 "They just want West Middlesex." - Paige Cresswell's mom Story by Lisa Renwick  COVID has affected high school athletic teams all over the state. The Rocky Grove girls volleyball team has certainly been one of them. The Lady Orioles have gone at least seven days without playing a match twice already this season. So it would make sense that one area of weakness for the Region 1-leading squad is consistency. Fortunately for the Orioles, they find ways to make up for it when it matters the most. Rocky Grove let Jamestown make it a close match on Thursday night. But with the pressure on, the Orioles found a way. They got that perfect pass from libero Devin Rhoads; they got that perfect set from Courtney Clark; they got that perfect line shot for a kill from Abby Willliams; and forced the Muskies to make mistakes en route to a 25-23, 25-23, 25-13 win. The Orioles, who are still waiting for a new date for a first-place showdown with West MIddlesex after a postponnment a week ago, are now 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the region.   “My nervousness was coming in after being out and being postponed because of some things at the school,” Rocky Grove coach MIke Stevenson said. “But these girls, because of the work they put in in the preseason …” Jamestown had all the excitement going into the match after paying tribute to their fall sports seniors in front of a rather large hometown crowd. It didn’t take long, though, for the Orioles to snatch that momentum as they rolled to a 7-0 advantage in the opening set thanks to a tremendous performance by Clark at the service line and some ball handling miscues by the Muskies.
In what would become a theme in the first two sets, the Orioles let Jamestown climb back, and a once 10-point lead (15-5) quickly dwindled to just one (21-20) with the help of an 8-0 run by the Muskies. Rocky Grove did push its advantage back to four and was at game-point before the Muskies went on another run to pull back to within one (24-23) on an ace by Libby Babcock. Her next serve sailed just over the head of a ducking Rhoads to give the Orioles the win. If Rhoads was an inch taller the ball would've hit her and the set would've been tied.   Rocky Grove did the exact same thing in the second set. The Orioles bolted out to a commanding lead. This time, Rocky Grove maintained that lead longer and seemed to have it in the bag up 23-15. After what appeared to be an Orioles set ending point, a reversed out-of-bounds call (after both teams had exited the floor to huddle up for the start of Game 3) seemed to bring the Muskies to life and they, again, climbed to within just a point (24-23). A block by Williams ended it 25-23
“We went five games with Jamestown at our school in our first region game,” Stevenson said. “And then we travel an hour on a bus, sit through Senior Night and do what they did tonight. This is what I expected.”
Rocky Grove left little question in the third set, dominating from start to finish. Clark finished with 26 assists and seven aces. Rylee Reed added seven kills, four aces and five digs. Williams delivered four aces as well and contributed eight kills and two blocks. Abby Cable had four kills; Sarah Plumer had four kills and four blocks; Paige Cresswell had three aces; and Rhoads had four aces and nine digs.  Rocky Grove returns to action on Saturday when they travel to compete at the Redbank Tournament.   | A Privilege Being back in the gym by Lisa Renwick  I watched volleyball on Thursday. Why is this significant you might ask? So, OK, I saw maybe a match back in May during the high school boys season. But. before tonight, it had been almost a year since I last saw what I figured might be the last girls volleyball match I attend until my daughter (hopefully) plays in roughly 8-10 years. And watching girls volleyball in this area is what you can call an absolute privilege. There are a few reasons why, but it didn’t take very long Thursday night for the main reason to show its hand. Rocky Grove’s Abby Williams made a sensational dig. The next player then mishandled the ball and Jamestown was awarded a point. Not a single Rocky Grove player made any gesture regarding the error. The focus was on that prior beautiful dig by Williams. I suppose this can be said about all high school sports. Maybe I have just watched more volleyball in my life to appreciate it during that activity more so than others. High school sports are about more than competition. You see kids as freshmen, who are just figuring out who they are in life, grow into adults in such a unique way. It’s a real privilege and I’m so glad I found myself back in a gym Thursday night. __________________ If you haven't seen Lisa's district round-ups here on Eight & 322 you can read them by scrolling down in sports or visit week one here, week two here land week three here. And she wrote a season preview story that you can read here. |
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 Eight years ago coach Mike Stevenson took over a hapless girls volleyball program at Rocky Grove High School. He went winless the first two years, but since then has been building a program (and an outdoor court at his house) and team chemistry which now sees his Oriole squad atop region 1 with West MIddlesex. We are watching this squad closely and hope to visit Jamestown Thursday with our volleyball expert getting a first hand look at them in action. To see more photos from their Tuesday night win visit https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p497268818
 Weekly round-up by Lisa Renwick, contributor to Eight & 322 with photographs from Monday's five-set win by Franklin at home against Cranberry by Richard Sayer of Eight & 322.
