For the second straight season, Upper St. Clair fell one match short of the WPIAL title match.
The Panthers lost to North Allegheny Wednesday in the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals.
It is second consecutive season and third time in the last five years USC has lost in the WPIAL semifinals.
The Upper St. Clair High School boys volleyball team experienced a roller coaster ride last week.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, the week ended on a "dip".
The Panthers upset Class AAA Section 1 leader Bethel Park on Tuesday. A five-set thriller ended with Upper St. Clair handing Bethel Park its first section loss of the season.
"I knew going in that we could beat them if we kept it close," Upper St. Clair coach Jack Zebo said. "We played well down the stretch."
The euphoria of beating the section front-runner was quickly doused by Thursday's 3-0 sweep by Peters Township.
"I think the kids were a little gassed for that match," said Zebo, now in his 15th season at USC. "The kids put their heart and soul into beating Bethel Park. Facing the top two teams in the section in the same week was a lot to ask."
As the final week of the regular season unfolds, Upper St. Clair has an 8-3 record in Section 1, which leaves the Panthers in third place. They have also qualified for the WPIAL playoffs for the ninth consecutive year.
"I knew Bethel Park and Peters Township were the teams to beat coming into the season," Zebo said. "Both have a standout player. Bethel has Grant Underwood, and Peters has Gabe Pritz.
"That's the big difference between us and them. We don't have a standout player of their caliber."
Distance runners at Upper St. Clair are insanely well-conditioned. For veteran Betsey Erlanger, the hard work has paid off yet again.
On Friday (May 3) at Baldwin, Erlanger broke the 21-year old Upper St. Clair record in the 1600-meter. Run. Her time was 4:58.52 FAT (note that this is for the Baldwin “One Mile” race – approximately nine meters longer than the standard track-and-field 1600-meter race).
One week prior, Erlanger broke USC’s record in the 3200-meter run. This was done at the April 27 Sout Fayette invitational, and Erlanger’s time was 11:12.24 (also FAT).
Erlanger medaled at Baldwin for placing third in the mile; she won both the 1600- and the 3200-meter races at South Fayette.
Last year at this time, Fernando Escribens was playing baseball.
Now, he has two top-four WPIAL finishes.
The Upper St. Clair sophomore partnered with another sophomore, Christian Meyer, to finish third at the WPIAL Class AAA doubles tournament this week.
Ryan Riordan's feature on Upper St. Clair's Fernando Escribens:
(Photo: Upper St. Clair's Fernando Escribens was a top-four finisher in singles and doubles at the WPIAL tournament. Lake Fong/Post-Gazette.)
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