The Riverside girls volleyball team will host an opening round WPIAL Playoff game on Tuesday afternoon against #13 Deer Lakes.
The Panthers capped off its regular season with a second consecutive section title and enter the Class 3A Playoffs as a #4 seed.
“Moving up in the section, we were hoping to just be competitive,” says head coach Justin Bennett. “After sweeping Avonworth week one, we changed our goals to winning the section.”
The Panther finished 14-1 overall and 11-1 in the section wits its only loss to Avonworth who they now share the section crown with.
For Riverside to have as much success this year a lot of players stepped up this year according to their head coach.
“Ella Kelly has come off the bench as a freshman filling any position we need,” says Bennett. “It’s nice to have a dependable, young player on your bench.”
Abby George and Allie Barzen have been consistent swinging on the outside and Gabby McClinton has been holding down the middle says Bennett with Emma Stockman as a bit of an anomaly.
“Not many middles [Stockman] are capable of playing in the front row and also being a reliable defensive player in the backrow with our libero Aubrey Clinger,” says Bennett.
“Our setters Ella Garvin and Kennedy Friello have been consistent building team chemistry all season,” Bennett adds.
Not forgotten are McKenna Czar, Sami Young, and Paige Fry who have been holding it down on the right side putting up a big block against a lot of talented hitters.
Facing a Deer Lakes team on Tuesday, Bennett will focus his team in on performing.
“We have never faced them before, and they run a different offense than we’re used to. We’ve been focusing our time leading up to playoffs looking at that offense with my assistant coach, Lexie Bennett, and I playing against our varsity team.”
Freeport enters the Class 3A playoffs as the top overall seed and is the team to beat according to Bennett. Freeport enters the postseason undefeated at 18-0.
“Freeport [getting the number one seed] is the team to beat, but we are focusing on one opponent at a time,” says Bennett. “The average high school volley is around 9 seconds. We are focusing on playing Riverside volleyball 9 seconds at a time.”
Riverside will host Deer Lakes on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 7:00 p.m.
With a victory the Panthers would advance to the quarterfinals to face the winner of #5 Seton-LaSalle and #12 Hopewell for a schedules match on 10/29 at TBA.
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