Peters Township repeats as WPIAL girls volleyball champion as North Catholic falls just short again
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The North Catholic team meets between sets in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Jocelyn Roofner (21) strikes the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Sawyer Gubba (12) bumps the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's volleyball team watches as Peters Township celebrates their win in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Isabel Kurpeikis (7) spikes the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Chloe Summerville (23) bumps the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Lauren Reitz (33) strikes the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Maria Cardosi (26) bumps the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Chloe Summerville (23) jumps to spike the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic girl's volleyball head coach Amanda Fetter gives out runner-up medals after the teams loss in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Kaylee Garr (29) spikes the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic girl's volleyball head coach Amanda Fetter coaches from the sideline in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Isabel Kurpeikis (7) serves the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Kaylee Garr (29) and Isabel Kurpeikis (7) attempt a block in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic's Maria Cardosi (26) narrowly misses the ball in the WPIAL Class 5A Girls Volleyball Championship game against Peters Township on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at Peters Township's AHN Arena. Matthew Brown/Butler Eagle
MCMURRAY — North Catholic has been knocking on the door for the last four years.
Nobody is yet to answer.
No. 1 Peters Township won its second straight WPIAL girls volleyball title, this time in Class 5A, 3-1 over the Trojanettes on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Peters Township’s AHN Arena.
No. 2 North (17-2) won three straight WPIAL titles from 2020-22. In the four years since, it has made it to a final three times and lost each of them. The only season it didn’t make the final? It lost in the semis to the eventual champion — last year’s PT team.
North Catholic, playing up a class in 5A after the PIAA’s expansion to six classifications before this school year, never fully got into a rhythm despite keeping things tight in the first two sets.
It was a combination of Peters Township’s abundance of weapons and aggressive serving and self-inflicted wounds by the Trojanettes that led to a 25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 25-15 win for the de facto home team.
“No and yeah,” NC head coach Amanda Fetter said. “They’re really good. And when you play a team that’s really good, you have to be on your best game, too, and unfortunately we just learned.”
Peters (20-1) overpowered North at the net. Maddie Carroll’s rocket of a left arm from the right side beat blocks all night, and Alex Knox kept NC off-balance as a uniquely capable setter/right-side hitter who beat the Trojanettes in multiple ways.
“Not only (Knox), but I feel like we have so many weapons offensively,” PT head coach Chris Kelly said. “We keep other teams off-balance. … Alex’s leadership on the floor is probably what makes her special. She’s very calm.”
Carroll and Knox are Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association all-state players.
But the difference, Kelly said, was in his team’s service game in the third and fourth sets. After recording just one ace in the first two sets, Peters Township knocked down five across the next two and put North on its heels.
Two of those came late in the final set to put the game away and lock up a second straight WPIAL title.
“It was just our serving in the third and fourth set, and that’s really what we’ve done well this season,” Kelly said. “We serve really tough, and that does not allow the other team to run their offense. We weren’t able to do that in the first second, I feel like in the third and fourth we were.”
North Catholic was without senior hitter Audra Lazzara, a track and field standout who was in a walking boot for the final. Her absence appeared to shrink the Trojanettes’ available options to beat PT’s defense.
“It’s a big difference (without her), we’d love to have her,” Fetter said.
North Catholic will face District 3 runner-up Garden Spot (18-3) in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament Tuesday, Nov. 10, and Peters will face District 3 third seed Lower Dauphin (16-3). The state brackets will be released Sunday. The WPIAL finalists need just a few wins to set up a potential third meeting this year.
“Hopefully we’ll see them again,” Fetter said.
