By Paul Schofield
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
November 19, 1997
Before last Saturday's PIAA Class AAA girls' volleyball finals at Shippensburg University, Mt. Lebanon coach Dawn Begor told her players to, "relax and have fun."
They had a ball.
Mt. Lebanon breezed to its first PIAA title by defeating defending champion Villa Maria Academy, 15-7, 15-10, at Shippensburg's Heiges Field House.
Begor's advice worked to perfection as Mt. Lebanon performed like a machine. The Blue Devils, which finished 24-2, used a superb passing attack to defeat Villa Maria Academy. They also easily whipped Haverford, 15-4, 15-10, in the semifinals.
"We passed the ball great and it created a lot of problems for them," said Begor, a second-year coach. "The key was we were able to attack from many different spots on the court.
"They wanted this title and worked hard all season. Sometimes they didn't like me because I pushed them. But their hard work paid off."
Mt. Lebanon's attack started with junior Jenn Entenmann, who did a great job setting spikers Kate and Kim Kraczon, Erin Bruesewitz and Emily Churton.
"Jenn's a good setter," Begor said. "When she's on, it makes it tough for opponent's to stop us."
Entenmann had Villa Maria Academy's defense constantly guessing as Mt. Lebanon attacked from all sides.
"Jenn's a great passer and she does a super job running the offense," Bruesewitz said. "Coach (Begor) put in a couple of new plays this week and Jenn picked them up quickly. We used them here."
Mt. Lebanon also defeated Villa Maria Academy, 15-4, 15-10, in Friday's round robin competition.
"We matched up well against them and that win gave us the confidence we needed," Begor said. "This was probably the best we've played all season. What a great feeling."
Mt. Lebanon, the WPIAL champions, also defeated North Allegheny and Bethlehem Liberty during weekend competition.
"All the credit goes to Mt. Lebanon," said Villa Maria coach Joe Boland. "They just had too many weapons for us to defend.
"Usually, we try to find a weakness in our opponent and attack it. Mt. Lebanon had no weaknesses."
Mt. Lebanon is the only team to defeat Villa Maria Academy the past two seasons.
Greensburg Salem was the only squad to defeat Mt. Lebanon the past three weeks. That occurred at the Southwest Regional.
"The players were upset with their performance against Greensburg Salem," Begor said. "I didn't have to tell them anything at practice."
"When we lost to Greensburg Salem, that served as a wake-up call," Bruesewitz said. "When knew winning wasn't going to come easy."
Before the season, Begor had the players write down their goals.
"We talked about winning a state title," said Begor, a 1988 University of Texas graduate where she was captain of the team, named Most Valuable Player of the 1998 NCAA tournament and won NCAA Player of the Year honors.
"I had them make up headlines so they could envision winning the title," she said.
Mt. Lebanon will have three seniors - Bruesewitz, Kate Kraczon and Heather Hollingsworth - graduate in June. Begor will have a strong nucleus returning in Kim Drozynski, Lindsay Zappala, Entenmann, Kim Kraczon and Churton.
Wonder if the word "repeat" will be in Mt. Lebanon's players' goals for next year?
