MORGANTOWN – The Morgantown High School volleyball team welcomed perennial Pennsylvania volleyball power North Allegheny to the Rowdie Center on Tuesday evening for an early-season clash of top teams from their respective states.
The Tigers finished 19-1 in 2024 on their way to a PIAA state championship and even defeated the Mohigans 3-0 in the reverse match on North Allegheny soil.
But MHS was out for revenge on Tuesday and used a huge first-set comeback victory to build momentum that helped lift them to the win over the visitors, 3-1, to help the Mohigans improve to 7-1 early on in the 2025 schedule.
Sophomore Leah Greeny led MHS with 22 kills, two aces, two blocks, and seven digs. Senior Paige Brink added 13 kills herself, with three aces, and six digs. Riley Brennan contributed 42 assists in the win.
“Tonight, I thought our girls were able to adapt to whatever was being thrown at them,” MHS head coach Abigail Wolfe said. “We’ve been working on some different rotations and trying to keep that next-man-up mentality. That’s one reason we have so much energy behind our serves. We’re able to get our order in a strong and balanced position. Everyone played their role and stayed engaged.”
North Allegheny jumped out to an early 7-4 advantage in the opening set and slowly pulled away as it went along. MHS called a timeout trailing 20-14 and came out on the other side, earning four consecutive points and forcing a timeout by the Tigers.
MHS tied the set at 22 with a massive kill by Greeny, who seemed to be all over the court in the opener. Eventually, a 10-3 scoring run put the Mohigans at set-point, 24-23. The Tigers took the next two, giving them a set-point 25-24. Tied at 26, North Allegheny sent a serve out of bounds, then Brink shut the door with a kill to give her team a 1-0 lead in the match.
“Over the weekend, I would say more often than not, a set ended on a kill by Leah,” Wolfe said. “It’s great having someone like her to have on the line, just trusting that she’s going to be in the right position and doing what we need her to do.”
The second set echoed the story of the first, with North Allegheny holding an early lead before the Mohigans rallied to steal it away. Brink smashed a kill down the line to give MHS an 11-10 lead they wouldn’t surrender to lead 2-0.
The Tigers responded well in the third set, leading 11-6, but just like the first set, MHS had a fight in them and took six straight points to lead 12-11.
Eventually, North Allegheny found a scoring run of its own and pulled ahead, winning the third set 25-21.
A back-and-forth fourth set saw the teams knotted at 12 before MHS used another momentum shift to take an 18-16 lead. Greeny was clutch down the stretch on offense while the MHS defense dug multiple hits by the North Allegheny attackers.
An ace by Abby Paulsen (the 12th for MHS) gave the Mohigans match point 24-19, and they closed the fourth set 25-20 to take a 3-1 victory over the Tigers.
“The most important thing for us was not to overthink their side of the court,” Wolfe said. “Stay within us and stay with doing what we need to do, controlling what we can control.”
MHS will return home on September 3 to host Oakland Catholic (Md.).
