Brendan Moore extinguished Butler’s momentum early in the third set by firing the ball from above the middle of the net straight into the court. The North Allegheny boys volleyball program takes no prisoners.
Moore’s kill evened the third set and quickly snuffed out the Golden Tornado’s only lead of the night. The Tigers always found the right shot to stifle section rival Butler during a 25-21, 25-16, 25-22 victory Wednesday night at AHN Arena at Peters Township to win the program’s 24th WPIAL Class 3A championship.
“They are a great team,” Moore said. “Great teams will build confidence even when they are down 2-0. We have so many elite hitters that we can diminish their confidence so fast with one swing on the ball.”
North Allegheny (12-0) will head into the state playoffs without having been knocked backward at all. The Tigers have yet to lose a set this season.
North Allegheny coach Dan Long won’t get too hung up on that.
“It’s not an easy task,” Long said. “Our section with Butler, Seneca Valley and Pine-Richland, every match felt like it could have been a five-set match. We play best-of-five for a reason. It’s a cool accomplishment to make it through that way. The most important thing is to win the match.”
The Golden Tornado (17-5) won’t feel sorry for itself after reaching the final for the first time in the program’s 32 years.
“It was good for the program and the kids worked hard,” coach Lew Liparulo said. “They never quit. I’m proud of them.”
North Allegheny never let Butler get started. The Tigers scored the first five points of the match and eight of the first nine.
Moore finished with a team-high 13 kills. He said North Allegheny was determined to start strong.
“It started when we woke up this morning,” Moore said. “Not to sound cocky, but we thought we would be here. We knew we could be here. Could we bring it like we know we can bring it? All of us in the locker room before the match were talking about being locked in and we were the aggressor.”
Liparulo said his team had to refocus. Butler was swept by North Allegheny during the regular season, so the Golden Tornado were prepared for what the Tigers had to offer.
“They had to realize it’s a game and North Allegheny is an excellent team,” Liparulo said. “They are still just another team. We let them jump out to an 8-1 lead in the first set and then they started playing. It’s one thing at a time.”
Pete Bratich finished with 12 kills for North Allegheny, while Will Robertson added 11.
“We’ve always had that target on our back,” Moore said. “Me and this group of guys I’ve been playing with for seven years, we’ve been looking forward to this year.”