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.

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:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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)

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.

11:53 a.m.: Linesville is now playing District 6 champion Bishop Guilfoyle in Pool A. Bishop Guilfoyle beat District 5 champion North Star 25-23, 21-25, 25-19 in its pool opener this morning.

Maplewood, the No. 10 team in the state, is playing District 11 champion Nativity BVM in its second Pool B match. Nativity BVM, the No. 6 team, beat District 1 champion Sacred Heart 25-13, 25-23, 25-20 in its morning match.

11:28 a.m.: Fort LeBoeuf is off to a strong start after beating District 7 runner-up Freeport 25-17, 25-20, 27-25 in its Pool A opener. The Bison will prepare for a match against District 3 champion Susquehannock at 12:20 p.m.

Incidentally, LeBoeuf was ranked 10th in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Class AA poll. Freeport was No. 9, while Susquehannock was No. 4.

The Bison’s final pool play game will be against No. 6 West Allegheny at 4:40 p.m. Another Fort LeBoeuf win would all but clinch a spot in Saturday’s semifinals.

11:01 a.m.: In Class A this morning, Linesville and Maplewood got mixed results. Linesville, the District 10 champion and state’s No. 1 Class A team, rolled past Region 4 champion Williamson 25-18, 25-17, 25-11. The Lions are now one win from advancing to Saturday’s semifinals.

Maplewood lost to District 9 champion Clarion Area 25-17, 22-25, 25-19. The Tigers must now scramble to advance, but they were helped by the fact that they won the second set vs. Clarion.

Linesville and Maplewood are in different pools.