Freeport sweeps past Hopewell to earn spot in WPIAL semifinals

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, October 29, 2019 | 12:01 AM

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The Freeport girls volleyball team keeps on rolling.

The Yellowjackets, the No. 2 seed in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs, punched their ticket to the semifinals for the seventh straight season with a dominant 3-0 victory over No. 10 Hopewell on Tuesday at North Hills.

Freeport held off the Vikings for a 25-20 win in Game 1 and followed that up with wins of 25-14 and 25-13 to close out the match.

“We kept pressure on them the whole time by playing good defense, serving aggressively and keeping the ball off the floor,” Freeport coach Tom Phillips said.

The Yellowjackets, who improved to 16-0, will take on No. 6 Avonworth on Thursday at 6 p.m. at North Allegheny. The Antelopes outlasted No. 3 Frazier 3-2 at Norwin.

Freeport and Avonworth also met in the 2016 semifinals, and the Yellowjackets posted a five-set victory and went on to capture the program’s fourth WPIAL title.

Hopewell, the No. 3 team out of Section 2, concluded its season at 11-6. The Vikings were denied their first trip to the WPIAL semifinals since 2013.

“Every year in the playoffs, whenever you are playing harder and more challenging games, everyone has to step up,” senior outside hitter Lauren Lampus said. “It can’t be a one-person job. Everyone contributed again for us tonight and was a big part in getting a nice win against a good team.”

Lampus paced the Yellowjackets with 10 kills, 14 service points and 17 digs, while Isabella Russo added 10 kills and seven blocks. Tori Radvan contributed seven kills, while libero Erica Lampus delivered 26 digs.

“We were really focused on this game, and I was happy with the way we played,” senior setter Maddie Clark said. “We knew they had a really good hitter (senior Leah Driscoll), and we wanted to make sure we stopped her as much as we could. We wanted to get a touch on everything, have big blocks at the net and serve aggressively. We just wanted to play our game, and we were able to do that.”

While the immediate task for Yellowjackets players is to get to the finals and set up an opportunity to win a fifth WPIAL title, Tuesday’s triumph also earned them a spot in the PIAA tournament for the seventh year in a row.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Freeport, Hopewell