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By JOHN ERZAR; Times Leader Sports Writer
Thursday, October 29, 1998     Page: 1B

LEHMAN TWP.- The Lake-Lehman girls volleyball team planned on holding
Senior Day on Wednesday.
   
It ended up more like Senior Night.
    The Black Knights battled unbeaten Tunkhannock for close to 1 hours, but
the Tigers held on for a 2-1 victory in a Wyoming Valley Conference match.
   
Tunkhannock (15-0) won the opening game 15-6, lost the second 13-15 and
then won the third 15-10.
   
“I knew we would give them a game,” said Lehman coach Tracy Krupa, whose
Black Knights (13-3) were only the second team to take Tunkhannock to three
games. “I can’t say enough about this group. They gave their hearts.”
   
Tunkhannock tried to break those hearts to start the third game. Lehman
clinched game two by getting its 15th point on an illegal substitution by
Tunkhannock. But any momentum the Black Knights built quickly subsided.
   
Jessie Didier opened game three with a pair of blocks and continued her
strong play at the net as Tunkhannock took a 6-0 lead. Elissa Kilmer also
dropped in an ace among those six points. Lehman later committed three
violations, giving Tunkhannock what seemed to be a commanding 9-2 lead.
   
“Maybe we didn’t have the momentum, but we had the confidence,” Tunkhannock
coach Scott Howell said. “That’s the way we came out. Lehman came out and made
a few errors and our kids responded well.”
   
But so did Lehman when it seemed all done when Tunkhannock’s Sandy Grigas
served the Tigers to a 10-3 lead. Jenn McCall put a dent into the deficit with
three service points. When Tunkhannock regained service three more times,
Faith O’Dell and Becky Kaufman sided out the Tigers.
   
That helped Lehman run off seven points, the final three served by Melanie
Steele, and tie the score 10-10. They would be the Black Knights’ final
points, though.
   
Tunkhannock’s strong hitting, which gave Lehman trouble throughout the
match, ended the upset hopes. Kilmer, Didier and Katie Gabriel posted kills
for a 13-10 lead. Then, after Tunkhannock lost serve, Kilmer let the Tigers
regain it with another of her nine kills. She then sealed the victory with two
service points, the final on a Gabriel kill.
   
While game three was the most critical, it wasn’t the longest. It took
Lehman more than 34 min utes to tie the match by winning game two. Allison
Kehler finished off Tunkhannock with four service points- the first on a nice
recovery by McCall, the second on an ace, and the third on a heads-up play by
O’Dell at the net. The final came on the illegal substitution.
   
Game one featured 12 service exchanges without a point being scored,
keeping the game stuck at 11-6 in favor of Tunkhannock. But once Leah Valvano
bump-passed the ball over the net to break the streak, Tunkhannock was on its
way to an opening victory.
   
“Sometimes at the end of the season there is a little letdown if you don’t
play a better team,” said Krupa, whose team will be in the District 2 Class AA
playoffs next week. “I’m glad we had Tunkhannock at the end of the season.
They gave us one heck of a match.”
   
Didier had 14 kills and eight blocks for Tunkhannock, which will
participate in the Class AAA playoffs. Gabriel had 13 kills. Amy Pensack and
Andrea Wilson did the low-profile stuff. Pensack had 18 digs while Wilson
recorded 30 assists.
   
O’Dell had 11 assists, six blocks, 11 digs and seven kills for Lehman.
Steele had an ace, five assists, one block, two digs, nine kills and 10
service points. McCall had six digs and five service points. Michelle Alters
had two aces, three digs and two kills. Rachel Bouthot had three digs and two
service points. Kehler had three digs, a kill and three service points. Becky
Kaufman had two blocks, a dig and a kill. Stacy Rosenbaum had an ace, three
digs and four service points.
   
Hazleton Area 2,
   
Pittston Area 0
   
HAZLETON- Hazleton Area swept Pittston Area in Wyoming Valley Conference
volleyball Wednesday by scores of 15-13, 15-2.
   
For Hazleton, Tristin Osadche had eight service points, including four
aces; Janet Davis had 18 assists; Rachel Shewack had seven kills and two
blocks; Jen Patterson had eight service points, including three aces; and
Sarah Brislin had seven service points including five aces, and seven kills.
   
For Pittston, Jade Devlin had three kills and two blocks; and Johanna
Rehill ha