Girls volleyball has gone through a whirlwind in the last week.

Things started to look positive for the programs after Gov. Tom Wolf released new gathering guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic. Those were based on the venues capacity and gave some relief to volleyball because under the old 25-person limit, the matches were played in empty gyms and teammates were forced to watch and substitute into games from a hallway.

Then COVID-19 struck the Lackawanna League.

Lackawanna Trail, which played Mountain View last Monday, and is the second seed for the District 2 Class 1A playoffs shut down due to an outbreak at the school. That surge in positive tests at the school has the Lady Lions quarantined until Oct. 23 at the earliest.

That wiped out Lackawanna Trail at Dunmore and a showdown Blue Ridge at Lackawanna Trail last week. It also “postpones” a match with Elk Lake scheduled for Tuesday in the regular-season finale in the league and a nonleague match against Dunmore.

Then, Blue Ridge shut down its athletic programs after a positive case in the district. That puts the Lady Raiders team in quarantine and pauses its schedule which included the Lackawanna Trail match and a Tuesday match against Mountain View.

It’s very unfortunate for the Lady Raiders, who were playing their best volleyball. They won two straight including a 3-1 victory over North Pocono in a nonleague match.

Right now, with Blue Ridge, the defending six-time District 2 Class 1A champion, Lackawanna Trail and Mountain View out of action it appears that the District 2 Committee will start the Class 1A tournament later than the Oct. 26 date.

Also, just how the Lackawanna League will determine its volleyball champion is a mystery. Initially, the league divided into two divisions when North Pocono joined, and the idea was to have two champions. But, Abington Heights opted out of competing, Forest City started its season late and isn’t eligible for a league title, and now Blue Ridge, Lackawanna Trail and Mountain View are getting hit with no contests due to COVID-19.

The LIAA athletic directors are meeting Wednesday where some decisions will be made, according to volleyball president Jan Price.

So, as we spin our tires, let’s at least see where we are on Oct. 12.

 

Lackawanna League Standings

DIVISION I		DIVISION II
North Pocono	6–1	Blue Ridge	3–3
Dunmore	5–1	Mountain View	2–3
Western Wayne	5–1	Susquehanna	3–4
Lackawanna Trail	3–2	Montrose	1–6
		Elk Lake	0–6

 

Susquehanna had the shocking win of the league so far.

Last week, the Lady Sabers handed No. 1 North Pocono its first loss as a member of the Lackawanna League.

 

Megan Kiernan had five aces, 15 kills, 16 digs and 22 point and Brianna Ashman had 15 assists to lead Susquehanna to a 3-2 win over North Pocono in a Lackawanna League match.
Bethany Burns had five aces, 11 kills, seven blocks and 23 points for the Lady Sabers and Elizabeth Stewart had seven kills, nine digs and eight points.
Sam Zaic had 23 kills and 10 points for North Pocono, Elizabeth Schieber had 36 assists and 13 points, Kendra Jordan had 12 digs and Sam Snyder had 11 points, five kills and five digs.

 

 

What’s ahead

To the best of our ability:

October 13

Western Wayne @ North Pocono

Dunmore @ Montrose

Susquehanna at Forest City

 

TOP 5 RANKING

OK, so what we have is a little shakeup because we have to examine the nonleague results that have been trickling in across the Lackawanna League. In addition to a loss to Susquehanna, North Pocono also lost to Blue Ridge in a nonleague match to drop to No. 2. Delaware Valley returns to the top spot, aided greatly by a win over traditional power Holy Redeemer. Dunmore suffered a loss to Western Wayne in a nonleague match, but bounced back with a win over Elk Lake. Blue Ridge has a win over Western Wayne in their second match between each other.

 

RANK		TEAM	RECORD	LAST RANK
1		DELAWARE VALLEY LADY WARRIORS	8–2	2
2		NORTH POCONO LADY TROJANS	7–2	1
3		DUNMORE LADY BUCKS	6–2	3
4t		BLUE RIDGE LADY RAIDERS	5–3	4t
4t		WESTERN WAYNE LADY ‘CATS	6–2	4t

 

DELAWARE VALLEY IN THE WVC

The Lady Warriors have a challenging slate this week. Tunkhannock has a strong program and is 5-3 this season. Holy Redeemer is the most accomplished program in the WVC.

Tuesday	Friday
Delaware Valley at Wilkes-Barre Area	Crestwood at Delaware Valley

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DISTRICT 2

 

There are plans to have four District 2 Tournaments.

Here are the dates to keep in mind as we navigate through some of the stoppages in play by some programs. These are, of course, SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

DATES

CLASS A

There are four Class 1A schools and all teams will qualify. Seeding will be done using the power rating system.

Semifinal Oct. 26
Final Oct. 29

CLASS 2A

There are seven teams from District 2 in this classification. All teams will qualify. Seeding will be done using the power rating system.

Quarterfinal Oct. 26
Semifinal Oct. 29
Final Nov. 3

CLASS 3A

There are 10 District 2 teams and two teams from District 4 (Shamokin and Athens). Of the 12 teams forming the subregion, the top eight teams will qualify for the Class 3A tournament as well as any other team that finishes with a .500 record or above. Seeding will be determined by the power rating system.

Quarterfinal Oct. 28
Semifinal Nov. 2
Final Nov. 5

CLASS 4A

There are four Class 1A schools and all teams will qualify. Seeding will be done using the power rating system.

Semifinal Oct. 27
Final Nov. 4

All matches need to be completed by Wednesday, October 22 to count in the power ratings.

COVID CHANGES

• All matches will be held at the highest seed.
• All matches will be single matches—no double headers.
• All matches will begin at 5:00.
• There will be no spectators.
• The home team is responsible to pay your table workers and trainer to be on site and available.
• District 2 will pay the officials and game manager.

 

FORMAT

All matches will be the best of five rally scoring. The first four sets will be 25 point sets with no caps. If the fifth set is necessary, it will be a 15 point set with no cap.

The District 2 Volleyball Committee reserves the right to adjust the playing dates as necessary.

After the final match is held in each there will be no award ceremony. The District 2 plaque will be presented to the captains, but both the silver and gold medals will be given to the school’s Athletic Director/Principal to be distributed to the team.

NOTE: If any team chooses to opt out of the tournament, they must contact Frank Majikes or Maureen Williams by
Tuesday, October 20.

 

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