MINERSVILLE — Alex Ferrier’s first serve of the match found the court.
So did the Blue Mountain senior’s fourth serve — and so the tone was set in Tuesday’s Schuylkill League girls’ volleyball semifinal match against Tri-Valley.
“Honestly, I had no clue that was going to be, like, so crucial. It definitely helped us in the end,” Ferrier said about the Eagles’ serving.
The serve became the key weapon that allowed the Eagles to defeat Tri-Valley 25-12, 25-16, 25-18 at Thomas Fitzpatrick Gym.
“I know we’re a good serving team, and I thought the difference was going to be serve receive,” Blue Mountain head coach Nick Marrongelle said. “If we can get them on their heels and make mistakes, I knew we could capitalize on those, and I feel like we did a nice job of doing that, especially in game one.”
Behind nine aces in the opening set, the Division I champion Eagles, who lost a five-set match to Nativity in last year’s semifinals, propelled themselves into the league championship match. The Eagles (18-1) will oppose two-time defending champion Marian at 7 p.m. Thursday at Martz Hall.
Blue Mountain will enter with an 11-match winning streak. The Eagles’ last loss came against Marian on Sept. 24.
The Division III champion, Tri-Valley (15-4) was only able to mount a serious challenge to the Eagles in the second set. The Dawgs led by three points before the Eagles rallied to win it.
“They just outplayed us, as they have every time we have played them,” Tri-Valley head coach Alice Scheib said. “Passing is always a lot of our problem.”
Starting the offense became an issue for Tri-Valley after Blue Mountain dealt its nine aces in the first set. The Eagles rolled out to an 20-7 lead.
The second set was much closer.
Tri-Valley forced eight ties and last led by three points at 15-12.
But after a hitting violation by Tri-Valley gave Blue Mountain a point, Ferrier stepped behind the service line with her team trailing 15-13.
Blue Mountain produced nine straight points, featuring four kills by Nicole McQuillan, who finished with seven in the match.
“I was choosing (spots to hit) and then they (the coaches) were spot-serving me as well, so that helped,” Ferrier said.
Blue Mountain then used two kills by Jordan Skoff to take an 8-3 lead in the third set. The Eagles expanded the margin to 20-9 before Marrongelle began to insert reserves into the lineup.
Tri-Valley took advantage, cutting the margin to five at 23-18 before Marrongelle put starters back into the match to finish off the victory.
In addition to her aces, Ferrier posted five kills for the Eagles. Maya Throne added five aces and 21 digs while setter Ashley Snesavage posted 23 assists.
For Tri-Valley, Cat Troutman led the Dawgs with five kills and two aces. Maddi Scheib posted seven kills and two aces while Reagan Newswanger had 12 assists.
While the Eagles controlled Tuesday’s match, Marrongelle said he saw enough to know his team will have a stiff challenge against the Fillies, who defeated Nativity in four sets in Tuesday’s first semifinal.
“Games two and three (against Tri-Valley) fell flat, but we know we have to pick up our game for Thursday,” Marrongelle said. “There’s no question.”
But Marrongelle indicated his team is ready for the opportunity.
“We know they’re a good team. We know we’re a good team,” he said. “Let’s do it.”