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Lady Bears Grab First PIAA Victory

BY ERIC PYLES

‘They’ll go down in history’ might be a play on a popular Christmas song, but it stands as the truth when it comes to the 2021 Elizabethtown girls’ volleyball team. With a 3-2 victory over Council Rock North on November 9th, the Lady Bears not only notched E-town’s first PIAA girls volleyball game, but they also crossed off the first victory as well.

“We are the first EAHS girls’ volleyball team to make states,” said interim head coach Karen Eberly, “and now also the first team to win a state game. We are making history!”

Despite not needing many fifth sets this year, this was just the Lady Bears third five set match of the season, Elizabethtown was up to the challenge, locking up that PIAA victory with a 15-11 final set advantage. The Lady Bears also opened the match with a win, coming out on top 25-23.

“With traveling over two hours away, it was important for us to come out with success in the first set,” said Eberly.

That success was short lived as the Lady Indians evened things up with a 25-16 set two win.

“We captured the momentum in set one. Unfortunately, it did not carry over to set two,” said Eberly, “But this team is so resilient and has a short memory of sets that do not go our way.”

That short memory allowed Elizabethtown to answer with a 25-19 set three win, putting the Lady Indians on the brink of elimination. Etown did their best to finish the match in the fourth set, but Council Rock North did not go quietly, evening the match a second time with a 28-26 win.

“We would have loved to win the tough set four to finish the game there. But we bounced back right away and took set five,” Eberly exclaimed.

The Lady Bears were finally able to close out the historic win with the aforementioned 15-11 fifth set win. The team victory was not the only history made in the win as senior Sydney Stewart racked up 21 kills, pushing her over the 1,000-career kill mark. She sits at 1,016 with at least one more game. Kallee Locker matched those team high 21 kills while Stewart added 17 digs and five aces. Angela Costa-Ouimet joined the fun with 24 assists and four blocks while matching Stewart’s 17 digs. Liz Kerin chipped in with four blocks of her own.

The Lady Bears ended up opposite Council Rock North in the PIAA4A bracket thanks to their 3-0 sweep over Wilson on November 6th in the District 3-4A third-fourth place affair. Stewart was at the forefront of the 25-17, 25-23 and 25-23 win with 13 kills and seven aces with Costa-Ouimet adding 20 assists. Hailey Oller and Liz Kerin rounded out the team leaders with nine digs for Oller and five blocks for Kerin.

It took over a month of the season for the Lady Bears to suffer their first loss, a 3-2 setback to Hempfield in the L-L championship game on October 27th but only another eight days to pick-up a second loss. This one was also to Hempfield, and it came in the District 3-4A semifinals and sent Etown into the third-fourth place match opposite Wilson. Stewart’s 10 kills and 12 digs were not enough as the Lady Black Knights posted wins of 26-24, 25-18 and 25-17. Paige Horst matched those 12 digs and added one ace, same as CostaOuimet. Oller dished out 14 assists with Kerin recording four blocks.

Despite the fact that the Lady Bears are still in action, a few players picked up postseason hardware led by Stewart who landed on the Section Two first team while picking up section MVP honors as well. Locker and Costa-Ouimet joined Stewart on the first team while Kerin landed on both the second team and the allacademic team.

ALL-STARS

Girls’ volleyball was not alone in picking up post season honors. The boys’ soccer team received the section’s sportsmanship award while Dax Kelly made first team all-section. Two Bears, Hayden Florey and Jason Stark, enjoyed second-team all-star status while Mitchell Garber made the all-academic team. Three Lady Bears from the field hockey team also earned postseason honors with Hailey Mertz landing on the first team all-section squad. Mikaela Condran and Piper Patrick enjoyed honorable mention status for the 2021 season. And we cannot forget the girls’ tennis team who saw head coach Brenda McBride earn Coach of the Year in the L-L as well as Section Two Player of the Year with Allison Evans. Evans also is a member of the All-League team and all section-team with Rylee Bender hoping on board the Section Two All-Star team.

Photo by Cheri Sine

E-town’s Kallee Locker stretches to get under a Hempfield shot in the Bears’ 3-0, District Three semifinal loss to the host Black Knights on November 4.

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Photo by Cheri Sine

Paige O’Connell serves for the Bears during their 3-0, District Three 4A semifinal loss at Hempfield on November 4.

Photo by Cheri Sine

Elizabeth Kerin goes up to block a Black Knight shot during E-town’s 3-0 loss in a District Three, Class 4A semifinal match at Hempfield on November 4.

Program To Highlight Owls

CAPTIVATING “CLASSIC” NEAR MAYTOWN! PUBLIC AUCTION

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9

AT 4:00 P.M.

The Elizabeth Hughes Society will meet on Monday, Nov. 22, for a program titled “Magnificent Owls” at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 398 N. Locust St., Elizabethtown, at 7:30 p.m.

Sandy Lockerman will share information about the small, elusive saw-whet owl. Lockerman has been involved in night research for 24 years.

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