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JACKSON TWP — With the score of the match's fourth set sitting at 24-15 in favor of Seneca Valley Tuesday night and the hosts in a timeout, the theme to John Carpenter's Halloween played over the Seneca Valley High School gymnasium speakers.
Six serves later, the Raiders scared Upper St. Clair out of the building, advancing to the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 4A girls volleyball tournament in four sets — 22-25, 27-25, 25-19, and 25-20.
After dropping the opening set to the Panthers, Seneca Valley pulled away at the end of a closely-contested and dramatic second battle with the help of Emma Davis' six kills.
“It's always upsetting when you lose a close set,” Upper St. Clair coach Kim Manning said. “That fight is taken out of you. Coming back-and-forth, back-and-forth a couple of times and losing it ultimately was a turning point for us. That's how volleyball goes.”
“We played them earlier this year in Upper St. Clair and we lost the first set and then we won three in a row,” Seneca Valley coach Brett Poirier said. “I looked at my girls and said, 'Listen, you already did at Upper St. Clair, you can do it again.'”
The momentum carried into the third set, with the Raiders pulling out to a 20-12 advantage. The Panthers fought back within three before a service error and an a ball hit out of bounds helped do them in.
Again in the fourth and what turned out to be the final set, Seneca Valley was on the edge of victory, but let its guests hang around a little bit longer. After staring at a scoreboard that told them they were down 24-10, the Panthers rallied to come within four points. Alexandra Culp's service error ended the comeback effort.
“(Upper St. Clair) doesn't let off,” Poirier said. “I told my girls, 'One point. It's not over. We have to get another one.'”
“We dug ourselves too big a hole to come back from,” Manning said of the fourth set.
In the closing set, Seneca's Davis had five kills, Rachel Summers four, and Brooke Pelloni three each. Zoe Schultz, Mandy Altsman and Olivia Congdon chipped in with assists. Altsman recorded five assists in total and also had two aces.
The only three losses the Raiders suffered during the regular season were against Pine-Richland, Shaler, and North Allegheny.
The Raiders get the Tigers away at North Allegheny on Thursday night.
“Every year we get N.A. in the second round. I don't know who likes me so much,” Poirier joked. “The first time we played them this year, we were one point away from going to five sets. Hopefully we can play like that again.”
