Columbia Crestview and Salem volleyball teams concluded their regular seasons on Thursday.
“Salem has a historically strong program.” said Rebels coach Alisha Auer. “When you say you’re going to play in Salem, the girls are ready and excited to play.”
Crestview finished fourth in the division. The No. 3 coaching staff showed no signs of fatigue in their fourth game in four days, defeating Salem 25-9, 25-8, 25-9 to improve to 22-0. He finished the regular season with a perfect record.
“The game against Girard was a make-up game. We were scheduled to play Girard in the first week of the season, but we decided to move it to the last week.” Auer said. “We happened to have four games this week, so it was tough.”
“It was a little difficult.” said Rebels senior Julia Blasco. “It didn’t really matter because we’ve been playing some fun teams, but it was a little hard on the body.”
Blasko had a solid performance for the Rebels with 15 digs and four kills. For the Rebels, Abby Emch had 16 kills, eight digs and five blocks, and Grace Auer had 17 assists, 14 kills and 11 digs. Laney Auer had 18 assists, 10 digs, six kills and two aces for the Rebels.
Salem has had a lot of struggles this season, winning just two of 21 losses, but they are always looking to improve.
“We have a lot of young players, freshmen and sophomores playing.” Said Salem coach Michele Pieniazek. “I’ve gotten better at finishing plays and rallies.”
The Quakers will rely on young talent to build a competitive team.
“We have (standout) freshman Abby Knickerbocker and we look forward to her continuing to play on the varsity team.” Pieniazek said.
The Quaker Frosh finished the season with an 11-1 record.
Salem was led by Kendall Martin with four kills and Sophie Maniscalco had 10 assists and one kill.
The Crestview junior varsity team won 25-17, 25-14.
For the Rebels (18-4), Sofia Dattilio had six kills and one block, and Abby Boyarko had four kills.
The Quakers were led by Angie Hofaker with six kills.
Salem won the rookie game 25-23, 25-15. Knickerbocker had five kills against the Quakers. Kerrigan Miller had six kills and 16 digs for the Rebels.
Salem will play Crestwood in the division on Wednesday. II Section Contest at Girard.
Crestview has high goals and will turn its attention to the Division III tournament.
“The winning district is vast.” Auer said. “We’ve won the championship the last four years, and we’d love to win the fifth year. The ultimate goal for everyone is the nation, and we know it’s going to be a really tough road.”
Crestview will give its players a run at state, but will need to get busy right away in the sectional round.
“The way the seeding went at sectionals is because we’re the No. 2 seed and the number of seeds available is low.” Auer said. “We should do well, but we will never take anything for granted because any team can do anything on any night.”
Crestview will play host Poland in Tuesday’s sectional semifinal.