By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – Tacking on their 19th consecutive victory of the season, the Port Allegany volleyball team swept Coudersport for the third consecutive time, breaking through their postseason ceiling of late and earning a trip to the District 9 Class A semifinals.
Both the Lady Falcons and Lady Gators have been familiar faces during the postseason, each producing appearances in the last several years. For Port, they have seen steady progression as the current class of five seniors began to mature. After earning the seventh seed in 2022, the eighth seed in 2023 and the sixth seed in 2024, Port entered this year’s bracket as the second best ranked team in Class A and eager to get past their watermark of quarterfinal exits.
“We’ve been moving up little by little in the seeding. It’s nice to get the No. 2 seed and to have that by-game. It’s good but then it isn’t because we don’t want to get too rusty or anything,” said Port Allegany head coach Matt Lawton. “We’ve been having good practices and working hard (to avoid that.)”
After a dominating regular season, Port was the heavy favorite in their matchup with the Lady Falcons. Already having beaten Coudy twice, who arrived to the quarterfinals stage after sweeping A-C Valley on Tuesday, the Lady Gators lived up to the hype in the first set of the night.
Points came in bunches for Port as their fluid and potent offense meticulously punched holes in Coudy’s offense. Tacking on kills from the service line, from perfectly placed hits above the net and with prolonged volleys that outlasted the Lady Falcons, Port opened the night with nine unanswered points. Their initial surge would roll on to 18-3 before Coudy finally began to offer resistance from their front line hitters. As everything continued to come up Black and Orange, the Lady Gators steamrolled their way to a 25-10 set one win.
However, the steam Coudy found late in the first would roll over into the second. Starting with a hard-hit spike on the initial rally, the Lady Falcons proved they had power of their own. Finally able to return the thunderous slams of Jenna Renner and Co., Coudy received the shots before sending over shots in retaliation. As well, the lack of attrition they saw in the first rebounded, now matching every point they suffered with one of their own. Battling tick-for-tack, neither team managed to create separation on the scoreboard as the set climbed to 8-8.
Despite the neck-and-neck fight, Port found a spark midway through. Tacking on four unanswered kills, the Lady Gators built the largest lead of the set at 16-10. While it would be momentarily interrupted with two quick Coudy points, Port again opened the valve with a big block from Lily Lehmier and two aces from Peyton Gordon and Gianna Glasgow.
Surviving a late run by the Lady Falcons, a 4-0 stretch that stood as their biggest of the set, Port tacked on another win at 25-18.
In the third and final, Port again ran away with an early lead. Weathering an initial Coudy run, the Lady Gators maintained an advantage before bursting open seven unanswered points. That run ultimately grew to a 9-1 run and although Coudy crept back with a streak of their own, it was in vain. Port closed the night out with a 25-16 victory, ending the Lady Falcons’ season while extending theirs.
“That was a good game for our girls tonight. They played well, had a good hustle to them and played smart,” said Matt Lawton. “It’s good to get through a game in the playoffs so we’re happy.”
Renner and Lily Lehmier both ended with 15 kills a piece, with Renner also tallying five digs and two aces and Lily Lehmier recording 11 digs. Mady Errick had six digs a kill and a block, Brynn Evans finished with eight digs, five kills and two assists and Isla Lehmier recorded 33 assists, five aces, three digs and a block.
Sitting one spot away from a District 9 championship appearance, the Lady Gators now await some unknowns. They will next see either No. 6 Clarion or No. 11 North Clarion, neither of which Port has seen during the regular season. Nonetheless, the mission stays the same.
“Our preparation doesn’t really change. We prepare for every team. We’re going to prepare the same way. We work on the same thing all the time, our defense, our hitting, our passing, our serves,” said Lawton. “I know as we move further along, these other teams are probably going to be fast so we have to be ready and be ready to be fast with them.”
