McCANDLESS TWP. — It’s back to Baldwin for Ambridge’s boys volleyball team.
After a one-year absence, the Bridgers (13-4) advanced to the WPIAL Class 2A championship match with Tuesday’s 3-0 semifinal win over Deer Lakes at North Allegheny.
“It’s so amazing,” Ambridge’s Logan Sweigart said. “After we lost to them last year, we were so down. Coming back this year, we knew we wanted to beat them, and that’s what we did.”
The Lancers stopped Ambridge, 3-1, in last year’s semifinals at North Allegheny. The Bridgers then fell to Derry in the consolation match to miss out on qualifying for the PIAA tournament for the first time since 2005.
“This is awesome. When we saw the brackets, we knew it’d be us two,” Ambridge senior Devin Dishong said. “We wanted this game really badly. It was at the same place as last year and we were on the same bench. I remember it vividly.”
In a close first set, Ambridge gained some momentum at the end and scored three of the final four points to post a 25-22 win.
“The first set boosted us so much,” Sweigart said. “It carried us.”
Deer Lakes (13-3) led for a majority of the second set, but the Bridgers rallied to cut the deficit to 20-17. On that point, Lancers all-WPIAL senior Dan Hutchinson went down with an ankle injury and did not return. The Bridgers came back to post 26-24 win. David Brock’s ace locked up the victory.
“We were so confident after that first set; we knew we had it,” Dishong said. “We got great momentum from that first set and we just kept that going the entire night. Sadly, their player went down and they didn’t seem to recover after that, but the momentum from that first set carried us.”
Ambridge, playing in the semifinals for the 10th year in a row, trailed 11-9 in the third set, but used a 6-0 run to take a 15-11 lead and cruised to a 25-18 victory.
“It was great. I think we played well. We were ready coming into this. I think we followed our plan and did what we wanted to do. They are a tough team, so I knew we had to play well and we did,” Ambridge coach Glenn Freed said.
“I do think we were on key for a lot of points. We were smooth, at times, and it’s always nice when you can play smoothly. I think our level was good.”
The Bridgers, who wrapped up a PIAA tournament berth with the win, hope to win their first WPIAL title since 2015 and eighth in the past 12 years since volleyball was split into two classifications.
“It’s great to already have a spot in the state playoffs, but we have a match on Thursday we want to focus on. It’s great to be back there,” Freed said. “We haven’t been there in two years and that’s like an eternity. We’re happy we’re going to be there.”