Saegertown vs. Cochranton 5-25-23

District X Semi-Finals

Panthers too much for Blue Devils

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

The Saegertown boys volleyball team hit the ground running on Tuesday.

The Panthers opened the first set on a 13-4 run and kept momentum the rest of the way in a 3-0 sweep (25-8, 25-12, 25-18) against Cambridge Springs in the District 10 quarterfinal round. “I thought we played well,” Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson said. “I thought we came out with some energy, played outstanding defense and I thought we played the net really well in the first two sets.”

Senior setter Brady Greco, who finished the match with 24 assists, dished perfect dimes to middle hitter Quincy Zook and outside hitters Collin Jones and Sam Draa. The offense, aided by a defense that sided out whatever Cambridge threw at them, rolled on all cylinders.

“We were getting some good touches up there blocking. There were a very overpass situations and things like that we took care of,” Johnson said. “We hit smart tonight. We didn’t necessarily pound the ball all the time, but we placed the ball pretty well.”

The Panthers breezed through the first two sets and opened the third set on a 13-2 run before the Blue Devils started to get some good touches on the ball.

“That’s how it’s been all year. They really haven’t given up in any matches, which has been great to see,” Cambridge Springs head coach Kyle Marzka said. “The first two sets were pretty rough and the beginning of the third set was pretty rough. They were nervous. You could tell in the way they were hitting that they were nervous. Saegertown came out and they were ready to play.”

Cambridge’s Josh Reisenauer and Van Jones tallied a run of kills and suddenly the Blue Devils trailed 21-13 and seemed to be getting into a groove.

Greco gave Saegertown the match-clinching kills with a well-placed hit to the back corner.

“The thing of it is, at this point of the season, I don’t care if every set is 33-31. I just want to be the team that has 33. This is do-or-die time. It doesn’t matter how you do it,” Johnson said. “It can be pretty, it can be ugly, all that matters is that you win.”

Saegertown will play Cochranton on Thursday in the District 10 semifinal round at a time and place to be announced.

For Cambridge, the team finished 5-10 and five seniors; Jordan McCelland, Brady Campbell, Kaiden Boozer, Reisenauer and Jones played their final game for the Blue Devils.

“We told them to keep playing volleyball. It’s a fun sport,” Marzka said. “The seniors love the sport so we told them to keep playing and have fun with it.”

Saegertown secures playoff seeding

SAEGERTOWN — The Saegertown boys volleyball team secured the No. 3 seed in the playoff with its five set win (18-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-11) over Mercyhurst Prep.

The Panthers saw Quincy Zook score 17 kills, Collin Jones 12 and Sam Draa 11. Brady Greco dished out 41 assists and Sam Hetrick had 15 digs.

Saegertown finished the season with a 9-5 record and have completed their regular season schedule.

Saegertown sweeps Cathedral Prep

ERIE — Saegertown boys volleyball swept Cathedral Prep (25-9, 25-7, 25-16) in region play on Thursday.

Quincy Zook tallied 19 kills and Brady Greco had 32 assists. Sam Draa added six kills and Cody Huson five.

The 8-5 Panthers will move on to play Mercyhurst Prep in their final game of the regular season Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. at home.

Panthers sweep Orioles

ROCKY GROVE — Saegertown swept Rocky Grove 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-14) in a region match on Tuesday.

Senior Brady Greco dished 24 assists in the win. Sam Draa led the offense with nine kills while Grant Anthony added seven. Collin Jones tallied 12 digs and five kills.

Saegertown is 7-5 overall and 6-3 in the region. The Panthers will play at Cathedral Prep on Thursday for another region match.

Tough battle

Meadville overcomes adversity, Saegertown in gritty 3-1 win

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

SAEGERTOWN — The Meadville Bulldogs boys volleyball team left Saegertown Thursday night with a win to keep their undefeated season alive, but it was anything but easy.

Saegertown was aggressive throughout the match. Also, Meadville starting setter Jack Brown exited late in the first set with a scary injury near the bleachers. He did not return to action, but freshman Tate Walker stepped in to help the ’Dogs to a 3-1 win (25-21, 27-25, 19-25, 25-20).

“It was a tough, gritty win,” Meadville head coach Nick Bancroft said. “It is tough when you get a wrench thrown at you like that. It was emotional for the guys.”

