Fall sports in Seneca have been very successful in Seneca Valley this year. The soccer team advanced to states for the second consecutive time and Varsity Football made it past the first round of playoffs in three years. No team, however, was more successful than the Varsity Girls’ Volleyball team.

SV Girls Volleyball knocked out Baldwin in the WPIAL championship, ending their 3 straight championship run.

Last year, the girls’ team had a ton of promise, with talented seniors such as Maddie Poirier, Melisa Carter, and Madison Chapman. They lost in the second round of the WPIAL playoffs and failed to make the state tournament.

It was disappointing, but the Juniors were not worried. They knew they were going to be good the following year, with the main core of players staying together. Seniors include  Bella Seman, Tatum Poirier, Katie Whittle, Bethany Cowden, Lauren Vozel, Maria Alfano, Ashley Muir, Karina Latsko, and Sarah Rodgers. With these players still with SV, along with star Juniors such as Emily Devlin and Madison McDonough, they were projected to have an even better season than last year.

The Raiders lived up to expectation, having one of the best regular seasons in recent history. With a record of 21 – 1, the Raiders pulled off very impressive victories against North Allegheny, and Allentown Central Catholic in the championship of the Cumberland Valley tournament at the beginning of the season.

This year was the first time Seneca beat NA in volleyball in nearly 2 years; they struggled against them all last year. Coming into their first regular season game against them this season, both teams were undefeated. Seneca surprised NA and WPIALs with a 3-0 sweep over the highly talented team. That would be NA’s only loss in the regular season.

When playoffs came around they would open against number 8 seeded Fox Chapel. SV dominated them in three games. They would move onto Upper Saint Clair and sweep them as well. The final four consisted of Hempfield, NA, Baldwin, and SV. Seneca would take on Hempfield and would beat them in 4 games. Baldwin would beat NA in there semifinal round to play the Raiders in the WPIAL finals.

It worked out that Baldwin’s gym was selected to host the championship without knowledge that Baldwin was going to go to the finals. Seneca had to beat Baldwin on their own court.

On Saturday, November 5, Seneca stayed ahead for most of game 1 and would take the 27-25. In game 2, SV fell behind 18-10, but Seneca never gave up and tied the game at 19. Seneca would end up winning game 2, 25-20.

In game three, the raiders had it in the back of their heads that they could overcome anything, they cruised past the Highlanders to win 25-21 and to win their first WPIAL title since 2011.

“It took a while to sink in that we won the whole WPIAL section, we were working since summer league to get to the finals and it was surreal that we won that game, against Baldwin, in their gym,” stated Sarah Rodgers.