But when was the last time you saw Rocky Grove battling for a region crown? Or, sure Villa Maria had a great season a year ago. But here they are now at 5-0 overall and atop a region that consists of Fort LeBoeuf, McDowell and General McLane - all premiere squads.  And how about Region 4? Harbor Creek? Again, not a huge shock as Conneaut Valley graduate Ryan Smock has done a fabulous job as the Huskies’ coach. But they are looking down on Corry, who has dominated in Erie County over the years.   Then there’s Region 3. Now, Sharpsville leading that region isn’t a big surprise either. The surprise is where Maplewood currently sits in the mix. The Tigers are 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the region tied with Reynolds for fourth place. Veteran head coach Sheila Bancroft noted at the start of the season just how important it was going to be to bring your ‘A’ game to every region match. Unfortunately, in Region 3 and Region 4, teams play each other just once. There is absolutely no room for error; no room for redemption. The only thing teams can do in those regions is learn from the losses and use them to their advantage in preparation for the postseason as Maplewood is doing. Both of Maplewood’s losses going into Monday’s match against Saegertown were sweeps. The Tigers lost to Meadville in three sets in their season opener. Then on Thursday, Maplewood fell victim to region foe Sharpsville in three sets. Sadie Thomas had 18 kills and three aces in the loss. McKenna Crawford had 22 digs.  The very next day, Maplewood left Fort LeBoeuf with a five-set victory in which Sadie Thomas pounded out 28 kills to go along with 18 digs. McKenna Crawford had 36 digs. So what’s the story at Maplewood? Bit of a rollercoaster? “Agree on the rollercoaster ride, but we have not reached the peak of the hill yet,” Bancroft said. “Sharpsville is a good team and we just did not play our best ball. They start five seniors and they have played a lot of ball together. I don’t like the fact that we only play teams one time in our region. The one thing that was positive in the loss, we changed our lineup and went to FLB the next night and played pretty well. We played better as a team and not individuals on the floor.”  Meadville has had a similar kind of season. “I think there is a lot of room for our team to grow,” Meadville coach Tim Schleicher said. “While we have played well at times, we have also struggled quite a bit too. Our goal right now is to get more and more consistent on the court. “We have had great stretches, yet also struggled with unforced errors at times. I think that is true of all three matches we have played, a win in 3, a win in 5, and a loss in 3. If we can reduce the length of poor stretches and increase the positive ones, we will be competitive. “When we are serving well to put pressure on teams to run their offense, passing well to set up ours, and defending well - we are giving ourselves a chance to win.” 
There were a couple other big non-region tilts. Saegertown traveled to Maplewood for an intradistrict contest. The Panthers beat the Tigers 12-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-19. Sadie Thomas had 22 kills for ‘Wood. McKenna Crawford had 26 digs; Avery Brunot and Trista Robinson had six kills each. Bailey Varndell had 34 assists. Sharpsville and Villa Maria were to do battle up in Erie on Monday as well. Tonight, Region 1 leading Rocky Grove is expected to return to action at home against Mercer. Franklin heads to Sharpsville, Maplewood to Oil City and Lakeview to Reynolds. Looking to get in on one of the hottest girls volleyball rivalries instead? Head to the House of Thrills where Meadville plays host to Conneaut. It’s the CASH-MASH bash. On Thursday, here’s what we have: Youngsville at Cochranton; Slippery Rock at Franklin; Reynolds at Maplewood; Meadville at Grove City; Sharon at Lakeview; HIckory at Oil City; Wilmington at Titusville; and Rocky Grove at Jamestown. Notice anything about that schedule? We’ve started Round 2 in some regions.  Holding steady Not much has changed in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association rankings as far as leaders. Clarion and Trinity are at the top in Class 1A and 2A, respectively. There was some movement in Class 3 and 4A. Spring Grove moved up a spot to No. 1 in Class 3A. Parkland did the same in Class 4A. As far as local squads, Harbor Creek is ranked fourth in Class 2A. Maplewood is No. 9.   Lisa Renwick was a long-time sports reporter and sports editor for The Meadville Tribune. She recently took another job in order to spend time with her family and especially her daughter Brynlee who is entering kindergarten.
