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Maplewood’s Emily Merritt and Madalyn Nicols were among five District 10 girls named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Class A All-State Team today.

Cochranton’s Aubrey Hering and Sharpsville’s Paige Scurpa and Kristen Scurpa also claimed spots on the team.

Merritt is a 5-foot 6-inch senior libero who recently was named to the District 10 All-Star Team. Nicols, just a sophomore, is a 5-foot 8-inch outside hitter. The duo helped the Tigers to a District 10 Class A title.

Hering, a 5-foot 10-inch senior, was a standout middle hitter for the Cardinals.

Kristen Scurpa, a 5-foot 7-inch senior setter, and Paige Scurpa, a 5-foot 9-inch senior outside hitter, helped Sharpsville to a runner-up finish in D-10 Class A. Kristen Scurpa recently was selected to the District 10 All-Star Team.

Last week, McDowell’s Danielle Hayes landed a spot on to the Class AAA all-state team.

The PVCA has not released its Class AA all-state team.

Check out the entire Class A all-state team.

Maplewood Tigers
Coach (season): Sheila Bancroft (27th season)
2011 overall record: 16-8
2011 region record (place): 10-4 (third)
2011 playoff results: Qualified for the District 10 Class A playoffs and went 2-1 in pool play. Maplewood then defeated Saegertown 13-25, 25-18, 25-15 in the semifinals before losing to Linesville 25-20, 25-17, 25-16 in the District 10 Class A championship. Maplewood defeated Elderton 25-18, 25-20, 25-20 in the first round of the PIAA playoffs and went 2-1 in pool play. The Tigers’ playoff run ended in the PIAA semifinals against Linesville 25-17, 26-24, 25-10.
Top players lost: Olivia Graff, Emma Parker
Top returning players: Kendra Turner, Madalyn Nicols, Emily Merritt, Ashley Myers
Assistant coaches: Angela Groshner, Krysti Nageotte, Marisa Phelan
Outlook: Maplewood’s biggest problem last fall resided in the same county. Linesville beat the Tigers in the District 10 Class A championship and in the PIAA semifinals. With Linesville turning into Conneaut and moving up to Class AA, Maplewood emerges as an immediate favorite in Class A. The Tigers graduated all-region setter Olivia Graff (first team) and all-region outside hitter (second). The two were standout players and will need to be replaced immediately. Maplewood returns an experienced group led by second-team middle hitter Kendra Turner. Also back are hitters Madalyn Nicols and Ashley Myers along with libero Emily Merritt. The four could receive big contributions from new players Taylor Smith, Laura Kirk, Jessa Covine, Elizabeth Miller and Jaricka Simmerman. Coach Sheila Bancroft is looking for Simmerman and Myers to step in and run the offense while Maplewood should be strong on the outside. The big key will be developing some power on offense and overcoming size issues. The Tigers have tough matches with Saegertown on Sept. 18 and Oct. 11 but expectations are this fall with another District 10 Class A championship in mind.

Schedule
September
11 at Eisenhower* 7:30
13 Cambridge Springs* 7:30
18 at Saegertown* 7:30
20 Youngsville* 7:30
25 at Rocky Grove* 7:30
27 Cochranton* 7:30
October
2 Union City* 7:30
4 Eisenhower* 7:30
9 at Cambridge Springs* 7:30
11 Saegertown* 7:30
16 at Youngsville* 7:30
18 Rocky Grove* 7:30
23 at Cochranton* 7:30
25 at Union City* 7:30
*Region 2 matches

Later today: McDowell

– Tom Reisenweber

Dean Lewis

Maplewood looks like one of the top boys volleyball teams in District 10 once again, and hitter Dean Lewis is a big reason why.

The 6-foot 1-inch senior is starting to rack up kills as the Tigers continue to pile up wins.

Lewis picked up 16 kills and 12 digs in a sweep of Cochranton before putting together 17 kills and eight digs in a sweep of Rocky Grove.

He then posted nine kills in a sweep of Conneaut Valley and is emerging as one of the top hitters in D-10.

Poll results:

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Justin Dahl

Maplewood is primed for another big year in boys volleyball and Justin Dahl could have a major impact on that success.

Dahl, a 5-foot 9-inch junior setter, will be in charge of getting the ball to the Tigers’ powerful hitters. Dahl started the dual season off with 40 assists and 11 digs in a 22-25, 25-17, 25-20 and 25-19 non-region win over Saegertown. Maplewood travels to Cochranton tonight before heading to the Meadville tournament Saturday.