Meadville started strong and seemed to be heading for a big win in the first set. The Bulldogs led 2317 when Brown got injured. Senior libero Hunter Graham stepped into the role of setter to close the first set before Walker took over to open the second set.

“Some of our guys picked up a lot of slack tonight. Tate came off the bench to set, Luc (Soerenen) got a lot of swings, took care of the ball and executed when we needed him to,” Bancroft said. “Our sophomore middles did a nice job touching balls at the net and getting kills when we needed them to.”

The Panthers did not back down after the first set. They were aggressive and played well above the net. Late in the second set, Saegertown’s Quincy Zook took turns pummeling the ball into the floor at Steve Scott Gymnasium with Meadville’s Soerensen and Jackson Decker delivering it back.

The set was up for grabs with a tie at 25. A Soerensen kill and a Saegertown hitting error pushed the ’Dogs ahead 2-0.

Saegertown finished the third set on an 8-2 run to win and keep its upset hopes alive by trailing 2-1 “Our effort was here tonight. It was not against Cochranton (on Tuesday), so I am happy with that. We just made too many errors,” said Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson. “We had some service errors in the fourth set, but on the other hand we served aggressively in the third set and that’s why we pulled away.

“We need to find a happy medium there. We have to just quit giving up those four and five point runs. We are getting there.”

Meadville pulled ahead 12-6 in the fourth set and kept a healthy lead the rest of the way to ensure the match did not get pushed to a fifth set.

“That was an important win for us. It was important seeding wise but more important to see how we respond to adversity like that. It was really cool to see,” Bancroft said. “Our upperclassmen at times made some plays, but the leadership from our young guys was big and exciting to see for our program.”

Soerensen led the offense with 19 kills and added six digs. Decker had 13 kills and six digs. Walker finished with 29 assists.

Meadville is 10-0 overall this season and 8-0 in the region. The Bulldogs will host Fort LeBoeuf on Tuesday.

Zook paced Saegertown with 14 kills and seven blocks. Brady Greco dished 37 assists and added six digs, three kills and one block. Sam Hetrick had 28 digs.

Collin Jones had a double double with 23 digs and 10 kills. Sam Draa added 16 digs and eight kills.

The Panthers have lost two straight matches, but both were to teams ranked in the top 10 in the state according to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association. Saegertown is 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the region.

“We need to find a way to get over that hump. What do you do extra to get over that? When you start stealing sets off teams, first you have to win a close one, which we did when we won the third set,” Johnson said. “Now the thing is we have to win a match. You win a couple of those close sets and hopefully get over the next hump, which is winning a match against one of these good teams.”

Saegertown will play at Rocky Grove on Tuesday.

Experience-heavy

Cardinals overcome ferocious Panthers

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

SAEGERTOWN — Saegertown opened Tuesday’s match against Cochranton aggressively and with a lot of passion, but the Cardinals prevailed down the stretch in a 3-1 win (2025, 25-16, 25-19, 25-14) in a region match at Steve Scott Gymnasium.

Each team traded points, but after a tie at 10, the Panthers exploded. Led by big kills and blocks from senior Quincy Zook, Saegertown went on a run.

When Cochranton did side out and mount an attack, the Panthers were more than active above the net. It resulted in a 25-20 win and a lead against the No. 6 ranked team in the state, according to the latest Class 2A poll from the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association.

“I think Saegertown played really well in that first set. They were big at the net and got a bunch of blocks. They were aggressive and were making good plays,” Cochranton head coach Rob Cierniakoski said. “I don’t know if we got caught off guard, but I think Saegertown put together a nice set there.”

Unfortunately for the Panthers, the emotional high did not last. Cochranton’s offense began to work around Saegertown’s defensive front and find holes in the backcourt.

“In the first set we served well and put a lot of pressure on them. We made very few hitting errors and even less blocking errors,” Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson said. “We were able to play defense around that and it was good.”

Cochranton senior Landon Homa began to heat up in the second set and helped propel the Cardinals to a 25-16 set win.

“We did talk to our hitters about their defense. We told them to be smart up there,” Cierniakoski said. “I think a couple of our guys settled in and that helped — once they got settled into the match.”