Lisa has covered state champion volleyball programs in her tenure and is main reason girls athletics and volleyball has gotten such award winning coverage over the last 20 years. She has agreed to help us out here at Eight and 322 with this fall's volleyball season. We are thrilled to have her. Lisa Renwick was a long-time sports reporter and sports editor for The Meadville Tribune. She recently took another job in order to spend time with her family and especially her daughter Brynlee who is entering kindergarten. Lisa has covered state champion volleyball programs in her tenure and is main reason girls athletics and volleyball has gotten such award winning coverage over the last 20 years. She has agreed to help us out here at Eight and 322 with this fall's volleyball season. We are thrilled to have her.   Franklin blanked Conneaut in the second half to claim its first win of the season 23-16. Franklin head coach Matt Turk said half-time adjustments were huge to stopping Conneaut's attack that netting 16 first half points on sustained drives. Congrats Franklin on your big win. It shows tenacity to come from behind to take the lead and then hold on win/ I had so wanted to be thereto watch and document the Knights first win. I had a perfect storm of commitments to jobs happen this weekend and I had to get back to Meadville before 8:30 for another job, which meant I was only able to stay for the first quarter, even though I stretched that out to nearly the first half. The Knights and Eagles looked better than the last time I watched them play. Both tackled better and they moved the ball well. Braden Groover for Conneaut seemed near impossible to bring down one on one in the first half. Franklin's Carson Wible was also moving the ball despite the announcer not pronouncing his name right. I was fortunate tonight to be able to help out my old friends at The Derrick and Explore Venango so that more people will be able to see and know Franklin was able to notch a W this season and appear to continue improving as the season goes on. Looking forward to reading Joe Henderson's story tomorrow to learn more about what I unfortunately had to miss in the second half. Way to go Franklin!
 
They were also scheduled to face Slippery Rock on Thursday. Here’s where they stand Heading into tonight’s action, here is where Eight and 322’s teams stood in the District 10 standings.
Just a couple more!
 Lisa Renwick was a long-time sports reporter and sports editor for The Meadville Tribune. She recently took another job in order to spend time with her family and especially her daughter Brynlee who is entering kindergarten.
Lisa has covered state champion volleyball programs in her tenure and is main reason girls athletics and volleyball has gotten such award winning coverage over the last 20 years. She has agreed to help us out here at Eight and 322 with this fall's volleyball season. We are thrilled to have her. Lisa Renwick was a long-time sports reporter and sports editor for The Meadville Tribune. She recently took another job in order to spend time with her family and especially her daughter Brynlee who is entering kindergarten. Lisa has covered state champion volleyball programs in her tenure and is main reason girls athletics and volleyball has gotten such award winning coverage over the last 20 years. She has agreed to help us out here at Eight and 322 with this fall's volleyball season. We are thrilled to have her. Edited 9-23-21 to correct incorrect information   It's been a rough year for the Franklin Knights thus far. But if you ask coach Matt Turk about it, he doesn't dwell on the negatives, he proudly points out the positives. Before last Saturday his squad had only mustered 28 points in three games. Turk hears the rumblings of disappointed fans of the program, but he also knows the game. What he is doing with this young team happens behind the scenes and that is where he is seeing growth and heart. "It's like taking down the old studs of house and replacing them with new," he said about rebuilding a program. Yes, this young team has given up a lot of points and the offense has struggled to move the ball consistently, let alone getting over the goal line. Turk points out his starting front line of sophomores, 15-year-olds mostly, often face 17 - to 18-year-olds on the other side of the line. "That's not an excuse," Turk emphasizes as he preaches to his teams that "Standards are standards." He is hoping to raise those standards each week. So going into Saturday's home game against a strong Warren team, Turk knew it could possibly be another long night for his kids.The Dragons have only one loss on the season against state ranked Cathedral Prep The task for this second-year head coach was to motivate his squad to keep going while focusing on the goal of improvement and getting stronger each week. He and his coaches literally went to the drawing board to develop plays that could minimize the team's weaknesses while building further on their strengths. Turk admitted the drop back pass or slow developing plays just wouldn't work against the bigger teams with more experience. Quickness and agility needed to become their weapon than than trying to overpower their opponents. Turk pointed out several young player's abilities and how he sees them just getting better each week.He has high hopes for them in the coming years.  Turk is also a motivational style coach. He lifts each player as he talks to them, pointing out positives while they learn about things they can do to improve. Saturday he planned to have the team enter the field with a small fireworks display as one more thing to pump up his players. He is also looking to show the young kids coming up the kind of things they might want to be a part of as they grow. "You concentrate on these fifth and sixth-graders, that's how you build a program," Turk emphasized. Then, before taking the field on Saturday, he gathered the team together in the locker room. He got passionate, at times loudly motivating the team about tenacity, grit and backing down from nobody. He then asked them all to create a circle, to put a hand on or arm around the person next to them as a unit. He then told the team he puts his trust in each of them as he talked about family. The Franklin Knight football family.
