Boys' Volleyball Game Summaries

By Randy Gore

The WPIAL champion North Allegheny boys’ volleyball team rolled to a PIAA first-round win over Central York, 3-0, on Tuesday night at UPMC Court. The Tigers prevailed by set scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-18.

Despite being from opposite ends of the state, North Allegheny and Central York have been frequent opponents and were facing off in the state playoffs for the sixth time in the last nine years. Last year, the Tigers clawed past the Panthers in a five-set thriller in the PIAA semifinals. In Tuesday night’s contest, no such drama was necessary.

In a well-balanced and consistent effort, North Allegheny controlled each set and trailed only once briefly in the early stages of set three. Senior Peter Bratich owned the middle of the net and punished the Panthers with a team-high 10 kills and three blocks. For his efforts, Bratich was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Match.

Senior Will Robertson helped NA storm out of the gates in set one with five kills, on his way to nine on the night. The big swings of senior Brendan Moore powered the Tigers in set two with four kills, and he also finished with nine for the evening. Southpaw Nathan May totaled six kills and three blocks, while sophomore Ethan Palmer delivered quality minutes off the bench with four kills.

Senior setter Elliot Swierczynski provided a great all-around effort with a team-high 23 assists, along with two aces and six digs. Senior libero Emmett Morris also had two aces and a team-high seven digs.

With the win, North Allegheny improves to 14-0 overall and advances to the PIAA quarterfinals on Saturday to face State College at a site and time to be determined. Central York’s season comes to a close with a 13-5 record.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL SUMMARY VS. CENTRAL YORK, 5-20-26

SCORE BY SETS	1	2	3	FINAL
Central York	17	18	18	0
North Allegheny	25	25	25	3

By: Jared Barton

The North Allegheny boys’ volleyball team continued its historic season, repeating as WPIAL Champions and earning the 24th overall title in program history with a 3-0 victory over Butler at Peters Township’s AHN Arena on Wednesday. NA won by set scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-22.

NA stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first frame, with senior Brendan Moore leading the way, notching back-to-back kills in the run. Fellow seniors Will Robertson, Peter Bratich and Nathan May helped take over. May finished the stanza with four kills and a block, with one of his kills ending the first set.

Butler opened the scoring in set two, but the lead did not last long. Bratich and Moore added a kill and a block, respectively, to put the Tigers back in front. Sophomore middle blocker Ethan Palmer saw his first action of the game and made an immediate impact, registering a block and a kill. With the Tigers leading 13-10, May went to work from the serving line, securing eight straight points, putting the frame out of reach. He had two aces in the run. Senior Luke Conlon secured a late kill in the set before the Tigers took a 2-0 lead.

Set three was in the Tigers’ favor, but Butler did give NA some problems before the sweep was completed. Palmer added three more kills, while Moore had three kills and an ace. Robertson collected three kills in the final set, including the match-clinching point.

May was named Wright Automotive Player of the Game for his efforts, finishing with six kills, two aces, two digs and two blocks. Moore led the team with 13 kills, followed by Bratich with 12 and Robertson with 11. Senior Jackson Failla led the team with 22 assists, followed by Elliot Swierczynski with 20.

With the win, NA improves to 13-0 in match play, having not dropped a set in that entire slate of games. North Allegheny has now won the WPIAL title seven of the last nine seasons and 15 of the last 19 seasons.

The Tigers will be in PIAA action next week, with the sites, times and opponents to be determined.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL SUMMARY VS. BUTLER, 5-20-26

SCORE BY SETS	1	2	3	FINAL
Butler	21	13	22	0
North Allegheny	25	25	25	3

By: Bob Orkwis

North Allegheny, last season’s 3A WPIAL Boys Volleyball champion, swept fourth-seeded Baldwin 3-0, as the Tigers will look for their WPIAL-best 24th title on Wednesday. North Allegheny posted the straight set win by scores of 25-19, 25-17 and 25-13 in a match held at North Catholic High School.

Baldwin, who had won two straight and seven of its last nine matches, took a 3-1 lead in the first set, a set that featured multiple service errors from both teams. Trailing by a point, the Tigers rattled off a 6-0 run to take command. Baldwin got within two at 20-18, before North Allegheny scored five of the final six points for the set one win.

Set two was back-and-forth following an early North Allegheny lead. After the Tigers jumped in front, Baldwin scored a run of 5 out of six to tie the set at 6-6. With the score even at 9 all, North Allegheny posted an eight-point run and went on to the 25-17 set win. First team all-section hitter Brendan Moore was clutch in set two, as was sophomore Ethan Palmer. Moore led the Tigers on the night with 11 kills, while Palmer finished with four kills
and added four blocks.

