JOHNSTOWN — It was a moment seemingly frozen in time.
The ball drifted lazily across the net and, for a split second, it appeared all six Marian girls’ volleyball defenders, with arms outstretched, would collide in a massive heap and that, somehow, the ball would bounce off one of them and back over the net.
It did not happen.
Senior Leah Bisignani’s 22nd and final kill of Saturday’s PIAA Class A championship match denied Marian its second consecutive state championship as Greensburg Central Catholic found PIAA gold in its first-ever state finals appearance with a 25-23, 15-25, 25-10, 18-25, 15-13 victory over the Fillies.
And while the tears flowed at the reality of a heartbreaking defeat, some of those tears began with the realization that the current crop of Fillies would no longer wear the blue and gold as a unit.
“A third place, a second place and a first place in their four years of play in the state. I mean, really? That’s fantastic. Not many kids can say that,” Marian head coach John Fallabel said. “Some kids have three, four (titles) in a row, but for our school, this team, they’re the best, and I’m going to miss them terribly.”
These Fillies (25-1) left a strong impression as fighters in their final match, first overcoming their first dual-match set defeat of the season, then rallying from a 2-1 deficit and then owning an 11-8 lead in the fifth set.
But in a match in which Fallabel said serving would be the key, Greensburg Central Catholic (23-1) had the right girl behind the service line when it counted.
Junior middle hitter Kristin Hickey brought the Centurions all the way back from the 11-8 deficit with a three-point service run. It began with a kill by teammate Megan Stunja, who had 10 in the match. Hickey then dealt back-to-back aces.
“(Hickey) did a great job of serving us off the court the whole match,” Fallabel said. “She was their best server, their first server. She did fantastic.”
Marian tied the game at 12-12 when Hickey was whistled for a carry, but could not regain the lead. The 6-foot-1 Bisignani posted a kill to put the Centurions up by one and Greensburg Central Catholic earned game point on a Marian shot into the net.
The Fillies staved off match point when senior Alex Stroia took the final assist of classmate Abby O’Donnell’s career and sent it off a double block for a point.
However, a tense final point ended when Bisignani’s dink landed squarely among the Fillies.
“I really wanted to swing at it,” Bisignani said. “But my friend behind me said, ‘No, no. This means the gold medal.’ I said, ‘All right.’ And it just dropped, and I couldn’t believe it.”
After watching the teams duel so long, that feeling seemed to be shared by many.
“I think it was a great match,” Greensburg Central Catholic head coach Heather Meyer said. “I don’t want to say I hate seeing games with people blown out, but it’s more enjoyable all the way around. It’s a tribute to the sport. Both teams played well.”
The tone of the match appeared early as the first set featured eight ties and five blocks for kills, four by the taller Centurions. Bisignani would finish the match with 14 blocks as Marian tried the entire match to find a way past her with its own middle hitter, junior Abby Stankiewitch. Stankiewitch was limited to five kills and recorded seven blocks.
“That was the only adjustment we tried to make,” Fallabel said of moving Stankiewitch around the front line. “The rest of it was just to keep them calm and hit the ball as hard as they could. ... Stankiewitch, they took her out of the game. With only five kills, that’s a big difference.”
Marian held a 23-22 lead in the first set, but two kills by Bisignani and an errant Marian set allowed Greensburg Central Catholic to take a 25-23 win. It was the first dual-match set lost by the Fillies since last year’s PIAA semifinals against Bishop Guilfoyle.
Marian and Greensburg Central Catholic then traded dominating set wins.
O’Donnell had two kills in addition to six service points as Marian took a 25-15 win by pulling away from a 10-10 tie.
“It was just our mistakes that were killing us,” Bisignani said. “We were killing ourselves more than anything.”
The Centurions answered in the third set by breaking away from a 5-5 tie to take a 20-8 lead. Only two Marian servers, Stroia and Lauren Nietz, were able to win points on their own serve, each with one, while Bisignani posted four kills.
However, Marian rebounded.
With Marian leading 10-9, O’Donnell served three consecutive aces, a streak that the Fillies used to hold the lead to the finish despite six kills by Bisignani. O’Donnell served a fourth ace on the penultimate point before Maureen Kloap converted a Centurion overset into a kill for the 25-18 victory.
The teams then tied twice to begin the first-to-15 fifth set. Four consecutive hitting errors by Greensburg Central Catholic on Stroia’s serve gave Marian a 6-2 advantage, a lead that the Fillies maintained until Hickey’s service run turned the tide and set up Greensburg Central Catholic’s run to a hard-earned victory.
“Just hard, over and in,” Hickey said of her serves. “I know the team has my back when it comes back over.”
Lauren Nolfi, Mikayla Bisignani and Hickey each had five kills for Greensburg Central Catholic, which had seven seniors playing prominent roles Saturday.
Kloap paced the Fillies with 14 kills and 22 digs. O’Donnell had 30 assists and 13 digs in addition to six kills. Emily Pilla posted 17 digs and nine kills, Stroia had six kills, 17 digs and three aces and Nietz had 26 digs, but even those numbers were not enough in the end.
“We thought we had it, but what are you going to do?” Pilla said. “We played a great match. … I guess everything happens for a reason.”