Nov 2, 2020 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – This season has been like no other for Waynesburg High School’s volleyball team.

The Raiders met 13th-seeded Frazier Monday evening and chalked up their third straight victory over the Commodores, 25-14, 25-15 and 25-19 in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs.

The fifth-seeded Raiders will be making their first appearance in the semifinals in program history. This is the sixth consecutive season that the Raiders (13-2), who play at top-seeded North Catholic in the semifinals, have made the playoffs.

All three games against Frazier were similar in style. Frazier would stay close then fade through the middle. Waynesburg won the previous two meetings in five games and four, respectively.

“We blocked,” said Waynesburg head coach Dan Higinbotham. “Jensyn Hartman is their best hitter and we did a good job blocking her.”

Waynesburg got strong play out of its front line and the back line was its usual strong self.

“I give my defense the most credit,” said Higinbotham. “I usually set my team up from a defensive perspective, lined with who I want to block who.”

Sarah Stephenson had 10 kills in 14 tries with no errors. Emma Robinson had 12 kills out of 16 with no errors.

“We were hitting out of our minds in this match,” said Higinbotham. “We go into the next match with a lot of confidence. But I hear good things about North Catholic.”

Robinson is a 5-8 senior and Stephenson is a 5-10 sophomore. The two took control of the match and Robinson scored the final point of the match from her left front position.

“She is an incredible player,” said Stephenson. “We just pulled together well as a team. We’ve been working on blocking, and trying to get the ball down the best way we can. We played really well together as a team.”

Stephenson said it’s going to take a game like this, clean and free of errors, to beat North Catholic.

“We’re going to have to give it everything we have to beat North Catholic,” said Stephenson. “They are a really talented team.”

Frazier, which finished behind Carmichaels and Waynesburg in Section 2, fields a team with only six seniors and head coach Mandy Hartman said Waynesburg left no doubt who the better team was in this match.

“We have two girls we can go to,” said Hartman. “They can put the ball anywhere along the net. They are the best team we’ve played all season and the best team I’ve seen all season.”

Hartman said Frazier played “afraid to lose” against Wayesburg after knocking off fourth-seeded Deer Lakes.

“Last week, we had the attitude that ‘Hey, if we win that’s great,'” said Hartman. “We were playing the fourth seed and we didn’t have any expectations that we were going to win. Tonight, the pressure was on. We were playing a team we knew, that was in our section. I felt a different vibe than I did the other night.”

For Frazier, Jordin Brundage had 13 digs and 10 service points, Alexis Lovis had 13 assists and Hartman had 17 kills.

For Waynesburg, Cayla Rush had 26 assists and Ryleigh Watson had three aces.