The 2018 Cardinal Clash Varsity Volleyball Tournament was held at the Pine Grove Area Middle School on Saturday, September 1st. There were nine teams present including: Tri-Valley, Mahanoy Area, Lehighton Area, Nativity, Northern Lebanon, Shamokin Area, Tamaqua Area, Schuylkill Haven, and Pine Grove Area. The tour timber started off good for pine grove who won their first match in 3 games. They continued to play well throughout the day.

Chloe Shadle and Mackensie Koch labored for the Cardinals switching throughout the day. Chloe Shadle passed a 2.07 and Mackensie Koch passed a 1.63. Alera Aungst and Abriana Chua led in service aces with 12 total aces on the day. Megan Wolfe led the Cardinals in hitting with 19 kills and 5 blocks. The first game the Cardinals played was against Shamokin. The cardinals dominated over their opponent with ending scores of 25-11, 25-14 and 25-9.

The second game was against the Leighton Indians. This game was more competitive for the Cardinals but they came up on top. The Indians falling short behind them in the 3 sets. The Cardinals fell short in the match against Mahanoy. The Bears beat the Cardinals in 2 out of the three matches, leading their pool as the first seed. Since the Cardinals beat everyone in their pool except Mahanoy they were the second seed going into the playoffs.

The Cardinals went on to play in the playoffs facing Nativity. They played hard and to the best of their abilities but still fell short of the Green Wave.

The Cardinals ended up finishing 3rd overall as Nativity and Mahanoy continued on to the finals in which Nativity would clinch the title against Mahanoy’s Golden Bears in a hard fought match. “We battled tough, but the other teams out executed us,”  Tessa Bohn, senior captain.