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The thought was on Courtney Mazonis’ mind before the ball was even served in the district bracket.
The Nanticoke Area senior didn’t beat around the bush.
Mazonis was asked about the Class 3A draw – specifically, not seeing Holy Redeemer’s name as the top seed.
“It means we have a chance to win districts,” she said following a victory over Dallas in the regular-season finale.
The Trojans did just that, defeating Crestwood in a five-set thriller for the District 2 Class 3A crown to earn a berth in the state tournament. Nanticoke begins the PIAA journey Tuesday at Pittston Area against District 3 runner-up Palmyra. The Trojans are part of a doubleheader in Yatesville as Redeemer opens the evening at 5 p.m. against District 4 champ North Penn-Liberty in a Class 2A opening-round match.
Of course, the reclassification of District 2 into four divisions shook a lot of things up.
Redeemer, which has won 10 straight titles, stayed at Class 2A. But the normal foes that the Royals did postseason battle with year after year during the past nine seasons are all now Class 3A. Teams like Nanticoke, Crestwood, Berwick, North Pocono and Wyoming Area.
Simply put, it created a wide-open Class 3A tournament.
“The stars were aligned for us,” Nanticoke Area head coach Debbie Gavin said. “I said to them, ‘girls, someone just handed you a lottery ticket, and it’s up to you to cash it in.’”
Enter the Trojans’ lottery ticket – or the scheme behind it.
Beat Western Wayne in the quarters, and get one-third of the ticket.
Beat No. 2 seed Abington Heights in the semifinals, and earn the remaining two-thirds that they could cash in the district final.
“That lottery ticket idea seemed to psych the girls up,” Gavin said. “Honestly, everything peaked at the right time. Their desire. Their intensity. Their maturity. The girls are still talking about it, and want to get shirts made up. I’m happy for them. Plus, the school is excited and buzzing about volleyball, which is good because maybe we can get some more kids to come out for our team in the future.”
Of course, it’s going to be a challenge with Palmyra, recently ranked in the top four of Class 3A by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association.
“It’s going to be a good experience for our girls,” Gavin said. “You know, upsets happen all the time in sports. You just never know.”
Down Interstate 81 in Wilkes-Barre, no one understands the state road better than Jack Kablick and his Holy Redeemer Royals.
Yet, in terms of experience, Kablick admits 85 percent of his team has never played in a state game. “I hope the mindset is let’s go play,” the Royal head coach said. “At least that’s what we’ve been stressing to them. We just want them to play to their ability. Yes, it’s a new round, but we’ve played highly-ranked teams like Delone Catholic, Marian Catholic and Trinity already this season. There is nothing anyone can show us that we already haven’t seen. We’ve seen powerful serves and strong attackers.”
Kablick won’t use the term peaking.
Instead, he’ll admit his team has been playing well lately. Yet, the veteran head coach is cautious.
“We are still a little inconsistent. We play well in spurts, but we have work to do. We are still climbing up that hill. I don’t think we have peaked yet,” he said.
It’s an unfamiliar name for the Royals in District 4. In past years, teams have Wellsboro, Wyalusing, Troy and Towanda have opened state play against Redeemer.
This year, it’s North Penn-Liberty – a young team in its own right with freshmen middles and a first-year setter.
“I’m just happy that we don’t have to make the trip to Athens this year for that first game,” Kablick said. “North Penn-Liberty is like us in terms of state experience. We are both pretty inexperienced in that category. We are hoping that playing these tough tournaments and seeing quality competition will pay off. I think the girls will be ready.”
