DISTRICT 4 VOLLEYBALL: ATHENS SWEEPS DANVILLE TO WIN FIRST DISTRICT TITLE IN 20 YEARS (24 PHOTOS) (2025-10-29)

By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
WILLIAMSPORT — Athens got off to strong starts in each of the three sets in a dominant sweep of Danville to win its first District 4 title in 20 years here Wednesday night at Williamsport High School.

The Wildcats won the Class 3A title by scores of 25-20, 25-11, and 25-17.

"The three things we focused on were energy, touch every ball, and serving," said Athens coach Heather Darrow, making her third trip to a district final in eight seasons.

"Our energy was great tonight," she noted. "All three sets we had fast starts. We never trailed tonight, and I don't know if we've ever done that before.

"Our defense, oh lord, it was very good," added Darrow. "And, we had a high rate on our serves, and a bunch of aces."

Darrow said her team stuck to its game plan and it paid dividends.

"We talk to the girls often about their roles and what they're going to bring to the table," she said. "They have to take accountability, and tonight they were focused on owning their roles.

"We do experience players wanting to do a little too much quite often, but tonight everyone knew their roles and stayed within them," added Darrow.

The district title seemed unlikely on Sept. 25 after the Wildcats' loss to Troy ran its losing streak to six matches and its record to 2-8.

Darrow said a formation switch turned around the season.

"We changed from a 6-2 to a 5-1, using Meg Wiles as our lone setter," she said.

"Getting wins over Selinsgrove and Towanda gave the girls a spark, then it turned into making sure to play the game point by point," Darrow added.

Sophomore Ellie Mosher's kill on Danville's opening service of the match gave freshman Kayla Forbes the serve, and she rattled off three straight points to make it 4-0.

Mosher had another kill on Danville's next serve to make it 5-1, then junior Meg Wiles notched two points — the first on a kill by sophomore Kendall Galasso and the second on an ace — to extend the lead to 7-1.

Danville chipped away at the lead and closed the gap to 11-10. Athens built its lead back to three points, but the Ironman again closed the gap to one point, at 17-16.

Danville served for the tie, but Galasso registered a kill to make it 18-16, then Wiles served up three straight points, the final one an ace, to push the lead to 21-16.

Mosher served an ace moments later to make it 23-19, and junior Hannah Parrish recorded a pair of kills, including one on the final point to give the Wildcats a 25-20 win in the first set.

On several occasions this season, the Wildcats won the first set, only to lose the next three sets.

"I was really concerned going into the second set; how were we going to react?," said Darrow. "We've taken the first so many times, it's been a not-so-good pattern.

"For them to figure it out, and keep the petal to the metal was awesome," she added.

Darrow had no reason for concern.

Sophomore Lainey Vosburgh served up four straight points, including an ace to start the second set, and Forbes added four more, thanks to a pair of kills by Galasso, to extend the lead 9-2.

Four more serves by Wiles, with Galasso registering two more kills, ran the Wildcat lead to 14-3.

Athens would take its biggest lead, at 23-9, on a serve by Forbes, and matched that with game-ending serve by Wiles to make it 25-11.

The third set was more of the same for the Wildcats.

After a Danville side-out, Forbes served up seven straight points, with Galasso ending two points with kills, to make it 8-0.

Wiles served up three points in a row moments later, with Mosher and Galasso each registering kills, to make it 12-2.

Athens stretched its lead to 16-5 on a kill by Parrish, and took its biggest lead of the set, at 23-11, on an ace by Forbes, eventually closing out the match with a 25-17 win.

Galasso led Athens with 12 kills, to go along with three service points and seven digs.

"I am beyond proud of Kendall (Galasso)," said Darrow. "We work on this stuff all the time in practice, and you saw it tonight.

"As coaches, it's wonderful to see her put it together because we know it's in her.

"She was dominating tonight, and it was fun to watch," added Darrow.

Forbes had 18 points, including four aces, 18 digs, and six serve-receptions for the Wildcats, while Wiles had 13 points, including four aces, 20 setter assists, and six digs, Vosburgh had seven points (two aces), 11 digs, and 12 serve-receptions, Mosher had five points (three aces), seven kills and nine digs, and Parrish registered four kills and seven digs.

"Meg and Ellie are the leaders of our team," said Darrow.

"Meg has stepped up, and her transformation has been incredible," she noted. "We started with two setters ... and we switched to Meg setting all the way around. 

"What she has done in the last few matches is incredible. She is getting aggressive in her sets, and having faith in her teammates.

"Her connection with Ellie is amazing," added Darrow. "I've been pushing them to do even more. I'm beyond proud of both of them."

Darrow noted Forbes and Vosburgh are ofter unsung heroes.

"Without the incredible passing we are getting from freshman Kayla Forbes and sophomore Lainey Vosburgh those connections wouldn’t be happening. 

"Kayla has been extremely dependable in the back row and her ability to shake off errors and move onto next at such a young age is astounding," Darrow added.

Darrow believes the district title will pay big dividends for the program.

"This is huge, to get to Districts and the publicity that comes along with it," she said. "Our youth program is getting huge anyway, but now for them to see if they put in the work, they could get here, too, is going to be big for us.

"To win gold medals and get the accolades in the press, kids are going to want to find out what volleyball is all about," added Darrow. "It's so awesome."

Athens will open the PIAA, Class 3A Championships at home Tuesday between the winner of Thursday's District 2 championship match between Berwick and Abington Heights, which swept Athens in mid-September.

"They are strong teams," said Darrow.

"When we played Abington (Heights), we were not playing strong, we were at a low point," she said. "It was not a good match for us.

"They are talented teams, and we're not going to get clean kills," added Darrow. "We will have to work for every point."

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