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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- In a match that took just 59 minutes to complete, the Hollidaysburg Area High School girls volleyball team defeated Mifflin County, 3-0, in the District 6-8-9 sub-regional semifinals Wednesday night.
Even though the two schools do play each other in other scholastic sports, volleyball is not one of them, with Hollidaysburg competing in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference and the Lady Huskies playing in the Mid-Penn Conference.
"It's always difficult coming in not knowing what you are getting from the other side," Mifflin County coach Danielle Napikoski said. "Knowing Hollidaysburg, knowing that they are a strong program, we knew it was going to be tough. They are well-coached, well-disciplined and they have a ton of athletes."
Hollidaysburg coach Brandon Stitt talked about his approach in preparing for Mifflin County.
"We are learning as we play them, but I like making adjustments as the game goes on," said Stitt, whose team won 25-11, 25-7, 25-11. "We kind of show our hand and then leave it up to the other team to change or not change. They really didn't make a lot of changes."
Hollidaysburg, which improved to 20-1, never trailed in any of the three sets. The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 3-1 lead behind points from Kynlee Budny either by a kill, or just floating one over the net instead of going for the kill.
That lead was extended to 10-4 when Isabella Basenback registered a kill but Mifflin County made it close, cutting it to 10-6 on a block from Kate Hartzler and a kill from Grayce Napikoski. The next thing you knew, Hollidaysburg was up 16-6 thanks to points from Budny, Basenbach, Jessica Becker and Delayni Baird, along with Lena Ransom.
Budny was stacking up kills left and right for most of the night, and the Huskies found it hard to cover the entire floor on their side.
"She is good. She is good. She was totally exploiting the hole in our block," Napikoski said. "She was taking advantage of the discrepancy in our height."
Stitt was also happy with his outside hitter, but was quick to mention more than just the junior Lady Tiger.
"I would say (this performance) was definitely up there with some of her others. She has been doing specs of this throughout the season, but really, the whole team was just clicking (tonight) on all cylinders. They played freaking awesome," he said.
Up 24-11, Hollidaysburg ended the opener with a Ransom kill for the 25-11 win.
In match two, Hollidaysburg made it even harder on the Lady Huskies, who start two freshman and two sophomores on their squad. It was 10-1 at one point behind the likes of Budny, Baird and Taryn Leighty who were producing points. Mifflin County ended the run at 10-2 on a block by Kahlen McCracken.
Hollidaysburg went on another run, making it 15-2 when Brooklyn Boggetta got a ball over the net that the Huskies could not return. Ransom dinked the ball over at one point to make it 24-4 before Mifflin County scored three straight points to make it 24-7 behind Ella Hartzler, Rylie Kahley and Leah Hartzler.
"It wasn't our best effort. We did not control the things that we can control that we talked about, but they were hanging in there with them in moments of the game," Napikoski said.
Hollidaysburg ended it at 25-7 when Makenzie McLanahan's serve could not be returned in the required three plays on the ball by the Lady Huskies (8-11).
Mifflin County made it close early, trailing only 5-4 early on in the final set. However, the likes of Boggetta, Basenback, Ransom and Baird, along with Budny's towering presence on the court, helped put Hollidaysburg up 21-6 at one point.
Mifflin County cut it 24-11 on a kill from Kate Hartzler, but the match ended when the Huskies failed to get their service attempt over to set the final at 25-11.
Stitt was happy that his team was able to put its opponent away in three.
"We are getting there," Stitt answered when asked about if this senior-less team is a tight-knit group. "We are not as close as I would like us to be, but we are getting there, but that is a good thing to be working on right now because our best days are ahead of us."
Hollidaysburg will play the winner of Taylor Alderdice vs. DuBois on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Mount Aloysius in the sub-regional final.