This week: Smith led Ambridge to a victory against Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, which kept Ambridge No. 1 in the Class AA volleyball.

Check this out: Smith, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound junior, is arguably the best player in the WPIAL. Penn State, Ohio State and some colleges on the West Coast already have expressed interest in him.

• You're 6-5. Did you ever play basketball? I played through ninth grade. I was going to play in 10th grade but I decided to stick with volleyball because basketball mixed too much with club volleyball.

• A lot of people say you're the best player in the WPIAL. Do you buy that? I don't know. That's a tough question to answer because I don't want to sound like I have a big head. I just try to play my game.

• Why is Ambridge so good all the time in volleyball? A lot of it is coaching. Our high school coach [Glenn Freed] is also our junior high coach. So he starts us off young. We train and turn it into a year-round thing.

• Where would you have your school prom? We have it at some country club. Myself, I would have it on a big cruise ship. A big old yacht.

• Did you pass your driver's test the first time? I did, but actually it's a funny story. I got there about an hour-and-a-half early for my appointment because I was going to practice parallel parking. But they took me right away. I kind of freaked out because I never parallel parked before. Then the instructor said, 'OK, the first thing we're going to do is parallel park.' But I actually nailed it pretty well and passed. I don't know how I did that.

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It's quite fitting that the Ambridge Area boys volleyball team ends the regular season with a non-section match against North Allegheny on May 10.

The Bridgers have won four of the past five WPIAL Class AA titles and have been ranked No. 1 all season at that level. The Tigers have won six consecutive WPIAL Class AAA titles and have been ranked No. 1 the entire season.

"We've met in the last match of the regular season for a long time," Ambridge coach Glenn Freed said. "It's a great tuneup for the playoffs, and the results will not affect our seeding."

Coincidentally, the two also met in the opening weekend of the season. The Bridgers faced the Tigers in the title match of the North Allegheny tournament and posted a 2-1 victory.

(Photo: Ambridge junior Lee Smith rates as one of the top players in the state. J.J. LaBella/Tri-State Sports & News Service.)

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Nick Tolomeo's feature on the Ambridge softball team:

"Ambridge Area softball coach Jim Huwar welcomed back eight starters this season, which appears to be great news for Bridgers fans ... not so much for opponents.

He has had similar situations in the past when he returned nearly his entire starting roster. It happened in 2005 and that team won a WPIAL and PIAA championship while going 24-2.

Huwar is not ready to compare the two teams but the 2013 Bridgers certainly have promise.

"I think our other group in 2004 and 2005, they played together a lot longer," Huwar said. "They were a little more consistent, they had played together for seven years. We had those kids for a long time. This group seems to be coming along and hopefully they start to jell pretty soon.""

(Photo: Ambridge's Hannah Krokonko slides under the tag by Montour shortstop Stacey Capp during a game last year. Peter Diana/Post-Gazette.)

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Penn State Behrend senior setter Evan Fullerton was a second-team selection on the All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Men's Volleyball Team.

Fullerton, an Ambridge graduate, repeated as an all-conference choice after being named to the first team a year ago.