Wilson was one point from being swept in its District 3 Class 4A girls semifinal match at Dallastown Tuesday.
The Bulldogs were on the brink of elimination in the fifth set, too.
No matter.
Wilson rallied for a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Dallastown, winning 23-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-11 and 15-13.
”We pulled out another gritty, ugly win,” Wilson coach Denny Werner said in an email, “doing just enough to pull it off.”
The fourth-seeded and Berks champion Bulldogs (21-2) will play at top-seeded Hempfield (17-0) in the final Thursday at 7 p.m. The Black Knights beat Ephrata 3-0 in the other semifinal.
Hempfield has won the Class 4A title the last four years and five of the last six, beating Wilson in the final last year and in 2020.
In Tuesday’s match, the Wildcats (21-2) came back from 11-4 down to win the first set, then jumped to an 11-4 lead in taking the second.
“After dropping the two first sets we told our kids to just focus on finding a way to get one game under our belt,” Werner said, “and if you know volleyball, that’s all it takes to flip the momentum and that’s what happened.”
In the third set, Wilson kept tying it only to see Dallastown go back in front.
The Wildcats led 24-23 and had a chance to clinch the match, but the Bulldogs scored three straight points to win the set.
Wilson then dominated the fourth set, setting up the decisive fifth.
The Wildcats scored the fifth set’s first four points before the Bulldogs battled back.
After the set was tied at 9-9, Dallastown scored four of the next six points to take a 13-11 lead.
Again, the Bulldogs responded, scoring four straight points to win the match.
“Proud of all of our kids, particularly our seniors, who led us in the end to finish off that last set,” Werner said. “Many contributions from everyone contributed to the win.”
For Wilson, Nia Kendall had 16 kills and three blocks, Cameryn Niedrowski had 46 assists and seven digs, Kassidy Means had 14 kills and 24 digs, and Airyanna Kline had 16 kills and eight blocks.
“Credit Dallastown,” Werner said. ”They came out and played their butts off. They were prepared, and literally gave everything they had. In the end we were just a little bit better.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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