Twin Valley senior Emma Lessick knows a lot about comebacks.
So when the second-seeded Raiders trailed fourth-seeded Northern Lebanon a few times in Thursday’s District 3 Class 3A girls volleyball championship match, she stayed calm.
Lessick was the steadying force who helped Twin Valley capture its first district championship in girls volleyball by defeating visiting Northern Lebanon 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-19).
“We’re very much a team that likes to come from behind,” Lessick said. “Whether we want that for ourselves or not, that’s our groove so we go with it. We’ve been down before and we trust ourselves, we trust our players that we’re going to get this done.”
Lessick completed her comeback from major ankle surgery last winter with a near-perfect game before a raucous crowd. She finished with 15 kills and14 digs to help Twin Valley complete a climb to the top that started when Lessick and five other seniors were freshmen.
“Each year we’ve been progressively getting better,” Lessick said.
The play that epitomized Lessick’s night came on the next-to-last point of the second game after Northern Lebanon had scored three straight points to trim Twin Valley’s lead to 23-18.
With her back to the net from the back line on her team’s final hit of the possession, Lessick’s shot hit the top of the net, went over and fell to the floor. Twin Valley ended that game on the next point to open a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five.
“She’s a very special player,” said Twin Valley coach Bob Robinette. “She has what we call a volleyball IQ off the chart. She just knows games, knows situations. She’s a one-of-a-kind player.”
The Raiders (19-4) also got big contributions from several other players to earn a home game Tuesday against the District 12 third-place finisher in the first round of the PIAA Tournament.
Mikayla Riehl had 12 kills, two aces and two digs; Casey Levan had six kills, eight digs and two aces; and Addison Hertzog had 36 assists and six digs as Twin Valley downed the Vikings (17-2).
“I made my mistakes but I had an awesome team to back me up,” Lessick said.
A coach might have to look closely at the film to find many flaws in Lessick’s game. She helped the Raiders rally from an 18-11 deficit in the first game and come back from down 17-10 in the third.
With Lessick leading the way in Game 3, the Raiders reeled off nine of the next 11 points to tie it and scored six straight to close it out.
“She’s a high-level player,” Robinette said. “She expects a lot from herself.”
Lessick didn’t lower those expectations even after she sprained her left ankle three times over the winter before undergoing reconstructive surgery.
“It was very devastating,” Lessick said. “It took away from my club season. I just had to work hard to get back to the player I was before.”
By achieving that, she helped Twin Valley capture its first major girls volleyball championship.
The Raiders placed third in last year’s District 3 Tournament and reached the second round of the state tournament.
“The program has been building,” Robinette said. “This is history.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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