South Fayette finishes runner-up in WPIAL
Toppled by Shaler in volleyball final
Top-seeded Shaler continued its recent dominance of WPIAL boys’ volleyball when the Titans secured their fourth title in five years by beating No. 3 South Fayette, 3-1, in the Class 2A championship match played May 20 at AHN Arena of the Peters Township High School campus.
The Titans won titles at the Class 3A level in 2022 and 2023 before dropping down to Class 2A. They won a WPIAL crown in that division in 2025 before repeating this spring.
“Shaler has an impressive history and is a very solid team,” said South Fayette head coach Scott Sundgren. “We knew that in order to win, we were going to have to be pretty spot on. “
Although the Lions came out strong they lost “momentum” after winning the second set, 25-23. They dropped the first set, 25-19 as well as the third and fourth games both by 25-14 scores.
Sundgren noted errors proved the difference. Those at the end of the third set “took the wind out of our sails,” he said. “We had too many errors in set four,” he added.
In the match, two Shaler players reached double-figure kills. Logan Peterson hammered home 16 on a stellar .394 hitting percentage. Krisztian Walker followed with 11. Setter Peyton Siford orchestrated the offense with 45 assists while anchoring the back row with 10 digs and two block assists.
Defensively, Camron Miller and Zac Sahr safeguarded the floor with 15 and 11 digs, respectively, while Dante DeBaldo dictated play at the net with a match-high six blocks (1 solo, 5 assist).
Arya Pamecha paced South Fayette’s attack. He tallied a match-high 19 kills. Setter Jayadev Reddy distributed 42 assists. Libero Kavy Dave and teammate Krish Khamar spear-headed the Lions’ defensive standard with 14 and 15 digs, respectively, while Michael Sgro chipped in with a pair of block assists.
“I don’t think we played as clean as we needed to play,” Sundgren said. “A few errors here and there were hurting our momentum. Shaler has a lot of weapons and a very good block. They executed both very well, and we did not respond as aggressively as we needed to.”
Shaler earned its spot in the final by defeating eighth-seeded OLSH 3-0 in the quarterfinals and sweeping fifth-seeded Thomas Jefferson 3-0 in the semifinal round.
Meanwhile, South Fayette advanced by blanking sixth-seeded Derry 3-0 in the quarterfinals, and outlasting two-seeded Seton La Salle in a 3-2 semifinal battle.
The Lions entered the WPIAL playoffs having captured the Section 4 title with an undefeated slate. They were 16-0 during the regular season.
“It was an awesome run,” Sundgren said. “We play in a challenging section knowing that we have to show up each night for the competition. That helped us be prepared for the postseason. We knew that we were going to face some tough teams going into the playoffs. Derry was very good, and coming off a bye was a little new for us. Seton is an excellent team, so we really had to show up for that match.”
Seton-La Salle defeated Thomas Jefferson, 3-1, in the WPIAL third-place consolation match to lock up a PIAA tournament berth.
The state playoffs are scheduled to begin June 2. The Lions will take on the District 6 of 9 champion in the first round. They could face the Titans again in the semifinals set for June 9. The state championships are set for 11 a.m. June 13 at Rec Hall on the Penn State University campus.
“Last year, we made states and lost in the first round,” Sundgren said. “I’d like to get through this year a little deeper and see what we can do. It’s always an honor to still be in the hunt and have the opportunity to continue playing.”
The Lions boast nine seniors on the roster including: Pamecha, Dave, Reddy, Zechariah Frye, Roco Bovalino, Quinn Leroux, Dilsher Goraya, Zayan Karim and Chandhan Juluru.
Other members include: Owen Wiggers, Franco Liberatore, Giovanni Vezio, Connor Boland, Paxton Green, Macarthy Zebo, Andrew Bielenberg, Autry Zebo, Kartij Kondreddi and Samuel Roney.