By HUNTER O. LYLE
ST. MARYS, PA – They say it’s hard to beat a team three times in a row. While the Bradford volleyball team wanted to prove that sentiment true in their return to the District 9 Class 3A championship match, they found it’s even harder to dethrone a dynasty, losing to DuBois in three sets.
It had been five years since the Lady Owls were last on the championship stage. Then, in 2019 as the second seed, they also ran into DuBois, who defended their then-four-time champion status. In the years since, Bradford missed the postseason cutoff in both 2022 and 2023, before being eliminated in the semifinals by Clearfield last year. This year, however, they rebounded, finishing the regular season at 11-7 and taking revenge over the Lady Bison to make it to the finals once again.
“It feels fantastic. This is what you gear up for in June,” said Bradford head coach Steve Daniels. “It’s never my goal to get back to a championship, it’s always to win more than you lose and these girls have accomplished that. To them, it’s a nice culmination because it’s not only this year’s worth of work, it’s last year’s worth of work, it’s the year before that and so on.”
Through their two regular season meetings, the Lady Owls failed to tack on more than a dent on DuBois, who tallied two wins over Bradford in a sweep and 3-1 win. But both those contests took place in the opening weeks of the season, and Daniels believes his team had solidified their strengths since then, both on the court and off of it.
“The biggest thing (we’ve gained) is confidence, overall confidence. When you go out the first time we played (DuBois), on August 26, and they blow us out at home and then we get a set off them at their place, coming into the finals is a different beast altogether,” said Daniels. “You’re not only fighting the team, you’re fighting yourself for the most part. So we needed to come out and play hard.”
However, while the Lady Owls were working to sharpen their tools, so was DuBois.
To kick off the first set of the night, the Lady Beavers quickly stole the momentum. Coming out with an unmatched energy, they amassed a 5-0 lead as Bradford struggled to get their footing. With their shots missing their mark and their rotations missing urgency, the Lady Owls failed to get into a rhythm until they were finally able to feed Haley Keane. Ending DuBois’ run with back-to-back thunderous slams, Keane led the charge as Bradford tacked on three quick kills. Keane and Co. then went toe-to-toe with the Lady Beavers’ front line in constant clashes at the net, trading blows as the scoreboard began to fill.
Although Bradford was able to cut into the deficit, eventually slimming the lead to just two at 12-10, they were unable to extend their hot streaks more than just a few points at a time. Then DuBois took over once again. Starting with a spike of their own, the Lady Beavers stole back the momentum, tacking on six unanswered points that included three aces from Avery Fontaine. Their run would end at 12-5 as they took a first set win at 25-15.
In the second, Bradford was eager to respond early. Fueled by more powerful spikes and points at the service line from Emma Pilon, the Lady Owls earned their first lead of the night at 5-3. But once again, their scoring streak only lasted so long.
Capitalizing on ample miscommunications and missed rotations from the Lady Owls, as well as a handful of their own sharp hits over the net and from the service line, DuBois countered with a 4-0 run early before burning Bradford for their longest streak of the night at 8-0 to build a 16-9 lead. But just as the lead was getting way out of hand, Bradford finally found some traction.
After a spike from Addison Carter that stopped the bleeding at 23-16, Keane stepped away from the net and to the service line, where her power would materialize in a new way. Coming away with two aces and helped by fluid offensive movement and another slam from Carter, Bradford scored seven unanswered kills, cutting the lead to just one at 23-22.
“Haley had an amazing round of serving. I can’t say enough about her,” said Daniels. “An amazing round of serving and that puts DuBois on their heels, that gives us free balls, that gives us momentum on offense and when you get the free balls and rollshots that you’ve been preparing for, that sparks your offense altogether.”
However, just as quickly as their run began, it ended. A serve to the net killed the hot streak, followed by a net violation that cost the Lady Owls the second set, letting DuBois take a 2-0 advantage at 25-22.
Sitting just one set away from their ninth consecutive D9 title, the third set was all DuBois. Led by their net-punishing forwards, coupled with relentless hustle and energy from their back lines, the Lady Beavers held the lead over Bradford for the entirety of the set. Although the Lady Owls stayed in stride, being within one point at 9-8, several short DuBois bursts would exaggerate the difference on the scoreboard and with one final push, the Lady Beavers pulled away, winning 25-15 for a clean sweep.
Keane ended with nine kills and three blocks in her final game of the season, while Emma Pilon had seven kills and Aliya Corignani ended with 23 assists.
“It’s been an amazing roller coaster ride, an amazing roller coaster ride,” said Daniels. “I say that with all due respect to these ladies because they don’t make it easy for me but they also don’t make it easy for the competition. It’s one of those things that you sign up for when you say you want to be a high school coach.”
