SILVER SPRING TOWNSHIP — Having won seven PIAA Class 4A championships in a row coming into Saturday’s match, coming home with gold medals is a tradition at North Allegheny.
This younger group kept the tradition alive with a 3-1 victory over Spring-Ford at Cumberland Valley High School. The Tigers lost the first game 25-19 but rallied to win the final three games 25-21, 25-19 and 25-16 to grab their eighth consecutive championship.
“We started slow out of the gate,” said Tigers coach Russ Hoburg. “We have some younger kids, and they really stepped up tonight. With Molly (Robertson) and Alicia (Makube) only sophomores and Keely (McMahan-Regan) a junior, they helped lead us. We have such competitive practices with kids that didn’t even play tonight. We just push to play our game, and we did get that in the final three games.”
The Tigers defeated Manheim Township, Bishop Shanahan and Landisville Hempfield to get to the title game again.
District 1 fifth seed Spring-Ford rolled past District 1 champion Unionville, Parkland and Central Dauphin to get to the finals.
Spring-Ford jumped out to an 11-9 lead and expanded it to 20-12 before the defending champions found their footing. They cut the deficit to 21-17, but the blocking and hitting of Lauren Angelucci and Morgan Pupek took over and earned the Game 1 win for the Rams.
The second game was close, back and forth through a tie at 12-12. North Allegheny took the service of Robertson to extend the lead to 19-14. The Rams made a couple of unforced errors, and the Tigers took a 23-20 lead before closing the game out behind two hits by Makube.
The Tigers rode the Makube train through the early part of Game 3 and had a 7-5 lead. Lauren Angelucci took several dishes from Marley Angelucci to take the lead and extend it to 13-12. A couple of unforced errors hurt the Rams, and the Tigers got two big hits from Makube to end the game at 25-19.
Makube had three straight hits to give the Tigers a 9-5 lead in Game 4. Mackenzie Jones had all three sets. The Tigers extended the lead to 12-6, but the Rams got within 14-10. Several unforced errors, including three net violations, hurt the Rams and the Tigers led 20-12. Reagan Riorden had a couple of big serves and Briget Murphy and McMahan-Regan finished off the Rams to set up the celebration.
“We lost 10 seniors, and we heard a lot of people say we couldn’t do it again, so it kind of motivates us,” said Jones. “I knew we could do it. The kids we play against in practice could start on any other team in this state. Spring-Ford really was a good team, and they caught us by surprise.”
“Our culture is hard working and confidence and playing our game,” said Robertson. “We are a close team, and we made some adjustments and finally figured out what we needed to do.”
“North Allegheny hasn’t won seven titles in a row for no reason,” said Rams coach George Fuller. “They are a good team, and we might have woken up the bear by winning the first game. You just can’t give away points on unforced errors in close games. Good teams will take advantage and beat you. We played well, but you must play an A game against North Allegheny.”