CENTRE COUNTY — Bald Eagle Area and defending state champion Philipsburg-Osceola both advanced in the District 6 2A playoffs with first-round victories.
No. 4 Bald Eagle Area beat Central Cambria 3-0, 25-9, 25-18, 25-8, at home on Thursday, Oct. 24, and advanced to play No. 5 Huntingdon at home in the quarterfinals.
No. 7 Philipsburg-Osceola, on the same day, got past Southern Huntingdon, 3-0, 25-22, 25-17, 25-17, and will now play against No. 2 West Shamokin, at West Shamokin, in the quarterfinal round.
Bald Eagle Area’s Leah Bryan led the team against Central Cambria with 16 kills while Gabbie Perry had six. Taylor Habovick handed out 26 assists and Olivia Taylor had four aces and 10 digs.
No. 5 Huntingdon comes into Wingate with a 15-3 record and wins in 12 of its last 14 matches. In the first round of the tournament, the Lady Bearcats defeated Westmont-Hilltop 3-1 and advanced to face the Lady Eagles.
The winner will see either No. 1 Richland or No. 9 Penn Cambria in the semifinals.
The Lady Mounties, after a close first set, took control of the match against Southern Huntingdon and cruised out of the last two sets.
Philipsburg-Osceola had 38 kills all told with Megan Johnson getting 13 and Adi Jarrett hitting 10. Natalie Betz handed out 36 assists while Emily Gustkey and Jarrett combined to make 24 digs.
No. 2 West Shamokin is undefeated and had a bye in the first round.
WSHS has only lost two sets all year, and they came in the first match of the season in a 3-2 victory over Cambria Heights. Since then, the team has beaten 15 opponents in a row 3-0.
The winner will advance to the semifinals against either No. 3 Forest Hills or No. 6 Bellwood-Antis.
The State College Little Lions, after a Mid Penn Commonwealth Championship and an 11-2 season, received a bye in the 4A tournament and will face Mid Penn foe Altoona in the finals on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Tyrone Middle School Gym. Results of the game were not available prior to The Gazette’s publication deadline.
The two teams have already met twice, with SC taking a 3-0 win on Thursday, Aug. 29, and a 3-1 win on Monday, Sept. 23.
The winner will advance to represent D6 in the PIAA playoffs.
Finally, playing in the 3A tournament, Central Mountain outlasted Bellefonte 3-0, 25-18, 25-23, 25-12 to advance to the finals, which was held on Wednesday, Oct. 30. Results of the game were not available prior to The Gazette’s publication deadline.
In the match, Central Mountain took the first two sets, the second one down to the wire, and then had to fight off a desperate Bellefonte team in the third set.
Central Mountain took a close 10-9 lead but then used solid serving and a run of points to go ahead 21-10. From there, the match closed out and Central Mountain advanced.
The loss ended the season for Bellefonte with a final record of 6-12.
