After a rocky start to the season the Seneca Valley boys’ volleyball team seems to have finally gotten things going.  With a second place finish in the Meadville tournament and several consecutive wins versus non section Plum and section North Hills, momentum was on Seneca Valley’s side.

The final tournament that the Raiders would be in was their own on Saturday, April 27.  The start of the tournament was early, but the Raiders were ready to play.  There were three other teams in the first pool besides Seneca Valley:  Obama academy, Cannon-Mac, and Fort Leboeuf.

The first opponent was Obama Academy who the Raiders were able to easily push aside with two consecutive wins by more than 10 points.  Next on the schedule was Fort Leboeuf who the Raiders were able to beat.  However the win took a little more effort than the first match.  The final match for pool play was against Cannon-Mac.  With a great collective effort by Seneca Valley, Cannon-Mac was beaten.

Seneca Valley came out on top of their pool with an undefeated record and a positive point differential of 84.  With this huge point differential the Raiders were seeded as the number one team in the entire tournament.

After a first round bye the first opponent that the Raiders had to face in the playoffs was South Park.  With very little knowledge of how South Park played, Seneca Valley had to be ready for anything, and they were.  The key to beating South Park that Seneca found was a strong serving game and that is what aided the Raiders to a win.

Next on the schedule was Altoona.  In one of the first preseason games this year, Altoona had beaten Seneca Valley pretty badly.  Now was the chance for redemption and to show how much they had grown as a team.  Immediately the Raiders started off strong with the momentum on their side.  After great performances by senior Patrick Messmer and junior Josh Creese the Raiders were able to beat Altoona in the Semi-Finals.

The stage was set for the championship game.  It was going to be Seneca Valley versus Sagerstown, a top tier team.  From the start the emotions on both sides were flowing.  The games went back and forth with a more impressive play toping the last one.  After two games each side had won one which forced a tie breaking third game.  Thanks to great passing from senior Tyler Blinn and several big kills from senior Kris Baier the Raiders pulled out the win and won their own tournament.