California upsets Maples, advances to semifinals
MAPLETOWN – California was swept by Mapletown twice during the regular season so Trojans coach Rene Pascoe decided to try something different when the two Section 2-A girls volleyball foes squared off again on Thursday night.
Pascoe had her team take a more defensive posture in their WPIAL Class A quarterfinal match on the Maples’ floor.
The end result was California’s second trip to the district semifinals.
The seventh-seeded Trojans dropped the first set to the second-seeded Maples, 25-20, but their change in tactics eventually took effect as California won the final three sets, 25-15, 25-19 and 25-18 to advance.
“I switched up my lineup a little bit,” Pascoe explained. “I went with a 5-1 instead of a 6-2 because I knew with this team we needed to be better at defense.
“We started reading them. The first two games they really beat us up on the tips and rolls. I told the girls where you see an opening that’s where the ball’s going so start moving that way.”
California (12-6) will next take on No. 3 Greensburg Central Catholic on Tuesday with the site to be determined. The Centurions defeated OLSH, 3-1, on Thursday.
Tayla Pascoe, the coach’s daughter turned in another superb all-around performance for California with 18 kills, 60 digs and four aces. Alexis Sherman followed with 13 kills and Gianna O’Brien had eight kills.
“I also think my two big hitters, Tayla and Alexis, they were putting the ball down tonight,” Coach Pascoe said.
The Trojans have shown a knack for storming from behind in the postseason. They trailed Eden Christian 1-0 and 2-1 in their first round match before taking the last two sets to advance to the quarterfinals. Last year California rallied from down 2-0 to defeat Western Beaver in the first round.
The loss was a tough pill to swallow for Mapletown (16-2) whose lone previous loss was to top-seeded Bishop Canevin but coach Christy Menear was gracious in defeat.
“I actually believe that California adjusted and they made way fewer errors than we did,” Menear said. “They didn’t let the ball hit the floor like other teams have in the past. The were extremely defensive, picking up every ball we put over the net.”
Ella Menear, the coach’s daughter, led the Maples with 13 kills and 39 digs and Krista Wilson had 12 kills and 17 digs. Mapletown also got 29 digs from Riley Pekar, 20 assists and 25 digs from Macee Cree and six kills and 23 digs from Taylor Dusenberry.