In the third set, it seemed like the Panthers were climbing back into it. A series of blocks put them up 14-9, but the Cards responded with an 8-0 run and closed the set with a win to go up 2-1 in the match.

“I think we backed off in the second set at the service line and they started passing the ball a lot better. That was the difference,” Johnson said. “We also gave up an 8-0 run and a 12-1 run in the last two sets. You can’t be doing that at this point in the season.”

The Cardinals rolled in the final set to close the match and walk away 9-3 overall and 7-0 in the region.

Homa led the team with 21 kills. Fellow seniors Chase Miller and Andrew Custead added 13 kills and 47 assists, respectively. Freshman Brady Rynd and junior Noah Cummings finished with seven and 11 kills, respectively.

“A couple of those guys are veterans and know what it’s like to play in that atmosphere. It kind of felt like a playoff match with the crowd and the energy Saegertown brought,” Cierniakoski said. “I think all those seniors and Dawson, those guys that have been there, they did a good job. They’re comfortable in those situations and that is ultimately what led to us being able to execute.”

The Cardinals will play at Cambridge Springs on Thursday.

Saegertown is 5-2 in region action and 6-4 overall. The Panthers were paced by Zook with 17 kills and six blocks. Collin Jones tallied 10 digs, eight kills and three blocks. Brady Greco dished 29 assists.

“I think we’re real close. We’ve played everybody tough. I’ve been doing this for a while and I don’t know that I’ve had a team lose as many two-point sets as we have. We didn’t lose a two-point set tonight, but we’ve lost a ton of them in tournament and match play,” Johnson said. “We need to keep building and get ready for the last week of the season.”

The Panthers host Meadville on Thursday.

Panthers topple Blue Devils

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — The Saegertown boys volleyball team beat Cambridge 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 27-29, 25-6) in a region match on Thursday.

Senior Brady Greco dished 37 assists in the match. Quincy Zook led the offense with 17 kills and Collin Jones added 11. Sam Hetrick had 12 digs.

Saegertown is 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the region. The Panthers will play at the Hempfield tournament on Saturday.

Cambridge’s Josh Reisenauer had 12 kills. Kaiden Boozer and Parker Schmidt added seven and five kills. Brady Campbell had 22 assists and Ian Anderson had 13 digs.

Cambridge Springs is 3-5 overall and 3-3 in the region. The Blue Devils will also play at the Hempfield tournament.

Saegertown tops LeBoeuf 3-0

SAEGERTOWN — The Saegertown boys volleyball team beat Fort LeBoeuf 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-17) in a region match on Tuesday.

Quincy Zook paced the offense with 11 kills and Cody Huson added eight. Collin Jones tallied 10 kills and seven digs. Senior and Hiram College commit Brady Greco dished 31 assists.

Saegertown is 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the region. The Panthers will play at Cambridge Springs on Thursday.

Panthers fall in five sets

SAEGERTOWN — The Saegertown boys volleyball team lost to McDowell 3-2 (25-23, 24-26, 2225, 25-20, 15-3) in a region match on Thursday.

Saegertown’s offense was led by Quincy Zook with 16 kills. Collin Jones added 13 digs and 12 kills while Sam Draa tallied 10 kills and eight digs. Sam Hetrick had 17 digs.

Senior Brady Greco ran the offense to the tune of 42 assists.

Saegertown is 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the region. The Panthers will host Fort LeBoeuf on Tuesday.

Winning streak

Saegertown overcomes sloppy start in sweep of Maplewood

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP — Saegertown overcame a slow start and a driven Maplewood team in Tuesday’s 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-18, 25-9) at Maplewood High School. From the jump, the Panthers looked out of sorts. Head coach Justin Johnson called a timeout before the first serve of the match to get his defense into position and ready to play.

Maplewood, playing its third match in a restart-year for the program, was ready. Freshman Liam McCarl earned the first point of the match with a kill and gave his team a lead. The Tigers led until mid-set when Saegertown took a 14-13 lead.

“It was not one of our better efforts tonight from top to bottom,” Johnson said. “We didn’t step on the floor ready to play. I was a little disappointed in that, but a win is a win.”

Once Saegertown took the lead, the Panthers didn’t look back. Sam Draa, Quincy Zook and Collin Jones took turns pummeling the ball into the floor and with the big spikes came loud chants from the Panthers’ bench. Between the action on the court and the noise from the bench, the Tigers looked out of sorts. Saegertown closed the set on a 10-2 run.

