O’Hara, Sacred Heart brace for next text

No one has to tell Cardinal O’Hara girls volleyball coach Bill Collins what his team is up against in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Class AAA tournament.
He knows.
O’Hara’s reward for beating Great Valley in the first round of the tournament is a date with Parkland Saturday afternoon in the second game of a doubleheader at Governor Mifflin Intermediate School. Sacred Heart takes on Marian Catholic in a Class A quarterfinal game at noon.
Parkland is the defending PIAA Class AAA champion, ranked No. 1 in the state and 19th nationally in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25. The Trojans (26-0) have won 52 matches in a row and has lost just three sets all season.
“We hope to change that Saturday,” Collins said. “We saw them at a play day at (Bishop) Shanahan. They’re really good.
The Lions (20-5) are 16-2 since a 4-3 start, with the only losses coming to Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll, the two teams that played for the Catholic League championship.
Collins changed his rotation since that tough start and dedicated half of each practice to passing and ball control. The result is a berth in the state Class AAA quarterfinals.
“We’re playing really well,” Collins said. “We’re peaking at the right time. We’re going to go up there and see what happens.”
Sacred Heart (17-8) faces a tough task, too, and a familiar foe. This is the second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons that the Lions (17-2) have drawn Marian Catholic in the quarterfinals. The Fillies (17-2) beat Sacred Heart, 3-0, last season and also defeated the Lions in the 2012 quarterfinals.