Published: September 13, 2008 11:54 pm      

Hilltoppers finish third at SFU tournament

LORETTO — Denise Nairn was happy that Westmont Hilltop finished tied for third in the 30-team St. Francis Invitational Volleyball Tournament on Saturday, even if the Hilltoppers coach knows her team could have won the event.

After a sluggish start to the day, Westmont beat Bellefonte in the preliminary round before knocking off top-seeded Huntingdon in the quarterfinals. The Hilltoppers dropped a controversial three-game match to eventual champion Clarion in the semifinals.

In an effort to speed up play, individual games in the semifinals began with the score tied at 4, meaning that teams were actually playing for the first 21 points. The same was to hold true if the match went to a decisive third game, which Westmont and Clarion did. Therefore, the first team to 11 points should have won and advanced to the finals.

The Hilltoppers jumped out to an 11-8 lead, but because the game was mistakenly started at 0-0, the teams played to 15. Westmont actually got to match point, leading 14-13, but an errant serve tied the game and Clarion won it on the next point.

“The referee did admit that it should have started at 4-4, but you’re not allowed – according to PIAA rules – to protest the game afterward,” Nairn said. “The coach, or one of the refs, or someone else would have had to catch that before we reached 11 points.”

Instead, Clarion advanced to the championship and beat Philipsburg-Osceola 25-23, 25-17 to win the title.

“We would have had a shot, we would have been in the finals, but there’s nothing we can do now because you’re not allowed to protest,” Nairn said.

Westmont lost 25-19, 25-19 in pool play to Philipsburg-Osceola, but that was before the Hilltoppers found their stride.

“We had a girl hurt in that game, and I still thought we played well,” Nairn said of the loss to Philipsburg-Osceola. “Anything could have happened in the finals. But, we played well all day, and we’ll just have to focus on that.”

Senior middle hitter Lindsey Pavlikowski, who had 25 kills on the day, was named to the all-tournament team. Junior outside hitter Rebecca Barron had 22 kills and 14 service aces. Senior libero Kelsey Kohler had 13 digs and sophomore setter Jenna Magistro had 72 assists.

The Hilltoppers went 6-2 in pool play, and were seeded eighth out of the 10 teams in the gold bracket.

“In the (pool) play, we just played average, but once we got to the gold (bracket), they stepped it up because they knew they needed to step it up,” Nairn said. “We came together as a team. Running the offense definitely helped, and I believe that’s how we won the games.”

After a 25-16 win over No. 9 Bellefonte, the Hilltoppers stopped Huntingdon 25-19, 25-18.

“That was the most exciting win of the tournament,” Nairn said. “We know how good of a team they are in general in the district. That was a wonderful match for us, and they’re really excited about it.”

Three other local teams made it to the gold bracket but lost in the quarterfinals.

Fifth-seeded Ferndale fell to Clarion 25-14, 25-15 while State College Red beat second-seeded Northern Cambria 25-19, 29-27. Sixth-seeded Penn Cambria lost 25-15, 25-16 to No. 3 Philipsburg-Osceola.