Upper St. Clair High School sports teams have a habit of advancing to the postseason, and girls’ volleyball is no exception.
The team, under seven-year head coach Yoko Nagao, looks for a return to the WPIAL playoffs, where the Panthers made it to the quarterfinals last year.
“We have a pretty young team this year, but it should be good,” said Kelly Reynolds, senior team captain. “We’ve been working really hard in preseason, going all day for three weeks.”
The schedule begins in earnest next week, when USC faces its two toughest opponents in WPIAL Class AAA Section 2, Connellsville on Tuesday and Peters Township on Thursday.
Along with Reynolds, a setter who was named to the all-WPIAL second team last season, right-side hitter Anna Siegfried looks for continued success. The senior made the all-Section 2 second team in 2011.
Other varsity players are seniors Victoria Cavrich and Maya Craig (defensive specialists); juniors Emily Casson (outside hitter), Taylor Hayley (left-side hitter), Maria Marmion (defensive specialist), Sydney Slater (outside hitter) and Rebecca VanRyzin (outside/middle hitter); and freshmen Samantha Amos (middle/right-side hitter) and Leah Kern (middle blocker). Amos also is on the USC tennis team.
One of the highlights of the season is the upcoming “Dig Pink” fundraiser, which will be held during the annual Youth Night on Monday, Oct. 15. Reynolds started the effort as a freshman in 2009 to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.