The Tigers finally will open Region 1 play April 19 at Rocky Grove.

Poll results:

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The Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association released its first set of state rankings of the boys volleyball season Monday, and three District 10 teams are on the list.

Meadville, the 2011 District 10 runner-up,  is ranked second in the state in Class AA behind defending PIAA champion Deer Lakes of District 7. Saegertown, the 2011 D-10 champion and state runner-up, is ranked No. 8. Maplewood is at No. 10.

McDowell, District 10′s only Class AAA team, is not ranked in AAA.

CLASS AA

(District 10 teams in bold.)

Rank Team  (District)
1.     Deer Lakes (7)
2.     Meadville ( 10)
3.     Manheim Central (3)
4.     Bethlehem Catholic (11)
5.     York Suburban (3)
6.     Dover (3)
7.     Northeastern (3)
8.     Saegertown (10)
9.     Ambridge (7)
10.     Maplewood ( 10)

CLASS AAA
Rank Team  District
1.     North Allegheny (7)
2.     Chambersburg (3)
3.     Hempfield (3)
4.     Pennridge  (1)
5.     Seneca Valley (7)
6.     Central Dauphin (3)
7.     Exeter (3)
8.     Emmaus (11)
9.     Lower Dauphin (3)
10.     Council Rock North (1)

Fort LeBoeuf, Linesville and Maplewood are representing District 10 today in PIAA girls volleyball pool play at Central York High School. LeBoeuf is competing in Class AA, while Linesville and Maplewood are in Class A.

The goal for each is to win at least two of their three matches in pool play in order to advance to Saturday’s state semifinals.

We’ll post updates today as they become available:

8:30 p.m.: According to our blog source in York, Fort LeBoeuf falls short of the PIAA semifinals with a 25-22 loss to Freeport in a pool tiebreaker. Freeport will play Susquehannock for a spot in the semifinals. After a 3-0 sweep of the first match against Freeport, LeBoeuf lost 3-0 to Susquehannock and 2-1 to West Allegheny before falling to Freeport. Still, what a year for the Bison.

8 p.m.: We’re still waiting on word from the tiebreaker matches. What a long, exhausting day for the Bison.

7:27 p.m.: Fort LeBoeuf lost, but Freeport beat Susquehannock. Apparently, that means that LeBoeuf will be involved in a match vs. Freeport. The winner of that will play Susquehannock to see which team advances to the semifinals. More details to follow. It’s a crazy pool.

5:30 p.m. – Maplewood and Linesvile move on to the PIAA Class A semifinals. The Tigers swept Sacred Heart 25-19, 25-11, 25-7 and Linesville beat North Star 25-14, 25-13, 25-13. Linesville and Maplewood will meet in the semifinals Saturday at 8 p.m. with the winner playing for a state title at 1:30 p.m.

2:25 p.m.: Bad news from York. Susquehannock swept Fort LeBoeuf 25-19, 25-19, 25-18 in the second match of pool play. That means the Bison are 1-1 with a match coming against a very tough West Allegheny team at 4:40 p.m. It’s unclear what LeBoeuf must do to advance, but Susquehannock’s sweep probably means that LeBoeuf needs a win and Freeport must beat Susquehannock for the Bisons to have a chance.

2:08 p.m.: We should be getting results shortly from LeBoeuf’s second Class AA pool play match. The Bison, who swept their first-round match, are playing District 3 champion Susquehannock, which lost its opening match to West Allegheny 25-22, 27-25, 25-19. If the Bison were to sweep Susquehannock, they would almost certainly advance to Saturday’s semifinals.

1:45 p.m: Good news for Linesville and Maplewood in their second games of pool play. Linesville beats District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle 25-20, 23-25, 25-18 to move to 2-0 in Pool A. They probably have locked up a berth in semifinals, but it’s not certain.

Two other teams, North Star and Bishop Guilfoyle, are 1-1. Linesville will play North Star in its final match of pool play. If the Lions win, they’re definitely in. If they lose, there could be three 2-1 teams in the bracket, leaving which two advance to a tiebreaker on sets.

Maplewood kept alive its chances in Pool B by beating District 1 champion Nativity BVM 25-23, 24-26, 25-15. That moved the Tigers to 1-1 in pool play. They could earn a berth in the semifinals if they beat Sacred Heart in the pool finale at 3:20 p.m. Sacred Heart is 0-2. There still is a chance that three teams could tie at 2-1, leaving the two advancing teams to a tiebreaker.

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