Published: November 04, 2009 12:31 am      

Cougars, Ramblers advance to 5-A girls volleyball title contest

SHANKSVILLE — Top-seeded North Star and second-seeded Windber each took care of business during the District 5 Class A girls volleyball semifinals at Shanksville-Stonycreek High School on Tuesday night.

That means the two WestPAC powers will face each other for the third time this season.

The final installment of “Cougars vs. Ramblers 2009” will have a district crown at stake on Thursday, once again at Shanksville High.

“We played North Star at North Star (during the regular season) and we went five games,” said Windber coach Don Byer, whose Ramblers beat sixth-seeded Northern Bedford 3-0 in Tuesday’s semifinal.

“They were pretty good games. I’m hoping on Thursday we can do the same.”

North Star is undefeated in 19 matches and will make its sixth consecutive trip to the District 5 final after winning the previous five titles. Last year the Cougars advanced to the state championship match and finished with the silver medal.

“We’ve seen Windber twice, and both matches were dogfights,” said North Star coach Tony Crisafulli, whose team beat No. 4 seed McConnellsburg 3-1 in the semis. “Both matches against Windber this season were tight, tough-fought matches. It’s hard to play anybody three times and come out on top. No matter what happens, we’ve got to bring our best game on Thursday night.”

In order to secure a Thursday date in the championship, North Star had to beat McConnellsburg in a rematch of last year’s district title game in which the Cougars upset the then-top-seeded Spartans for the 5-A gold at Everett High.

The Cougars rolled to identical 25-15 wins in the first two games of the semifinal against McConnellsburg. But the Spartans stunned North Star in the third game, winning 25-20.

Crisafulli’s team rebounded with a 25-11 win in Game 4.

“We have talked all season long about not letting down and not giving points away, and we did it in the third game,” Crisafulli said. “We just let them right back into it. Thankfully. in the fourth game, the girls came out and decided they were going to play.

“In the fourth game what got us started was our serving,” Crisafulli added. “We didn’t miss the serves we missed in the third game. We served aggressive. We served for points instead of just putting the ball in play. That was a big part of jumping out to the early lead.”

Senior Chelsea Danel had 28 assists and 18 service points for North Star. Emily Lohr had 24 kills, and Karen Schmidt and Stefanie Miller each had 12 kills.

McConnellsburg finished 14-6.

Windber dispatched Northern Bedford in methodical fashion, winning 25-12, 25-7, 25-17.

The Ramblers fell behind early in Game 1 as Northern Bedford had advantages of 3-0, 4-1 and 8-5. But Windber eventually pulled ahead and scored the final 12 points.

“Anytime you go into a match where you’re playing a different opponent from the season, you’re always a little bit cautious in what’s going on until you’re able to actually figure out how they play and who can be the one to actually put points on the board,” said Byer, whose team is 16-2.

Leah Brutz had 27 assists for the Ramblers. Chelsea Romano had 15 services points and eight aces. Ashley Pipon had 14 service points. Corrine Gahagen had 15 kills, and Alyssa Ott had seven kills.

Northern Bedford closed 13-7.

Byer said the Ramblers hope to carry some momentum into Thursday’s title contest.

“We just have to show up and play like we’ve been playing all year with the confidence that we can beat anybody once we get on the floor,” Byer said.