The Philadelphia Catholic League is home to some of the most prestigious high school league titles in the country — titles held in such a regard that they can sometimes overshadow the fact that there are still bigger games at hand, that being district and state playoffs. These next steps are the Archbishop Carroll varsity volleyball has their sights on now following a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Cardinal O’Hara in the Catholic League title game.
For many leagues across the state, their title games are no more than an extension of the regular season, a stepping stone to make it to states. That is not the case in the PCL, which has been around for nearly 105 years. Its clubs view their league title as the pinnacle of success in a season.
“Last year was the first time in a while we made it to the PCL title,” said head coach Melanie Coates-Rivera. “And coming off that title game last year, I wasn’t even aware there was anything after the title, that’s how big of a deal it felt like to me. However, now knowing what I know, I have been preparing these girls since preseason for what’s still ahead of us with districts and states.”
Heading into the state tournament, the Lady Pats, though not Catholic League champions, are more than seasoned. They trudged through their PCL schedule with only two losses, a 3-0 pummeling by O’Hara during the regular season and now the title game loss against that same Lions team that has proven to be one of the best clubs around.
Carroll was able to play neck and neck with O’Hara throughout the contest, and even took the second set to even the playing field at one apiece heading into the third. That set would be just the second O’Hara gave up all year in the PCL, finishing the year 39-2 in Catholic League sets.
Before the Lady Pats swiped that second set however, they dropped a heartbreaker of a first.
After getting out to a quick 5-0 lead, Carroll allowed the Lions to tighten the margins a bit through the middle of the set before eventually taking the lead in the final few points to eventually pull away and take the 1-0 game lead.
“The miscommunication killed us — the miscommunication between the passers and our defense,” said Coates-Rivera. “I also think our anxiety and our nervousness just got the best of us.”
The second set kicked off quite like the first with a quick lead followed by an O’Hara run. This time, however, it was the Lady Pats who were able to get that slight advantage in the middle of the set, one they’d hold on to for a majority of the set before sneaking one out and tying up the game with some huge plays from Sofia Fantauzzi and senior captain Grace Plecher to make it 1-1.
“I think it’s as simple as the fact our communication got better (in the second set),” said Coates-Rivera. “We knew what we wanted, we got our energy up and we never gave up on the ball. I think that’s something that we just clicked on that second set.”
In the third set, it was O’Hara that got out to the quick start and Carroll that began to comeback and go neck and neck with the Lions up until the final few points, when O’Hara gave themselves a 2-1 lead.
While both teams played some great close matches through the first three sets, it proved to be all O’Hara in the final set. Soon enough, the Lions held a nearly 15-point lead and took the fourth and final set 25-13 to claim their third consecutive Catholic League title.
“I’m not going to say we got in our heads, gut our missed serves did affect a lot, and it was a big part of our game,” said Coates-Rivera. “We had a total of 18 miss serves and that’s almost a whole set, so just knowing that it gets in your head and you can’t get out of that may have had a part in that ending.”
With the loss, the Patriots will look ahead to District XII playoffs next week with states to follow. Though opponents and times haven’t been set yet, the Patriots should host a home playoff game come states.
