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Johnstown offered plenty of excitement

The Richland High School gym was full of players, coaches, and fans from all over the state during the PIAA volleyball championships on Saturday. District 11 had a program in three of the four final matches. However, Allentown Central Catholic was the only one to come away with a gold medal. Here are some of the stories from Johnstown on Saturday.

TWO MORE MILESTONES … Marian's Jasmine Mooney has tallied an incredible 512 kills this season, which is the second-most in a single season in Marian history. Additionally, Mooney has piled up 166 aces, which according to MaxPreps would be the most in the state by a wide margin. "She is the second girl ever to surpass 500 kills in a season," said Marian head coach John Fallabel. "MaryKate (Sherkness) had 565, which is the school record. She (Jasmine) now has 803 career kills."SHE DID IT AGAIN … GCC's Mikayla Bisignani won her second state title, both over Marian. The senior was a part of the 2014 team, along with her older sister, Leah, who is playing volleyball at Seton Hill University. Both sisters are 6-1 and wear the No. 21 jersey for their respective programs.<3 … Despite being over four hours from home, the Marian students traveled well and had an impressive student section. After GCC's clinching point, chants of "We still love you!" were heard throughout the gym.OTHER RESULTS … In Class 2A, Corry High defeated North Starr 25-19, 25-16, 26-24. Allentown Central Catholic topped Somerset in class 3A, 25-23, 20-25, 25-20, 25-10, while Garnet Valley was victorious over Parkland in 4A, 25-19, 27-29, 19-25, 22-20, 15-8.PAGING DR. FALLABEL … Saturday marked John "Doc" Fallabel's 12th trip to the PIAA state finals. "Last night Miranda (Antiga) asked me, 'How many times have you been to the state championship?' Why do you only have two state titles?' I said, now you see why we've been here a total of 12 times and only won twice. You can't win them all; they (Greensburg) were the superior team today. (They had) smarter girls, our girls were tight."NOT A BAD START … 2016 was Greensburg head coach Kate McCauley's first season as the program's head coach-and now she is a state champion. McCauley served as an assistant with the team last year.HAWAII ON HOLD … Marian's Nina Zeleniak and her family planned a vacation in paradise many months ago, but the start of the trip conflicted with Saturday's state final match. No worries though, they'll be soaking up the sun in Hawaii this week.KEEP PLUGGIN' AWAY ... Parkland's Sam Graver and Grace Steurer combined for 107 attack attempts during the Trojans' exciting match with Garnet Valley. However, Garnet's trio of Sydney Portale, Lizzie Herestofa, and Amber Goldberg covered every single angle and tallied 70 total digs."That's what you expect at this level," said Parkland head coach Mike Krause. We kept pushing and pushing, but a couple plays that were close we just couldn't finish."LIVING ON THE EDGE ... Including Garnet Valley's match with Parkland, the Jaguars' last three matches of the season came down to the final fifth set. The Jags defeated Baldwin, State College, and Parkland by a 3-2 tally in the PIAA playoffs. Garnet only went to a fifth set once in the regular season during one of its two losses against Avon Grove. "They (Garnet Valley) have seniors who were hungry," said Krause. "They went after it and they earned it."TERRIFIC TROJANS ... Parkland has now been in the PIAA finals in five of the last six seasons. The Trojans won in both 2014 and 2015.

Marian's Miranda Antiga goes down for a dig in Saturday's PIAA Class A final against Greensburg Central Catholic. BOB FORD/TIMES NEWS