HS VOLLEYBALL: Season taking shape; New ranking; Key matchups ahead

There were some more outstanding matches last week in the Lackawanna League that featured some of the top players in the region.

Defending league and District 2 Class 3A champion Western Wayne ran its gauntlet in the schedule with a home match against Dunmore and at Blue Ridge. The Lady ‘Cats fell in their showdown with Dunmore, 3-1, in a match that had a lot of excitement and intense points.

Dunmore is starting to find its rhythm on the court and turned in a strong defensive effort in the win.

 

On Point

S. CANAAN TWP. – Jenna Cruser gave her team a jolt of energy and it carried through to an important win.
In a tightly contested girls volleyball match between two of the contenders in the Lackawanna League, Cruser went on a seven-point tear that included three aces that helped boost Dunmore to a 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 17-25, 25-14) win over defending champion Western Wayne on Tuesday.
Dunmore (2-1) ended a 27-match winning streak in the regular season by the Lady ‘Cats (1-1).
“We really wanted to win this match coming off our losses from last year,” Cruser said. “We know it is a big deal for league. I wanted to go back and serve and get the ball over and in to get us on a roll and hype us up and keep the momentum on our side.
“When we are all cheering and hyping each other up after a scoring point, that is when we play our best and I just wanted us to play our best against a really good team.”

 

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HIGHLIGHTS

 

 

In the second big match of the week for Western Wayne, it recovered from a 2-0 deficit to turnback preseason favorite Blue Ridge, 3-2.

 

Lady ‘Cats rally past Blue Ridge

Western Wayne rebounded from a two-set deficit to top Blue Ridge, 3-2, eking out a 15-13 win in the final game in a Lackawanna League girls volleyball match Thursday.
Kaeli Romanowski paced the winners with 21 assists, and added six kills, three blocks and three aces. Kathy Shephard recorded 10 kills, Skylar Long had eight kills and Rachel Hoch notched five aces.
Hunter Heeman put away 11 kills for Blue Ridge to go with seven aces. Brianna Post chipped in with
nine kills, 16 digs and four aces, and Lydia Andusko made 26 digs.

 

Western Wayne (2-1)	24	22	25	25	15
Blue Ridge (1-2)	26	25	22	15	13

 

 

LACKAWANNA LEAGUE STANDINGS

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

 

 

TOP 5 RANKING

 

North Pocono remained undefeated in its debut season in the Lackawanna League. Delaware Valley dropped its second match of the season. The Lady Warriors losses are to the two teams — Berwick and Nanticoke — that are a combined 10-0 in the Wyoming Valley Conference. However, the second conference loss caused a slide to No. 2. Dunmore defeated Western Wayne and Western Wayne beat Blue Ridge and those two teams move up ahead of Blue Ridge.

 

RANK		TEAM	RECORD	LAST RANK
1		NORTH POCONO LADY TROJANS	4–0	2
2		DELAWARE VALLEY LADY WARRIORS	3–2	1
3		DUNMORE LADY BUCKS	3–1	4
4		WESTERN WAYNE LADY ‘CATS	2–1	5
5		BLUE RIDGE LADY RAIDERS	1–2	3

 

TEAMS TO WATCH: Mountain View (2-2).

 

 

 

WHAT’S AHEAD?

 

In the preseason, most coaches pointed to Oct. 1 as the date when the top two teams would play. Blue Ridge is at Dunmore on Thursday in what is a very important match for Blue Ridge, which has lost twice at home to North Pocono and Western Wayne.

 

LACKAWANNA LEAGUE

9/29/20	10/1/20
Elk Lake at Blue Ridge	North Pocono at Montrose
Lackawann Trail at Western Wayne	Susquehanna at Lackawanna Trail
Montrose at Susquehanna	Western Wayne at Elk Lake
Mountain View at North Pocono	Blue Ridge at Dunmore
Dunmore bye	Mountain View bye

 

REMINDER: Forest City is expected to start playing again in the Lackawanna League against the teams that were awarded a bye in the COVID-19 schedule.

 

DELAWARE VALLEY THIS WEEK

9/29/20	10/1/20
Wyoming Area at Delaware Valley	Delaware Valley at Wyoming Valley West

 

 

DISTRICT 2 POWER RANKINGS

 

CLASS 4A

		W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	Games Left
1	Delaware Valley	3	2	0	0.65	0.631068	0.68	13(8)
2	Hazleton Area	3	3	0	0.5	0.532787	0.45	13(7)
3	Wyoming Valley West	1	3	0	0.38	0.287500	0.52	13(9)
4	Wilkes-Barre	0	5	0	0.24	0.000000	0.59	13(8)

 

DISTRICT 2-4 CLASS 3A SUBREGIONAL

		W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	Games Left
1	Berwick Area	5	0	0	0.8	1.000000	0.51	13(8)
2	Greater Nanticoke Area	5	0	0	0.8	1.000000	0.51	13(8)
3	North Pocono	4	0	0	0.75	1.000000	0.39	11(7)
4	Tunkhannock	4	1	0	0.62	0.822430	0.33	13(8)
5	Crestwood	3	2	0	0.61	0.631068	0.57	13(8)
6	Pittston Area	4	3	0	0.52	0.589928	0.42	14(7)
7	Shamokin	5	3	0	0.51	0.620000	0.35	16(8)
8	Athens Area	2	1	0	0.45	0.596491	0.24	17(14)
9	Dallas	1	5	0	0.38	0.194915	0.65	13(7)
10	Wyoming Area	0	4	0	0.31	0.000000	0.75	13(9)
11	Hanover Area (2)	0	3	0	0.24	0.000000	0.58	13(10)

 

CLASS 2A

		W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	Games Left
1	Holy Redeemer	2	1	0	0.697337	0.677966	0.725212	13(10)
2	Dunmore	3	1	0	0.649522	0.736111	0.524917	11(7)
3	Lake Lehman	3	2	0	0.531586	0.626168	0.395480	13(8)
4	Western Wayne	2	1	0	0.520564	0.618182	0.380090	11(8)
5	Montrose	1	2	0	0.308515	0.292308	0.331839	8(5)
6	Elk Lake	0	4	0	0.188521	0.000000	0.459807	9(5)
7	Forest City Regional	0	0	0	0.000000	0.000000	0.000000	6(6)

 

CLASS 1A

		W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	Games Left
1	Lackawanna Trail	2	1	0	0.627689	0.654545	0.589041	8(5)
2	Mountain View	2	2	0	0.432695	0.463415	0.388489	9(5)
3	Blue Ridge	1	2	0	0.400622	0.298246	0.547945	12(9)
4	Susquehanna Community	1	3	0	0.291378	0.226190	0.385185	9(5)

Courtesy piaad2.org

 

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