By HUNTER O. LYLE
BRADFORD, PA – After suffering an early setback against North Clarion, the Bradford volleyball team quickly found their footing, snapping back with three unanswered set wins to defeat the Lady Wolves in four.
Taking to their home court after three days off, the Lady Owls clicked into action as they held a slim lead during the initial feeling out process. Scoring tick-for-tack with emphasis on their frontline hitters’ power, Bradford claimed a 8-3 lead out of the gates.
However, the Lady Wolves would begin chipping away at the deficit with their own hitters, who displayed pointed shots rather than thunderous firepower. Finding the narrowest of windows in Bradford’s backcourt, North Clarion began exposing slow rotations while their work at the service line kickstarted an eventual 4-0 lead to tie the game at 11-11. From there, after another round of back-and-forth scoring, the Lady Wolves sparked another run at 9-3 to begin to pull away.
Late in the first, Bradford began to respond, with Haley Keane and Co. forming an iron curtain above the net. Despite rattling off a lead of their own at 7-3, their late comeback wouldn’t pull through, instead losing 25-23.
“We got punched in the mouth. North Clarion came out with some heat,” said Bradford head coach Steve Daniels. “Our girls came in (after the first set) and I asked them how were we going to go from here on out? They responded. Blocks were up, defense was up.”
To start the second, it seemed as if the Lady Wolves were poised to run away with it again, breaking the action open with a streak of four unanswered points. Yet Bradford, while still struggling to fend off the precise and powerful serves sent over the net by North Clarion, remained tough.
Finding themselves down 7-3, the Lady Owls cashed in on some enemy miscommunications and violations alongside a noticeably more cohesive offensive attack. A 7-2 stretch would put Bradford up 10-8 before a 8-4 run late in the set kept them in the driver’s seat at 23-20. Seeing the tables turn, this time the Lady Wolves would be the ones to see a late comeback fall flat. Finding a boost at the buzzer from a few spikes and slams, North Clarion dropped the second set 26-24, evening the series.
Pulling out a pressure-filled win seemed to be all Bradford needed to take control. Early in the third, the Lady Owls took the reins with an early run of four unanswered points and although they would see the scoreboard evened out at 13-13, it was their set to lose. Shortly after, they would again go on a scoring blitz at 7-0, holding the lead for a 25-21 win that put them on victory’s doorstep.
Sitting just 25 points away from a win, Bradford looked unstoppable. After an initial back-and-forth, Keane stepped to the service line to rally the troops. Opening with three consecutive aces, she electrified the offense while deflating the Lady Wolves.
Keane would tally another ace as Bradford kept their foot on the gas, scoring seven unanswered. Following a short intermission, where North Clarion tacked on a mere three points, the Lady Wolves resumed their dominating fourth set, boasting another 4-0 run and then a 7-0 dagger.
“It came down to mental composure. These ladies have been together for the past five or six months so they know each other very well,” said Daniels. “We cut down on our mistakes and just allowed our opponents to come to us.”
While the first three had been close, the final set settled out at 25-9, giving Bradford another big win at home.
Alongside her four aces, Keane ended with 14 kills and three blocks. Addison Rodendahl had two blocks to go with her seven kills while Emma Pilon tallied seven kills. Finishing with 32 on the night, Aliya Corignani reached a career milestone, nabbing her 500th assist.
“She also had seven kills. Seven kills as a setter is impressive,” said Daniels. “She’s a huge block. She’s a weapon and we don’t look at her as just a distributor. We look at her as a weapon.”
Looking ahead, the Lady Owls have another tall task ahead of them. On Tuesday, they will travel to St. Marys to face Elk County Catholic, the only team to have taken Bradford into a fifth-set standoff.
“Well it’s their ‘Dig Pink’ night,” said Daniels, “so, I guess we break it in record.”
