District Champions
Published: 11/6/2015 8:37 AM
LAWRENCEVILLE — All season long the second game has given the Towanda Black Knights a few problems.
On Thursday the Black Knights found themselves in a big hole in that second game, facing the possibility of North Penn-Liberty tying up their District 4, Class A championship.
Down 16-8 and then 19-12 the Black Knights started to rally, fighting back to take the game and sweep Liberty for the championship, 25-23, 25-23, 25-17.
“We knew the game is not over until the 25th point,” Elizabeth Schultz said.
While they found themselves in that deficit, Towanda knew they could come back if they played well.
“We got our passes up and got good hits,” Tara Welliver said.
“We went down in the second a lot, but we knew we could come back,” Parsons said.
The comeback in the second game wasn’t Towanda’s only rally on the day as they were down 10-6 and 17-13 in the first game, before coming back for the win.
Down 10-16 Kendra Abrams had a block to help spur the comeback.
Liberty again built their lead, but Tara Welliver got a kill and Ally Tama had five straight points, including an ace, to help Towanda pull ahead 19-17.
Towanda knows their serving was a big key on the day.
“Our serve game really helped us,” Sarah Dawsey said.
Liberty fought back on four Dinan kills to tie the game at 23, before Dawsey put Towanda ahead with a kill as they won the game.
After rallying in the first game Towanda knew they could do the same in the next game.
“Being able to come back (in the first game) helped us in the second game,” Welliver said.
In that second game Liberty led 9-8 when Sara Wolbert had a kill to start a seven-point run by Liberty.
Tara Welliver helped Towanda cut the deficit to 16-12, before Liberty stretched the lead to 19-14.
Towanda went on a five point run, tying the match at 19 on a Dawsey ace.
Liberty went back up by one, before a Welliver kill tied it.
Again Liberty went up by one at 22- 21, but Schultz tied the match with a kill as Towanda went on to the win.
“We are very excited,” Jayde Parsons said of the district title.
For Towanda it’s their first district title since 2011-2012, and every player had the number 21 marked on their wrists as they brought home the school’s 21st championship on Thursday.
“We wanted to make our mark,” Schultz said.
In the third game Towanda jumped out to quick leads of 5-1 and 6-2, but Liberty came back to tie things at 10.
With the game tied Towanda went on a big run, winning seven of the next eight points to take a 17-11 lead on their way to the victory.
“We are really happy,” Schultz said of the district title. “Our slogan this year is tradition. We are happy we can do this for ourselves, for our coaches and those who came before us.”
“And, also those who come after us,” Parsons said.
Dawsey had 12 points, eight kills and 10 digs and Nahomi Hidalgo had nine points, a kill, 10 digs, a block and 16 assists.
Tama had eight points, four digs and nine assists and Schultz had seven points, seven kills, a block and 12 digs.
Parsons had four points and 13 digs and Welliver had four points, 13 kills, a block and three digs.
Kendra Abrams had eight kills, five blocks and a dig, Sydney Schoonover had three blocks and Kayla Miller had a dig.
Liberty got six kills, eight digs and a block from Britta Berguson and Dinan had 14 kills, seven digs and a block.
Savannah Doley had a kill and a dig, Wolbert had five kills and six digs and Emma Mawri had six digs.
Lauren Smith had seven kills, three digs and a block and McKenna Gregga had 10 digs, while Kaya Weeks had a dig and Haley Monks had a kill.
Now Towanda is on to the PIAA playoffs where they will take on the District 11 champion on Tuesday in Shamokin.
“We are excited,” Dawsey said.
For the seniors the one big thing was keeping their season going as long as possible.
“All season long we just wanted to keep playing,” Welliver said.