Set three was again even early, before a seven-point service scoring run by Elliot Swierczynski tilted the set in North Allegheny’s favor. The Fighting Highlanders got within five before the Tigers posted the final seven points for a 25-13 win, and another sweep.

First team all-section middle blocker Peter Bratich had two big kills late and closed out the match with a block point. That block was the fourth of the night for the senior.

Will Robertson led North Allegheny with 5 blocks and added 9 kills to go with five digs. Nathan May added 4 kills, a pair of blocks and 4 digs in the win. First team all-section defensive specialist Emmett Morris paced the Tigers with 7 digs. Josh Chou and Jackson Failla each had three assists for North Allegheny (12-0).

For the second straight time in the playoffs, Elliot Swierczynski took home the Wright Automotive Player of the Match honors. In addition to his set two service run, the senior led North Allegheny with 18 assists, three blocks, and he posted the team’s only ace.

It will be a rematch for North Allegheny on Wednesday at 8 PM at the AHN Arena at Peters Township High School. The #2 seed Butler pulled off a reverse sweep against Seneca Valley to advance to the championship match. The Tigers posted a pair of sweeps vs. Butler during the
regular season.

Baldwin and Seneca Valley will meet in the consolation match to determine the third team to qualify for the state playoffs from the WPIAL.

North Allegheny has won fourteen of the last eighteen WPIAL championships. Wednesday’s championship match will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL SUMMARY VS. BALDWIN 5-18-26

SCORE BY SETS	1	2	3	FINAL
Baldwin	19	17	13	0
North Allegheny	25	25	25	3

By Randy Gore

The top-seeded North Allegheny Tigers opened the playoffs on Thursday night with a 3-0 sweep of the Peters Township Indians in the WPIAL quarterfinals at UPMC Court. Following a first-round bye, the reigning WPIAL champions quickly disposed of the Indians by set scores of 25-10, 25-12 and 25-12.

Peters Township entered the contest as winners of seven of its previous eight matches, including a 3-2 win over Norwin in the WPIAL first round. It was the first postseason victory for the Indians since 2017. That same year, their quarterfinal round opponent was North Allegheny. Just as it was in 2017, Thursday night’s result was similar.

The Tigers pounced on the Indians from the very start, powered by the right arms of seniors Will Robertson and Brendan Moore. The power-hitting duo combined for 11 kills in the first set as NA cruised to a 25-10 win.

In set two, it was more of the same as Robertson and Moore paced an NA attack that saw a variety of contributors throughout the night. With nearly every Tiger touching the floor, NA maintained a high level of play through the duration of the evening and rolled to 25-12 victories in sets two and three, to claim a straight sweep of Peters Township.

Robertson and Moore led the offense with 10 and nine kills, respectively. Senior southpaw Nathan May added six kills and fellow senior Luke Conlon chipped in with three. At the net, junior Cole Galupi led the team in blocks with five, followed by Conlon and senior Matt Chou with three blocks each.

The Wright Automotive Player of the Match was senior Elliot Swierczynski, who facilitated the Tigers’ high-powered offense with 22 assists, surpassing 1,000 for his career, and a team-best six digs. Moore and senior libero Emmett Morris totaled five digs each.

With the win, North Allegheny improves to 11-0 on the season and advances to the WPIAL semifinals to face fourth-seeded Baldwin on Monday night at a site and time to be determined. The match will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL SUMMARY vs. Peters Township 5-14-26

SCORE BY SETS	1	2	3	FINAL
Peters Township	10	12	12	0
North Allegheny	25	25	25	3

North Allegheny traveled to Shaler High School to participate in the Shaler Invitational on Saturday. The Tigers continued their season dominance posting an 8-1 record en route to their fourth invitational title of the season. Will Robertson recorded his 1,000th kill during pool play of the invitational.

NA split with Shaler (25-18, 24-26) before sweeping Altoona (25-19, 25-16) and Meadville (25-22, 25-23) in pool play. In the quarterfinals, North Allegheny defeated Cochranton 25-21, took down Meadville 25-21 in the semifinals, before upending familiar foe Seneca Valley, 25-17, in the invitational final.

Robertson led the Tigers offensively with 33 kills to go along with five aces and 17 digs. Brendan Moore had 30 kills, three aces and four blocks. Nathan May added 19 kills, 16 digs, three blocks and five aces. Elliot Swierczynski dished out 48 assists and had two aces. Peter Bratich had six blocks at the net. Aaron Starck added three blocks. Jackson Failla had 29 assists and three blocks. Emmett Morris led North Allegheny defensively with 30 digs. Nicholas DiPrato added 17.

North Allegheny will return to action on Thursday when they take on the winner of Peters Township and Norwin at UPMC Court in the WPIAL Quarterfinals. The match will begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the North Allegheny Sports Network.