Carlisle's historic boys volleyball season ends with PIAA first-round loss to Shaler (2024)

PITTSBURGH — The fans filling the red and white bleachers at Shaler Area High School had all risen to their feet Tuesday afternoon, anticipating the final point of Shaler’s 3-0 sweep of Carlisle in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A boys volleyball tournament. The Titans, back in the tournament after settling for silver last year, had pulled ahead for a 24-18 lead in Game 3.

But Carlisle senior Dominic Kole and the Thundering Herd weren’t quite ready to let their first trip to the state tournament end.

Kole launched himself off the gym floor, taking a set from Tim Fletcher and swatting it into a Shaler player on the other side of the net. Moments later, the Thundering Herd’s historic season would end – the Titans prevailed with game scores of 25-10, 25-16 and 25-20 – but the players made sure to savor and celebrate another point together on the court.

“The way that they fought in that third game is how this team is defined,” Carlisle head coach Drew Kalbach said. “They had every reason to just mail in that last game, and they didn’t. They played them tough the entire way, and we pushed them, too, I think, and made them work for it.”

While Carlisle looked to make the most of its first taste of state tournament play, the battle-tested Titans (17-1), with a lineup filled with seniors, had waited almost 12 months to get back to the dance after a straight-set loss to Parkland in last year’s Class 3A state final. Despite the 11-day layoff since Shaler captured the WPIAL title, the Titans took it to the Herd in Game 1. A Logan Peterson kill gave Shaler a 9-5 lead, and they closed with a 16-5 run the rest of the way to take early control of the match.

“They’ve been ranked No. 1 in the state all season,” Kalbach said of the Titans, who will face State College – a four-set first-round winner over Seneca Valley – in Saturday’s quarterfinals. “They’ve won most of their tournaments, if not all of them, that they’ve been in this year, and we just knew they’re very solid. And they’re dialed in. … We ran into a bit of a juggernaut tonight, and I’m just incredibly proud of our guys, proud of how we fought.”

The Thundering Herd (15-6) paved their path to school history by lining up against the game’s figurative titans in central Pennsylvania. They outlasted Hempfield in five sets to clinch a state-tournament berth and learned lessons from a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Central York in the District 3 semifinals.

“If you go back and look through District 3 championship history and state championship history, Hempfield and Central York are two names that you see on there probably more than any other program in the state,” Kalbach said. “To beat one of them to extend our season and qualify for the state tournament, that’s huge. That’s monumental for this program.”

With their legs firmly under them after the three-hour bus ride west, the Thundering Herd made a stand in Game 2, preventing the Titans from stretching the lead beyond four until a 23-18 advantage and tying the match at 12, 13, 14 and 18. Errant serves prevented them from capitalizing on the momentum, but Carlisle’s tenacity resonated with the Titans.

“They definitely picked it up,” Shaler head coach Paul Stadelman said. “They gave us a fight, and we like that. We like that kind of volleyball. We don’t want to just come in and not have a match. They stayed the whole time. They played the whole time. Kudos to their kids and coaches for getting this far.”

Dante Palombo finished with 12 kills to lead the Titans. Zach Rosenwald dished out 37 assists and recorded five blocks.

Carlisle’s day began with police, students, teachers and families providing a sendoff for the team’s bus in Carlisle and ended with the finality of a chapter ending for the team’s Kole, Wyatt Colestock, Fletcher, Jacob Heckman and the rest of the Herd seniors.

“They’ve played their last point as Carlisle boys volleyball team member,” Kalbach said. “There’s a lot of emotion that comes with that, but the message is that this community, this team, this group of young men is for life if they want it to be. It’s there for them, and I’m looking forward to welcoming these guys back in the gym at some point to continue building this program. They take a lot of pride in the work that they’ve done this year, and they should.”