 "It's baptism by fire," Turk admits emphasizing again that he makes no excuses for the losses and he accepts the hard knocks along the way, as long as what he sees each week is improvement. When Warren came out and got a 14-0 lead early, it was looking like another frustrating long night was ahead of them. But that's not at all what happened. Like Buster Douglas did to a stunned Mike Tyson, they took their hits and then swung back. What, in the first few weeks, resulted in heads down and drooping arms was replaced by each player trying to boost the next player up.  Teachable moments between coaches and players, coaches and coaches and more important players and players all acting as a team...as a family.  Coaches and players try to prepare each week to get the most they can out of each other, but game day is always another beast. When getting beat up, it is hard to stay focussed and fight back, but Franklin didn't go quietly into the dark night. Down 33-7 they scored before the half and damn near scored twice.They went into the half with momentum despite just falling short of a last minute third score.  And in the second half they went toe to toe outscoring the Dragons by a point. They did not let down. Conditioning is perhaps kicking in, coaching is better, players see the improvements, whatever it is, they looked at Warren square in the face and didn't blink. They ended up losing 47 to 29, but they scored more than twice as many points as they had all season and they proved that 15- year-olds can indeed compete with 18-year-olds. They now can go into week five against Conneaut with some renewed enthusiasm now seeing the benefits of being a family in a collective battle to just simply get better. And Conneaut is a team they can beat.The 0-4 Eagles have only scored 26 points in four games including being blanked by Warren in week one. The Knights travel to Linesville Friday for the 7 p.m. contest.  More about family. With each practice and each game, these young kids getter older and wiser. They build knowledge and muscle. In doing so they close the gap between being a kid and the near adult seniors they often face on the opposite side of the ball. It is a lot like being the younger sibling of the family. At some point something clicks and you're no longer the little kid, your the equal brother or sister. That's what Matt Turk is trying to show his kids as he faces the opposition each week knowing it could be tough to come out with a W. He admits it’s tough to lose and it’s harder to lose badly week after week. But he refuses to dwell on that. Last week when he showed up on game day to talk to a reporter his eyes seemed to capture the movement of every kid walking on to campus. He began to call individuals over to show off their arm strength or to ask about preparation. He then talked to each about weight training and preparation. More teachable moments. He is like a proud father, all the coaches are, and what many forget about coaching is that it is teaching practice, not just looking far schemes to win. That is part of it, but the real focus is learning from each other about being better. The kids teach the coaches too and they challenge each other to do and be better.  Turk keeps an eye on the next generation coming up hoping they will understand his commitment to this team. The fireworks, the working with the military to wear special uniforms to show support for the troops and other things are admittedly as much for the future as they are for the current team. He said he is hoping kids see these things and want to be a part of the family.  To view more photos please visit https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p1001749882      Hailey Yard had a big night for Franklin scoring four first half goals.  
 Sharon's young squad closed holes on defense time and time again stifling the Oiler's running game. Unable to convert a few 4th down attempts and a couple turnovers also didn't help.  Oil city couldn't quite manage to cross the goal line losing 23-0.  Check back later for more photos and on our main page tomorrow for photos of the band and cheerleaders senior recognition at halftime. 
But then it seemed like Saegertown just fizzled, their block attempts that were gold in set two suddenly had little affect and they appeared almost unable to dig anything off the floor or even at knee level for a while. Cochranton then just cruised to an easy set win 25-10 and continued to dominate in the fourth set winning 25-12.  In case you missed it, check out Lisa's week one round up and her preview for the season from two weeks ago.
Text by Lisa Renwick with Eight & 322 photos from Franklin's Spiketacular tournament Saturday.  Opening night of the 2021 girls volleyball season was, well, a bit surprising and certainly did not lack excitement. Don’t expect Week 2 to be any different.
