2025 PIAA Girls Volleyball A State Championship

By Ken Wunderley

Two weeks before the regular season ended, the Maplewood High School girls volleyball team held a community night to recognize the 40th anniversary of its first PIAA championship team.

Members from each of Maplewood's previous six championship teams showed up for the event, including 1985 coach Marty Bennett, coach of the first championship team, and current coach Sheila Bancroft.

"We had at least 40 former players attend the event," said Bancroft, now in her 39th season. "It was fun to be around those people again. It honored the great tradition we have here at Maplewood."

Fast forward six weeks, and Maplewood celebrated its seventh PIAA title with a 3-1 win against Tri-Valley in the PIAA Class 1A final, held Nov. 15 at Cumberland Valley High School.

"It looks like we'll have to have another community night," said Bancroft, who collected her sixth PIAA gold medal. "They all have special meaning. The players and opponents change, but the feeling of winning such a prestigious title never changes. It's so much fun being a part of a program with such a great tradition."

Maplewood was making its 10th appearance in a PIAA title match, which ties the Tigers for fifth all time. With seven titles, only three schools in PIAA history have more titles. Norwin tops the list with 12 titles, while North Allegheny is a close second with 11. Farrell ranks third with eight titles.

"It’s amazing," said senior outside hitter Bree Neely. "I can’t even explain it right now."

It was the second gold medal for Neely and three senior teammates - setter Maggie Means, defensive specialist Mylee Crawford, and opposite Samantha Stanford - as all four were members of the 2022 championship team.

"Maggie was a backup setter who played defense and Bree was an outside hitter on that team," Bancroft said. "Mylee and Samantha were members of that team, but didn't play in the title match. It was great to see them get a second gold medal."

Maplewood (21-3) earned its PIAA berth by winning the District 10 title. The Tigers advanced to the title match with wins against Serra Catholic, 3-0 in the first round; Frazier, 3-1 in the quarterfinals; and Eden Christian, 3-0 in the semifinals.

Tri-Valley qualified for the state playoffs by winning the District 11 title. The Bulldogs advanced to the title match with wins against Ephrata Mennonite, 3-2 in the first round; Faith Christian, 3-0 in the quarterfinals; and Linville Hill, 3-1 in the semifinals.

Tri-Valley was making its first appearance in a title match.

"It was an amazing run," said Tri-Valley coach Courtney Scheib, who completed her sixth season. "It was a great experience to watch the girls' game after game, moving closer to the ultimate goal of winning a state championship. We came up a little short, but I'm very proud of what they were able to accomplish. We went further than any team in school history."

Tri-Valley was clearly the more aggressive team in the first two sets, but the Bulldogs only came away with one victory due to hitting and serving errors.

The Bulldogs had 13 kills in the first set, including six by senior outside hitter Olivia Lupole, but

Maplewood scored eight of the last 12 points to break a 17-17 tie and claim a 25-21 victory.

"We just made a couple more mistakes than they did in the first set," Scheib said. "That really hurt us."

Tri-Valley recorded 12 more kills in the second set, including six by junior outside hitter Faith Melochek, and came away with a 25-19 win.

"It was awesome that we were able to come back and get that win," Scheib said. "We were able to pick up our heads after the loss and come back with a big win."

In the third set, the two teams traded points until it was tied 14-14. Maplewood broke the tie with four consecutive points, including two serving aces by Neely, and came away with a 25-19 victory.

"I think we just settled in," said Crawford. "Our nerves kind of went away there. We just kind of knew we could do this. We believed in each other and trusted each other. It brought us where we needed to be."

Maplewood took charge in the fourth set with junior outside hitter Bailey Moyer leading the way with five kills. The Tigers walked away with a 25-12 victory, thus claiming their seventh PIAA championship trophy.

"Lexi had a good serving run during that set," said Bancroft, referring to junior libero Lexy Potosky. "We stayed focused in that set and Tri-Valley started falling apart."

Junior middle hitter Lilly Stevenson led the Tigers with 13 kills, while Neely had 9 kills, 4 aces, and 12 digs. Means tallied 34 assists and 14 digs. Potosky had 15 digs and two aces, while Crawford had 12 digs and two aces.

Maplewood used 10 players in the championship match and only four were seniors.

"It will be hard to replace a great group of seniors, but we had six players returning," Bancroft said.

"We have some underclassmen ready to step up. We will reload and be back next year with the same goal."

Faith Melochek led the Bulldogs with 15 kills and 9 digs, while Lupole had 12 kills and four aces.

Senior setter Callie Melochek had 35 assists and 2 aces, while junior libero Kirra Klinger had 21 digs and 3 assists.

Tri-Valley used 11 players in the title match, and only four were seniors, including three starters.

"We lose some very talented players to graduation, but we have a nice group coming back, so our future is bright," Scheib said.