COAL TOWNSHIP — For a while in the opening set of Tuesday’s PIAA Class A Girls’ Volleyball Tournament first-round match, Shamokin’s curse seemed plausible.
But not for long.
In its last state playoff match at Shamokin Area High School, Marian lost to Williamson in the 2012 state semifinals.
Tuesday, the Fillies surged ahead from a 14-14 tie in the first set to capture a 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 victory over District 4 champion Towanda.
The victory sends District 11 champion Marian (19-2) into Saturday’s quarterfinals against Country Day School of the Sacred Heart at a time and site to be announced by the PIAA. Sacred Heart swept District 12’s MaST Charter in three sets Tuesday night.
Saturday’s pairing is a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, which Marian won 25-20, 25-12, 25-9.
“Saturday, we’re not used to playing those games, so it might be weird for us,” Marian defensive specialist Danielle Spillman said. “But we’ve been down this path before. We know what we have to do.”
Marian had minimal knowledge of Towanda (20-2) entering Tuesday’s match, and the Fillies did not help their own cause early.
“They just had to play their game,” Marian head coach John Fallabel said. “We had too many service errors.”
In the first two sets, Marian committed eight service errors, enabling the Black Knights to stay close.
The second set was tied at 13 before a four-point service run by Abby Pilla, featuring two of Abby Stankiewitch’s 11 kills in the match, gave Marian the lead to stay.
Behind nine kills by senior Tara Welliver, Towanda held leads in each set before Marian rallied to overcome them.
Fallabel indicated the Fillies’ performance, while a winning one, was uneven.
“That’s usually what bothers me a lot with this team, is we make too many mistakes from working real hard instead of playing controlled,” the 14th-year head coach said.
“When you get to this level, you don’t try to kill it on those off (-angle) shots. You don’t try to hit a winning shot. You try to hit the ball on the court and keep it in.”
Yet Marian found enough spurts to keep Towanda at bay late in sets. Fallabel called just one timeout, that coming in the third set.
“He wants us to take control on the court,” Stankiewitch said.
Maureen Kloap, who surpassed 600 career kills with her eight Tuesday, used one of sophomore Jasmine Mooney’s match-best 16 kills in a two-point service run to put Marian ahead 16-14 in the opening set. The Fillies never trailed after that.
After Kloap’s ace ended the first set, Marian took a 5-1 lead in the second.
Towanda used a series of Marian errors and Ally Tama’s ace for six straight points and a 7-5 edge, but Mooney smacked four kills in five points as Marian scored six of the next nine to take the lead to stay.
Marian held a seven-point lead at 23-16, but Towanda answered with five more points before the Fillies won the match on a net violation by the Black Knights.
The final set was tied six times, the last at 13, but Spillman’s three-point service run, including a kill by Stankiewitch, gave the edge to the Fillies, who never looked back.
Kloap sparkled defensively with 15 digs, some point-saving efforts. Gianna Agosti added 10 digs, while Spillman had nine.
Fallabel said setter Courtney McCall, who posted 28 assists, was a difference in Tuesday’s match.
“In this game, our setting was better than their setting, which made our hitters better than their hitters,” Fallabel said. “Abigail was up above those 6-foot girls, hitting down.”
For Towanda, Jayde Parsons had 14 digs, while Elizabeth Schultz and Sarah Dawsey each had 11. Schultz added five kills, but it wasn’t enough to keep Marian from a Saturday date with Sacred Heart in the quarterfinals.
“It’s three more games. It should be the same way, to kill them in three,” Stankiewitch said.