 Upset special Remember last week I mentioned not counting out Meadville as a contender in talent-laden District 10 Class 3A. I’m just not sure I expected the Lady Bulldogs, who lost several key players to graduation and have a freshman running a relatively inexperienced offense, to be turning heads so quickly. But Tim Schleicher had Meadville ready for its opener on Thursday (Meadville’s scheduled opener on Tuesday against Cambridge Springs was postponed) and the Bulldogs swept past Maplewood 25-18, 25-23, 25-19. Maplewood entered the match ranked ninth in the state in Class 2A by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association. Meadville, which missed the postseason a year ago, was unranked. Ella Stewart paced Meadville with 11 kills. Freshman Emma Parks had six kills, while fellow frosh Elliot Schleicher tallied 27 assists with 10 digs. For the Tigers, Sadie Thomas had 14 kills and 10 digs. Avery Brunot had six kills; Bailey Varndell had 21 assists and 12 digs; and McKenna Crawford tallied 16 digs.  Route 8 rivalry went the distance In case you missed it, Franklin held off Oil City in five sets to open Region 3 play on Tuesday. The seesaw battle one would expect against backyard rivals saw the Knights pulling off a 15-12 victory in the fifth set for the win. Set scores were: 25-21, 13-25, 13-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-12. Elsewhere, Hickory survived in a close one against Lakeview, another team to keep an eye on in Class 2A. The Hornets bested Cochranton graduate Lisa (Hill) Herrick’s Sailors 17-25, 26-24, 26-24, 25-19. For the Sailors, Elsa Cole paced the offense with 13 kills. Leah Hostetler had seven kills, Zoe Proper eight kills and eight digs, Priscilla Cole 10 digs, Jose Gadsby 15 digs, and Jordan Olson and Melody Shillito seven kills each. Union City swept past Titusville 25-17, 25-12, 25-13.  Flying Orioles Rocky Grove is off to a hot start and is tied with West Middlesex atop the Region 1 standings at 2-0. The Orioles opened the campaign on Wednesday with a 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 24-26, 15-10 win over Jamestown and followed up with another five-set win over Kennedy Catholic (22-25, 20-25, 25-11, 25-23, 15-10) on Thursday. Against KC, Courtney Clark had 20 assists, five aces and four kills. Devin Rhoads tallied four aces and 14 digs. Emma Trinch had three aces. Abby Williams tallied 12 kills and seven digs. Cranberry swept past Oil City on Wednesday 25-13, 25-21, 25-13. Franklin fell to Clarion-Limestone 25-22, 25-16, 25-15. Gabby LaJeuesee had 19 digs and Jennifer Blum three kills for the Knights (0-2). Mercyhurst Prep got past Titusville in three sets, 25-12, 25-5, 25-20.
Moving parts There were some changes in the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association’s Top 10 rankings this week. Clarion remains the top ranked team in Class 1A. Rounding out the top 10 are: 2. West Branch, 3. Sacred Heart Academy, 4. West Shamokin, 5. Marian Catholic, 6. Bishop Canevin, 7. Conemaugh Township, 8. Greensburg Central Catholic, 9. Nativity BVM and 10. Fort Cherry. There was also no movement atop the Class 2A rankings with Trinity retaining the top spot. Maplewood did drop to No. 10, while Harbor Creek bumped up from No. 6 to No. 5. Philipsburg Osceola is No. 2, North Catholic No. 3, York Catholic No. 4, Bald Eagle Area No. 6, Shenango No. 7, Avonworth No. 8 and Pine Grove Area No. 9. In Class 3A, Conneaut went 1-1 in the opening week and remains No. 9. Bethlehem Catholic sits on top followed by No. 2 Montour, No. 3 Spring Grove, No. 4 Freeport, No. 5 York Suburban, No. 6 Pope John Paul II, No. 7 Southern Lehigh, No. 8 Armstrong and No. 10 Villa Maria (District 1).  A look ahead One of the biggest matches of the week is Cochranton’s season opener on Tuesday. The Cardinals travel to face Saegertown in a rematch of last year’s District 10 Class 1A final. If you are limited to attending just one volleyball match this week, this is your ticket. Here’s how the rest of the week is shaping up:
 See you next week for all the highlights.   Lisa Renwick was a long-time sports reporter and sports editor for The Meadville Tribune. She recently took another job in order to spend time with her family and especially her daughter Brynlee who is entering kindergarten.
Lisa has covered state champion volleyball programs in her tenure and is main reason girls athletics and volleyball has gotten such award winning coverage over the last 20 years. She has agreed to help us out here at Eight and 322 with this fall's volleyball season. We are thrilled to have her. Lisa Renwick was a long-time sports reporter and sports editor for The Meadville Tribune. She recently took another job in order to spend time with her family and especially her daughter Brynlee who is entering kindergarten. Lisa has covered state champion volleyball programs in her tenure and is main reason girls athletics and volleyball has gotten such award winning coverage over the last 20 years. She has agreed to help us out here at Eight and 322 with this fall's volleyball season. We are thrilled to have her. |
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