”
Hirsch, who added 10 kills, 9 digs and 2 aces for Richland, forced a smile through those tears as she looked back on the events of the afternoon.
“After they had their serve run there in the first set, we thought, ‘This is it,'” she said. “But, really, we’ve come back from worse than that. It was more of just a mental game for us with those first two sets. Avonworth is the best team we’ve played this season, and I think that maybe we weren’t fully prepared to go against them like we should have been.”
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Avonworth advances to play unbeaten District 7 champion Freeport (23-0) in the semifinals on Tuesday at a site to be determined. The Yellowjackets swept District 7’s third-place finisher, Waynesburg Central, 3-0, in the quarterfinals at Peters Township High School on scores of 25-16, 25-11, 25-10.
As he calmly stood and watched his players unite with their family, friends and fans, Livingston, along with the rest of the Rams coaching staff, seemingly felt the joy of a wildly successful year, despite another postseason exit.
“I’m proud of these girls,” he said. “We got better today.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
