On Wednesday, October 29, the Lady Warriors hosted Northern Cambria for the District 6 Semifinal game. They won in three sets.
Northern Cambria started the game with the serve. The Lady Warriors responded to that by getting the point. Bella Koleno then had a serving run until the score was 4-1. The score went up to 6-2 after a couple of rallies. Haley Woodling started serving at 7-2; she continued to serve until they had an error, getting the score up to 12-3. Lexie Mulhollem got the ball back with an impressive kill to make the score 13-4. The Colts battled to get the score to 15-7 before the Warriors got the ball back. Kyla Kephart served twice, and there was a great rally where Skyler Hebel, Brielle Bainey, and Kephart all had diving plays. Then they finished the point with a Koleno block to make the score 17-7. After a couple of plays and a serving run by Emily Shingledecker, the score climbed to 22-11. The Colts battled back to 24-19, but the Lady Warriors won the first set with a Koleno kill.
The second set did not start ideally, with the Colts taking a 4-0 lead. The score reached 8-3 with the Warriors behind until Woodling had a back row kill. They brought the score to 9-5, but continued to battle. Many rallies later, the score was 13-5, before Mulhullom scored a kill to make it 13-6. The Warriors battled back to 14-10, still behind but closing the gap. A serving run by Kephart brought the score to 18-16, leaving the fans on the edge of their seats. The teams went back and forth, tying at 18-18, then 19-19, and 20-20.The Warriors worked their way up to 23-21 and finally pulled through for a 25-22 comeback win.
The third set started back-and-forth play, tied 1-1, then 2-2. Shingledecker served until the score was 4-2. Another great kill from Mulhollem brought the score to 5-3. With Woodling serving, the score climbed to 13-4. After a few rallies, the score reached 15-7. The teams continued to exchange points, with the Warriors taking a 17-16 lead. Shingledecker went on another serving run, and along with a couple of bad serves from the Colts, the score reached 21-17. Another Mulhollem kill brought the score to 23-19. Strong serves from Hebel and a final kill from Koleno made the score 25-19 for the Warrior win.
Senior Bella Koleno reflected on the game saying, “I’m very proud of our whole team for how far we have come. We all work so hard and it shows through our success on the court. We all play a role in our team, and our wins are total group efforts.”
The Warriors face Conemaugh Valley at the Altoona High School Fieldhouse on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at noon.
Image caption: The team is having an important time out with head coach Terry Trude.
