The Bradford High volleyball team hosted Elk County Catholic on Dig Pink night Thursday, coming together for a great cause.
On the court, the Lady Crusaders proved why they are the No. 4 ranked Class A team in the state in the latest Pennsylvania High School Volleyball Coaches Association poll, defeating the Lady Owls in three sets (25-20, 25-20, 25-10).
The win gives ECC a sweep of the season series.
“They’ve earned every bit of recognition they get,” said Bradford coach Mike Leet, whose team is now 7-4.
Elk County Catholic’s outside hitters, Kirstie Wehler and Sydnie Stauffer were in top form, as the Lady Crusaders built leads of at least seven points in each of the first two sets.
“They have to be the best outside hitting tandem in the state, or right up there,” Leet said. “Those girls do such a good job and the other four work so hard for them.”
Bradford did have its moments, taking early leads in each of the first two sets.
They held a brief 8-7 lead in the first after a kill from Jess Buchheit and a jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the second set, only to watch ECC get on big runs each time.
The first set also saw them rally from a 20-13 deficit, getting as close as 23-20 before ECC put the set away.
“When we got into transition, we seemed to put a lot of pressure on them,” noted Leet. “But they forced us to make some unforced errors.”
The third set was all Lady Crusaders, as Sierra Meyer closed out the match with a pair of aces during a 7-0 run.
“We did a lot of things right tonight and we did a lot of things wrong tonight,” noted Leet.
Of course, the night was also about the efforts Buchheit, Courtney Holzwarth, Marissa Yohe, Rylee Lundgren, Hailey Burgess and Courtney Henry as well as the Bradford volleyball boosters, who put on a great event.
“I couldn’t think of a better team to do this with,” said Leet. “That’s a great coaching staff, those are great kids and we have a lot of respect for them.”
Leading the way for the Lady Owls were Buchheit (8 kills, 7 digs), Yohe (5 kills) and Burgess (23 assists).
Bradford returns to action Tuesday at Sheffield.
“We still have a lot of work to do, a lot of things to focus on, but that’s OK,” Leet said.
