Canon-McMillan punches ticket to semifinals
CANONSBURG – Seven was indeed lucky for the Canon-McMillan girls volleyball team in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs against Penn-Trafford on Thursday evening.
The Big Macs used a 7-0 run in the third set to take control of the match and sophomore Natalie Carr, who wears No. 7, was attacking the Warriors all night liong, as Canon-McMillan earned a 3-1 victory.
“Natalie is just a sophomore and she played great tonight,” Canon-McMillan coach Sheila Mitchell said. “We had a lot of other girls step up tonight.”
The Big Macs (14-3) advanced to next Tuesday’s semifinals against the winner of Seneca Valley (11-3) and Peters Township (11-6). Canon-McMillan also avenged a five-set loss to Penn-Trafford (12-4) in the WPIAL quarterfinals last year.
“We lost a tough one to them last year, so win this one tonight was big,” Mitchell said. “We will watch some film and see who we play. We know both teams are tough.”
The Big Macs won the first set, 25-23 before the Warriors won the second, 25-23. C-M won the third set, 25-16 and the fourth, 25-23.
The Big Macs clung to a 7-5 lead in the third set, but a 7-0 run increased their advantage to 14-5. The next 22 points were split. Abby Tucker lofted a ball that fell just inside the backline for the set-clinching point.
Penn-Trafford had a 21-16 lead in the fourth set, but Canon-McMillan outscored the Warriors, 9-2, to close out the match. Carr notched back-to-back kills to score the final two points.
“We were down 21-16 in that second set, but we came back and made it close,” Mitchell said. “Just because you are down doesn’t mean you stop playing.”
Canon-McMillan took the first set thanks in part to stellar play from Carr, who had seven kills, including the set-clinching point. Carr also had an ace that increased the Big Macs’ lead to 20-16 and prompted Penn-Trafford coach Jim Schall to take a timeout.
“They took advantage of some of our errors and got the momentum,” Schall said. “We beat them last year at our place in five sets, so they got the best of us this time. Number 7 (Carr) was fantastic. We couldn’t stop her. They really played well as a team.”
Carr started last year as a freshman and was happy to get some redemption and qualify for the semifinals.
“I have to give credit to all my teammates for setting me up,” Carr said. “It was major deja vu tonight, and it feels good to come back and get some redemption after losing to them last year.
“We try to think about moving to the next play and not letting any negative plays get us down. We did a lot of scouting and see the tendencies of Penn-Trafford. We are just looking forward to the semifinals, and we really don’t care who we play. We just want to get to the finals.”
The Warriors rallied to tie the set at 20-20. Canon-McMillan won five of the next eight points for the set victory.
Canon-McMillan had a 10-7 lead in the second set that prompted Schall to take a timeout. Penn-Trafford went on a 9-3 run to take a 16-13 advantage. The Warriors increased their lead to 21-16 before the Big Macs scored four straight points to pull within one.
Penn-Trafford had two attacks go just over the back line by Warrior senior outside hitter Elle Visco that were dropping for a point. Visco had kills on two of the last four points as Penn-Trafford tied the match at one-set piece.
“She (Visco) is a very good player,” Carr said.