Oct 27, 2015 2 min read

MOON – Waynesburg volleyball’s storybook season will have at least one more chapter.

The Raiders had four consecutive points in the fifth set to complete a come-from-behind victory over Mohawk in a WPIAL Class AA playoff preliminary round match at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School.

It was the program’s first playoff victory and the first time the Raiders won a set in a postseason match. With the win, Waynesburg (13-3) earned the No. 15 seed and will face second-seeded West Shamokin at Norwin Thursday in a first-round match at 6 p.m.

“I’ve never seen a team as a whole so excited, including myself and my assistant coach,” Waynesburg head coach Dan Higinbotham said. “I feel like I played the game myself with the emotions up and down, up and down. We just made history.”

The Raiders won the first set 25-15 before the Warriors battled back to narrowly claim the second. The two teams traded the following two sets before the fifth began with Waynesburg taking a 6-2 lead, but it season looked as if it were in jeapordy when Mohawk jumped in front 13-9. From there, the Raiders had four consecutive kills to clinch the win.

“We played solid defense which led us to being able to attack and that’s what our stong point is,” Higinbotham said. “We kept attacking one hit after another. I had three options in the middle coming at Mohawk the whole time.”

Taylor Staley had six aces, Abby Gibbons had 29 assists, Kiana Blasco led the Raiders with 13 kills and Shelby Morgan finished with 10 digs.

“We have to keep playing the game we play,” Higinbotham said. “We are the underdog by far against West Shamokin, but as long as we play solid volleyball, we’ll be OK. We were expected to lose against Mohawk too, but we got it done.”