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State Sen. Pat Browne: New Jersey defies history – and good sense – with plan that saps taxes from Pa. commuters

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Letter to the Editor: Do teachers in NEPA lack basic classroom supplies?

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Tears streamed down their face as they peered at the scoreboard hanging on the gymnasium wall.For the first time in school history, Holy Redeemer volleyball walked off the court without a conference victory in hand.Hannah Gallagher led Delaware Valley on a six-point run in the fourth set and the Warriors used a 10-1 spurt to bust it open en route to a 3-1 victory over the Royals Thursday night in Wyoming Valley Conference girls&#8217; volleyball action.Set scores were 25-18, 25-20, 13-25 and 25-17. The DV victory snaps Holy Redeemer&#8217;s incredible 188-match win streak in the conference. It also marks the first time since the school was formed that the Royals were defeated by a District 2 team in girls&#8217; volleyball.&#8220;We knew that we were vulnerable early. Our girls are growing up, and this was their first test tonight,&#8221; Redeemer head coach Jack Kablick said. &#8220;No one likes to lose, but it happens in sports sometimes. This is our 10th year we were running into it. We really never focused on the streak. Monday, we&#8217;ll come together and hopefully start a new streak.&#8221;For the last five years, it was Delaware Valley that pushed Redeemer. Season after season, it appeared the Warriors would be the lone threat to upend the Royals.In past years, maybe Bridget Crawford&#8217;s club would take one set or push Redeemer deep into the match.This year, the experience shined brightly.&#8220;Every year, Holy Redeemer is the team that we are chasing. They are such a great program, and we know that,&#8221; Crawford said. &#8220;Every year, we&#8217;ve tried to put our best foot forward to defeat them. We&#8217;ve worked so hard last year and this year on the serving because we knew that is what we needed to beat them. That was going to be key for us.&#8221;Runs and uncharacteristic Redeemer miscues.Usually, it&#8217;s the Royals with the long run. Thursday night, it was Delaware Valley.A 6-0 run on Timea Strenk&#8217;s serve broke open a 17-15 first set.Tara Sayles started off the second with six straight points and DV used a 10-2 edge to open it up.And it was Gallagher&#8217;s serve that led to a 10-1 run, erasing a 13-12 lead by Redeemer in the final set.&#8220;This is such a good feeling. You can look around and see that everything is starting to come together,&#8221; Gallagher said. &#8220;It&#8217;s hard to describe. It&#8217;s a great feeling.&#8221;The youthful Royals didn&#8217;t make it easy.Behind the steady play of senior Brynn Kukosky, who really took the team on her shoulders in the third set, Redeemer rallied.With Kukosky ripping cross-court spikes at the Warrior defense, and Julia Andrejko serving perfectly-placed balls to the back-left corner, Redeemer broke out to an 11-3 lead in the third and stretched it out to double digits (21-10) on Sarah Kuderka&#8217;s serve.&#8220;The first set, we gave up 15. The second set, we gave up 17,&#8221; Kablick said. &#8220;That&#8217;s part of growing and inexperience. The set we won, we only gave up nine. It&#8217;s just unforced errors. Delaware Valley has a good team, and for them to only have to score seven or eight points, that&#8217;s easy for them to do. We are going to learn from this.&#8221;The Royals had some momentum in the fourth set. Using spikes from Kukosky, Amanda Curcio and Samantha Carr, Redeemer built an 8-5 lead. A block by Skylar Osenkarski put HR up 13-12 before the long DV spurt all but sealed the match.&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t worried, but I told the girls that we needed to get back to focusing on what we do best,&#8221; Crawford said. &#8220;Serving is what we do best, and we had to get back to that. You have to serve Holy Redeemer out of system to win, and we did that. Hannah has been starting varsity as a freshman, and she&#8217;s a solid, well-rounded player.&#8221;Berwick 3,Hazleton Area 0The Bulldogs held on for a tight win in the second game en route to a 25-20, 26-24, 25-11 sweep of the Cougars. Berwick was led by Nicole Sarge (three aces, eight service points), Elizabeth Plyler (four kills) and Madison Traugh (six aces, 11 kills, 13 digs).Kendra Pfeil (four kills, six blocks, nine digs, three service points) and Cindy Gutierrez (10 assists, four service points, two aces) topped the Cougars.Hanover Area 3, GAR 1The Hawkeyes earned a 25-12, 25-17, 16-25, 25-14 win behind performances by Julie Fischer (four service points, 12 digs), Sarah Karpowich (seven service points, 12 digs) and Kaitlin Bradford (seven kills, two blocks).Crestwood 3, North Pocono 1After taking the first two sets 25-11 and 25-14, Crestwood put North Pocono into a hole it couldn&#8217;t dig itself out of.Crestwood&#8217;s Ally Olzsyk registered 34 assists, 17 service points and eight aces, while Natasha Geisler added 16 service points, three aces and six kills.The Comets improved to 2-1 on the season.Del. Valley 3, Holy Redeemer 1DV `25`25`13`25 &#8211; 3HR `18`20`25`25 &#8211; 1DV leaders: Hannah Gallagher 9 kills; Tara Sayles 3 kills, 2 aces; Brooke Williams 8 kills.HR leaders: Brynn Kukosky 14 kills, 6 digs, 8 points; Amanda Curcio 9 kills, 29 assists, 2 blocks; Sarah Liskowicz 5 kills, Skylar Osenkarski 7 kills, 5 blocks; Julia Andrejko 15 points, 10 digs.<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</shirttailMeta></div>

Holy Redeemer’s historic girls volleyball streak snapped by Delaware Valley