“I think it rattled them a little bit and it’s why we didn’t take the first set. When we came out of the gate I thought we would win the set, but they had a couple big swings and we quieted a bit,” said Maplewood head coach Calum Hyde. “That in and of itself was a learning experience for them.”

Saegertown rode its momentum into the second set, but Maplewood did not back down. The Tigers trailed 14-13 before Saegertown pulled away.

Maplewood had a couple big swings at the net, but the offense is not consistent yet.

“Even when the passing is good our ball placement isn’t as consistent as I’d like it to be and it makes hitters hesitate,” Hyde said. “Once we can cleanup the serve-receive and make it easy for our setter to consistently set the ball, our hitters will have the light bulb moment of ‘Oh, I know where the ball is going, I can use my energy to get there.’” Saegertown dominated the third and final set. Senior Brady Greco dished 32 assists in the win. Jones led the offense with 12 kills and Zook added 11. Draa had a near double-double with nine kills and nine digs.

On defense, Sam Hetrick tallied 12 digs.

“Our offense has gotten a lot better over the past few weeks. I thought we really turned the corner at the Northeastern tournament in York,” Johnson said. “We’re getting close to halfway through the season and I’d like to say there is a lot of volleyball left, but we’ll have to see what happens over these next few weeks.” Saegertown is 4-3 overall and 3-0 in the region. The Panthers are riding a four-match winning streak and will host McDowell on Thursday.

“We have improved since the beginning of the year, especially since the Meadville tournament,” Johnson said. “Now we’re going to get into the meat of the schedule with Mc-Dowell, Cochranton and Meadville and those teams over the next two or three weeks and we’ll figure out if we’ve actually gotten better or not.”

Maplewood’s Caden Lazorishak led the defense with eight digs. Dorian Dubet and Logan Kier added seven and five digs, respectively.

The Tigers are 0-3 overall and in the region. Maplewood will play at Mercyhurst Prep on Thursday.

So far, Hyde is happy with the improvement of his young team.

“Compared to how we were against Meadville, it’s like a totally different team out there. It looks like a team that’s out there wanting to win instead of a team that isn’t quite sure of themselves,” Hyde said. “They’re improving by leaps and bounds. It’s just a time game. We need the experience, time in the gym and touches on the ball. It will come.”

SAEGERTOWN — The Saegertown boys volleyball team swept Farrell 3-0 (25-8, 25-9, 25-9) in a region match on Thursday.

Senior Brady Greco dished 30 assists to run the offense. Collins Jones had 11 kills and Quincy Zook added nine.

Saegertown is 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the region. The Panthers will play at Maplewood on Tuesday.

Panthers sweep Eagles

LINESVILLE — The Saegertown boys volleyball team swept Conneaut 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-16) in a region match on Tuesday.

Brady Greco dished 28 assists in the win. Quincy Zook led the offense with 10 kills. Cody Huson had eight kills and four blocks while Collin Jones added eight digs and seven kills.

Saegertown is 2-2 overall and 1-0 in region action. Conneaut is 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the region.

ERIE — The Saegertown boys volleyball team lost to Mercyhurst Prep 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-23) on Tuesday.

Senior Brady Greco dished 23 assists in the loss. Sam Hetrick tallied nine digs. Quincy Zook and Collins Jones had seven and six kills, respectively.

The Panthers are 1-2 overall and will play at Conneaut on Tuesday.

Saegertown volleyball beats Cambridge Springs in four sets

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — The Saegertown volleyball team beat Cambridge Springs 3-1 (26-24, 25-17, 25-27, 25-15) at Cambridge Springs High School on Thursday.

Collin Jones led the Panthers with 14 kills. Quincy Zook and Sam Draa added 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Brady Greco dished 39 assists and Sam Hetrick led the defense with 23 digs.

For Cambridge, Josh Reisenauer led the offense with 12 kills and added two blocks. Parker Schmidt tallied six kills with three blocks and Kaiden Boozer had four kills and four blocks. Brady Campbell added 24 assists and three blocks.

Saegertown is 1-1 and will compete at the Northeastern Tournament today. Cambridge is 0-1 and will compete at the Seneca Valley Tournament.

