Tyrone sophomore Mattie Cherry hit a major milestone in her volleyball career on Monday by recording her 1,000th career assist. As a team, the Lady Eagles have also extended their season by qualifying for their first playoff appearance in school history.

With confidence and the right mindset, the Lady Eagles came out ready to face Ligonier Valley. In the first set, the girls came out serving hard and pressuring Ligonier Valley to make mistakes. Ligonier Valley had a 5-0 lead but the girls quickly came back to take the win 25-17.

The second set however, the Lady Eagles came out strong with a huge service lead and carried throughout the entire set. The ending score was 25-16. The third set started out the same way and with the help of sophomore Courtney William’s monster kill and insane blocks, the Lady Eagles took the set from Ligonier Valley 25-14.

“Until the third set, it wasn’t the cleanest volleyball that we’ve played. The team played nervous, but at this point it is survive and advance to extend the season one more day. [It was the] first playoff victory in Tyrone history. Tomorrow we will travel to West Shamokin for a quarterfinal matchup,” said Head Coach Mike Kraft.

Kylee Gooding came out with 5 aces, 1 block, 5 digs, 6 kills, and 12 service points while junior Brianna Foy had 3 aces, 4 digs, 8 kills, and 7 service points. Cherry had 4 aces, 7 digs, 20 assists, and 13 service point. Sophomore Makenna Bauer had 2 aces and 6 service points while junior Ebonee Rice had 8 digs, 1 assist, and 5 service points. Sophomore Courtney Williams had 2 blocks and 6 kills.

“It was a great way start playoffs and if we clean up the little mistakes then I believe we can go far,” said Assistant Head Coach Bob Oberhiem.

The Lady Eagles will advance to the semifinals of districts and will travel to West Shamokin to take on the Wolves on Tuesday night.