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WILKES-BARRE — As Thursday night’s district title match wore on, Western Wayne turned up the pressure on Holy Redeemer, pushing the Royals.
But for a team that’s taken up seemingly permanent residence in the Class 2A district title scene, Holy Redeemer didn’t blink.
The Royals won three progressively more competitive sets to win championship gold, sweeping the Wildcats to win a second straight District 2 Class 2A girls volleyball title.
Set scores were 25-15, 25-18 and 25-21 for Holy Redeemer, which had the answers to close out each set as No. 2 seed Western Wayne began to find its form deep into the match.
Bella Boylan had 19 kills to lead Holy Redeemer, saving a few of her most emphatic kills for the end of the third set, where the two teams traded leads back-and-forth before the Royals finally took control.
“It was such a great feeling knowing you’re about to win the championship,” Boylan said.
Abby Williams chipped in with 11 kills and seven service points, one of a host of Royals who put together really strong service games from start to finish.
“A lot of team chemistry was the big thing,” Williams said. “Western Wayne is always very competitive, we played them a few weeks ago and it’s always a very good match.”
Holy Redeemer’s first set victory was their most comfortable, taking the lead right away and never trailing. The Royals’ defense carried the team early, running down loose balls and winning the battles at the net.
It wasn’t going to be so easy, though. In both of the final two sets, Western Wayne came out firing and taking advantage of some uncharacteristic sloppiness on the part of the Royals.
In both the second and third sets, Western Wayne held the lead through the halfway point. In the second, the Wildcats led 12-11 before the Royals surged ahead for good.
“I think our team’s always good at coming back, I really wasn’t nervous at all,” Boylan said.
In the third, Redeemer surged at the same exact time, trailing 12-11 before taking the lead. The Wildcats had the counterpunch that they’d been lacking all night, however, retaking the lead at 16-15 and again at 18-17.
That was the last lead of the night for Western Wayne.
Holy Redeemer scored five of the next six points, and a Megan Albrecht kill that just snuck inside the right sideline won the set, the match and another district championship for the Royals.
Albrecht had 27 assists and 10 digs, a key cog in all phases of Redeemer’s gameplan.
The Royals will travel for the first round of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs, taking on the District 4 champion in the first round on Tuesday.