Can the Bobcats complete the two-peat?
Our very own Beaver Area volleyball team is back in the WPIAL championships for a second year in a row.
That return appearance doesn’t mean that the journey to the championship has been easy.
This year the team was moved from 2A to 3A not because of their dominance last year but rather the team being too large for the 2A parameters. But that reclassification seems to have done little to slow down this amazing team.
The Bobcats ended the regular season as section champions with a 3-0 conference record. However, this wasn’t their end goal or even that impressive for the Bobcats due to their high hopes and easy conference.
Instead, once the playoff bracket was released the Bobcats got exactly what they wanted: the first seed. This meant that the Lady Cats would play the wildcard and final seed of the tournament.
Beaver Area then had to play against Gateway at home October 23. The Gators had an expected loss against the Bobcats when the Cats left the court in a quick 3-0 victory.
On to the quarterfinals the Cats went with another home game against Oakland Catholic the following Saturday October 26.
This game didn’t start the way Beaver Area would have liked, but nonetheless they earned another win.
With a quick loss in the first set, the Bobcats managed to come back and win 3-1 in the afternoon matchup.
Freshman Kayden Blinn gave the team the advantage on the right side when both juniors Kailyn Connelly and Lanie Malobabich were heavily blocked.
Oakland Catholic relied on tips and pushes because of their hitting game being weak, so the Bobcats defense was playing shallow and being the key they needed.
The Eagles also had a surprisingly strong serving game, so as long as Beaver Area was able to serve, points were made for the Bobcats.
On the serving side, senior Allie Williams and junior Miley Hapach led the team in aces and allowed the Bobcats to inch away from Oakland Catholic.
With another team’s season over because of the Bobcats’ dominance, an away game was next.
All WPIAL semifinal games were played October 30 at North Allegheny. With four separate divisions that meant four highly competitive games back to back.
The Bobcats were third, serving at 7:30 p.m—at least that was the expected start time.
The Bobcats ended up taking the court at a late 9 p.m. because of the 2A game going to five sets.
This delay didn’t seem to faze the Lady Cats and they were prepared for the match-up against the Hampton Talbots.
Pittsburgh Trib writer Don Rebel covered the game in his article about what to watch in the WPIAL this Halloween week. He said that this game was, “the battle of the champions,” and all about how, “The Talbots won the 2023 WPIAL Class 3A title by defeating North Catholic in the finals match right after Beaver edged Freeport in the Class 2A championship match.”
With Beaver moving up to 3A and North Catholic moving up to 4A Hampton had new competition.
Nonetheless, Beaver Area is still the first seed and proved worthy to keep that position. With a 3-0 sweep of the Talbots, Beaver Area is on to the championships and Hampton will have to play for a consolation third place.
The Talbots lost one too many seniors last year and was said to be an easier opponent than Oakland Catholic.
Set scores were 25-20, 25-17 and 25-20. Junior Aubrey Bumblis had 25 digs, Zoe Ringer added 26 assists and recorded five kills.
On the hitting side, Malobabich recorded six kills and four blocks and Connelly had 12 kills.
The true MVP for the game was junior Jaedyn Brown with a whopping nine kills, 10 digs and three aces.
The Bobcats will now travel to Peters Township for the WPIAL championship game November 2. It will be a heated matchup against their 2024 rivals: Mars.
Mars is the second seed and has, like Beaver Area, swept past all opponents on the opposite side of the bracket.
The top three finishers in the WPIAL will compete in the state championships so Beaver Area has already punched their ticket.
Can the Bobcats win the gold? Find out in the next issue of the BASD ECHO!