Saegertown

The Saegertown Panthers didn’t make it out of the district playoffs last season, but was one of the top teams in the state.

Saegertown’s highest rank was No. 8 in the PVCA poll. The Panthers lost 3-0 (23-25, 25-27, 31-33) to Cochranton in the district semifinal round.

Graduated from that team is a pair of all-state outside hitters in Jaden Wilkins and Conrad Williams.

“We did lose about 80 percent of our offensive production from last year,” Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson said. “I’m looking to try to distribute the ball a little more this year. Quincy Zook is a big hitter for us in the middle and Collin Jones and Sam Draa will be swinging on them outside. I’ll be looking for big production out of them.”

Distributing the ball will be senior setter Brady Greco, a Hiram College commit. Fellow senior Sam Hetrick is a returning all-region libero. Johnson will look to both of them for senior leadership.

“Brady, Sam and Quincy have the most experience of anyone on the roster. If we can get the passing to Brady there’s no question he’s one of the better setters in D-10,” Johnson said. “Sam has been playing back row for us since his sophomore season.”

The Saegertown starting lineup may feature a lot of new faces, but the expectations are always the same for the Panthers.

“We want to compete for a D-10 title and improve enough over the season to be in the mix at the end,” Johnson said. “There’s no question once again some of the best volleyball in the state will be played right here in D-10. It’s going to be a dog fight and there should be some great matches.”

Starting strong

Cardinals’ experience, firepower on display in season opener vs. Panthers

By Alex Topor

MEADVILLE TRIBUNE

COCHRANTON — The Cochranton Cardinals have an experience-laden lineup and it showed in Tuesday’s season opener.

The Cardinals swept rival Saegertown 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-14) at The Bird Cage. Cochranton, ranked No. 5 in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll, led for nearly the entire match.

The Cards started strong and it was freshman Brady Rynd doing a lot of early damage. Rnyd tallied six kills in the opening set thanks to assists from senior Andrew Custead.

“Brady still has a long ways to go, but we like the way he came out to start the match,” Cochranton head coach Rob Cierniakoski said. “He played tough at the net and that was good.”

Saegertown was even with the Cards until a 7-0 run forced Saegertown head coach Justin Johnson to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, Cochranton mustered a 6-2 run and forced another Saegertown timeout.

Saegertown finished the set on a 5-1 run, but dug too deep of a hole to rally.

“We have a lot of work to do. It’s very early in the season for us. We’re not as refined as them and it definitely showed tonight,” Johnson said. “They passed the ball and served the ball better than we did and those were the two biggest differences.”

The second set played out closer than the first.

Cochranton stayed several points ahead of the Panthers for much of the set, but Saegertown cut the deficit to two points at 16-14 and 1917. Unfortunately for Saegertown, that was as close as the team could get.

The Cardinals closed the set on a 6-2 run and went up 2-0 in the match.

“We were definitely out of position defensively a lot. I think our defensive positioning against their hitters and what they like to do, we were not in the right spots and it showed,” Johnson said. “There were times when we were in the right spots and got some good touches on the ball, but after two or three plays it was almost like we forgot where we were supposed to be.” Cochranton won the third set 25-14 to finish off its rival. Custead finished with 34 assists for the Cards. The senior was an all-region libero last season. He is taking over the role of full-time setter this year.

“Having Andrew step in to set is huge. He helps our offense flow. He has a ton of experience and a great skill set so he helps keep us flowing,” Cierniakoski said. “We have an older team with lots of experience and it helps.

“We’re happy to get the win. Saegertown is our biggest rival. We’ve had to get through them in the playoffs the last few years and both were close so its always a battle with them.”

Rynd led the offense with 12 kills while seniors Landon Homa and Chase Miller each added 10. Cochranton is 1-0 and will play at Mercyhurst Prep on Thursday.

Saegertown was led by senior Brady Greco with 13 assists. Collin Jones led the attack with nine kills.

“When we had the passing, our attack looked very good. We have the ability to spread the ball around,” Johnson said. “I think we have some hitters in some places other teams don’t have and we’re trying to develop some guys without much varsity experience. I would expect we’ll be a much different team in a month than we are right now.” The Panthers will host Cambridge Springs on March 30.