Girls Volleyball: 2012 West Season Recap

Sports Town will review the 2011-12 school year during July. Today we will review the girls volleyball season.

Hopewell girls volleyball coach Terry Borkovic didn't need to convey to his squad the significance of playing Freeport in the WPIAL Class AA title match.

"Losing to Freeport again was not an option," Hopewell senior Isabella Vavrek said. "We were determined to not let it happen again."

Hopewell met Freeport in the WPIAL playoffs the past two years and were defeated by the Yellow Jackets both times.

"The last two years, Freeport was the team that stopped us from being where we wanted to be," said Hopewell middle hitter Shatori Kimbrough-Walker said, referring to the fact that Freeport beat Hopewell in the 2010 semifinals and 2009 quarterfinals. "We were not going to let it happen a third time."

This time, Hopewell was clearly the best team in Class AA. The top-seeded Vikings claimed a sixth WPIAL title in ten years with a 3-0 sweep of No. 3 seed and defending champion Freeport.

"The girls were sick of losing to Freeport," Hopewell coach Terry Borkovic said. "Experience and resolve were the difference between this match and the previous two. The girls wanted this title and were not going to let Freeport, or any other team, stand in their way."

It was obvious from the start that Hopewell had too much firepower for Freeport. The Vikings posted a 25-16 win in the first set, pulled out a 25-20 victory in the second set, and totally dominated the third set, 25-10.

"We found from looking at films that Freeport's setter likes to tip a lot and that they like to hit high and to the back of the court," Vavrek said. "We adjusted our defense to account for those tendancies."

Just looking at the hitting stats for the championship match and it's easy to see the Vikings depth. Kimbrough-Walker led Hopewell with 16 kills. Courtney Kress was second with 11 kills. Vavrek added eight, while MacKenzie Biggs had seven.

"Everyone steps up when it comes to the playoffs," Hopewell setter Monet Smith said. "We have so many good hitters that it make my job a lot easier."

Hopewell earned its title berth with a hard-fought 3-1 win against Section 1-AA foe Blackhawk in the semifinals.

"Our best match of the year was the semifinal match against Blackhawk," Vavrek said. "The momentum we picked up from that match carried over to the finals."

In the PIAA Championships, West Allegheny did better than expected for the second straight year. The opposite was true for Hopewell.

But most importantly, neither reached their goal of winning a PIAA Class AA title.

Hopewell won the WPIAL title and entered the state tournament No. 1 in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association rankings, but couldn't make it out of the quarterfinal round robin.

"It was a disappointing weekend," Borkovic said. "We came here with the goal of winning a PIAA title. Anything less is a disappointment. It really hurts to have things end this way."

West Allegheny placed third in the WPIAL for the second straight year and were again the WPIAL's top finishing Class AA team. The Indians turned in their best performance of the season in the quarterfinal round robin, but things didn't run as smoothly in the semifinals.

"We came out flat and never recovered," West Allegheny coach Brian Begor said. "We looked great [Friday], but the opposite was true in the semifinals."

West Allegheny faced Brandywine Heights in the semifinals and were swept by the District 3 runners-up: 25-17, 25-19, 25-15. Brandywine Heights then defeated District 11 champion Southern Lehigh, 23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 26-24, in the championship match  

"We made it here because of our passing and defense," Begor said. "We needed to play at a high level in those areas to contend with a tall team like Brandywine Heights. We were flat and it showed in the way we played defense."