DALLAS — Before Tuesday’s PIAA Class A Tournament semifinal at Dallas High School, the Marian girls’ volleyball team gathered in a circle and sang.
The tune was “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
To this point, that’s been the truth for these Fillies, who advanced to their second state championship match in two years after they swept Troy 25-13, 25-14, 25-11.
“We’re one of the two best teams left in the state,” Marian head coach John Fallabel said.
The other is District 7 champion Greensburg Central Catholic, which rallied past District 9 winner Clarion, 23-25, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-12 in Tuesday’s other semifinal at Indiana.
The Centurions (22-0) will oppose Marian (25-0) for the PIAA crown at 11 a.m. Saturday at Richland High School in Johnstown.
“It’s definitely a great feeling,” Marian junior outside hitter Maureen Kloap said.
Kloap had reason to feel particularly good. After Marian’s outside hitters struggled in their preceding three matches, Kloap led the group Tuesday with 10 kills. Emily Pilla had eight and Alex Stroia added four.
“Some of it was they had an undersized blocker on that side, but Mo had a great night tonight,” Fallabel said. “That’s important.
“She carried us through the playoffs last year. Mo was our leading hitter last year over Grace (Boyle).”
Led by Abby O’Donnell’s 32 assists, Marian spread the offensive wealth Tuesday in a duel between teams with powerful outside attacks.
“We knew they had big outside hitters on their team, and we were going to come and show them that we’re no different,” O’Donnell said.
Marian also had inside strength as 6-foot junior middle hitter Abby Stankiewitch led the match with 12 kills, including seven in the second set.
“The height that they have real-
ly hurt because they could get over our block,” Troy head coach Willis Slotter said. “We couldn’t do much to stop it.”
Pilla and Kloap teamed for seven kills in the opening set and Stankiewitch added three as Marian broke away from a 2-2 tie. Kloap recorded three kills in a span of five points as Marian rolled to an 18-8 lead.
The quick start pointed out a fatal flaw for Troy. Losing points on its first four serves, the Trojans were able to tally three straight points on serve only once in the match.
In addition, the right hand of Troy’s leading outside hitter, Kelsey Bristol, was taped because of injury. She was forced to ask for an injury timeout during the second set. Bristol was held to nine kills, though she posted 13 digs.
The Trojans’ Jennifer Shults took up some of the slack and finished with seven kills, including two in the second set.
Bristol gave Troy its only lead, 12-11 in the second set, with a kill off Lynzi Rountree’s back set.
Marian regained serve when Shults’ bump found the net. Pilla quickly put Marian back in control with a five-point service run, including two of her four aces in the match.
Another four-point service run by Stroia assured victory in the set for the Fillies.
Led by two kills each from Stankiewitch, Kloap and Pilla and several unforced errors by Troy, Marian scored 18 of the third set’s first 21 points.
The end came quickly, though Troy did fight off two match points before Stroia’s shot down the line ended the 62-minute match.
Stroia led the Fillies with 14 digs while Lauren Nietz added 13.
“In the beginning, I really didn’t know what was going to happen, but once we got into that first game and that groove, I knew,” Nietz said of the sweep.
The story has been all too familiar for these Fillies. Tuesday’s win was the school’s 39th in a row, 26 by a 3-0 sweep, over the past two seasons.
Tuesday, the sweep also claimed the coaching career of Slotter, who announced earlier this fall that this season at Troy would be his last.
“The only thing I’m thinking is that I’ve ended this with a great group of kids,” Slotter said.
On the other hand, Marian’s confidence took another leap.
“We can’t be afraid of anybody because even though we may be one of the smallest teams out here, we’re strong too,” Nietz said.. “We can’t doubt ourselves because we can actually do some pretty great things.”
Marian again gets the chance for exactly that Saturday.