Garnet Valley breezes through quarterfinal ‘mission’

Garnet Valley knew it was living dangerously in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A championships last Tuesday, taking a two-game lead before allowing Hempfield to charge back and force five sets.

In Saturday’s quarterfinal with District 7 runner-up Armstrong, the reigning state champs had no intention of making things quite so interesting.

The Jaguars took the advantage from the get-go, sweeping Armstrong, 25-20, 25-19 and 25-22 at Shippensburg High School.

“We’ve been working hard and practicing hard,” coach Mark Clark said. “What happened the other night, going five against Hempfield and playing hard the first two, then giving a little bit back, I think they realized, ‘Hey listen, we’ve got to push the whole way through.’

“They stepped it up. They were on a mission.”

The stats weren’t gaudy, but it was a gritty, scrappy performance for the Jags, the fifth seed out of District 1.

Middle blocks Samantha Mann and Ally Hartney led the way with nine kills and one block each. Erin Patterson also put down nine kills, including five in the third set to stave off an Armstrong team that jockeyed ahead on several occasions.

Gwen Clark added six kills, and while Emma Rokosky was relatively quiet at three kills, setter Rachel Cain (29 assists, five digs) managed to keep the other weapons firing in sync.

The heavy lifting was done, as usual, by the defense, which elongated points and forced Armstrong, another team with defense as its forte, to connect its passes and attack under duress.

Amber Goldberg led the way with 21 digs. Julia Bowes joined her in double-figures with 10 digs, while Jordan Gallagher tallied eight. Goldberg served a pair of aces while Gallagher delivered three aces, all well-timed to stunt Armstrong momentum.

The win moves the Jaguars into Tuesday’s semifinals against North Allegheny, the District 7 champion and all season one of the top teams in statewide polls. Also populating those polls: A bunch of teams that Garnet Valley has beaten or hung tough with. And with a team that looks to be peaking at the right time — just as it did last year on the way to that state banner — Clark’s charges are just looking forward to the chance to see what happens on the court.

“(North Allegheny) is good, but hey, you’ve got to play the game,” he said. “And that’s the way my girls look at it. ‘Hey, let’s play, let’s keep this thing going.’”