North Allegheny's John Wappler summed it up perfectly after accepting his second WPIAL gold medal.

"The experience you get at the WPIAL finals can't be found anywhere else," said Wappler, a senior libero. "It definitely helped being here last year."

Wappler and his North Allegheny teammates defended their WPIAL Class AAA title with a 3-0 sweep of Bethel Park Friday at La Roche College.

"These guys are an experienced bunch," said North Allegheny coach Dan Schall, referring to the Tigers lineup which features four two-time WPIAL All-Stars. "That was very critical in fighting off a very talented Bethel Park team."

The title was North Allegheny's fifth in six seasons, and 11th since 1985. North Allegheny ranks third in WPIAL history, behind Penn Hills (13) and Homestead (12) in boys' volleyball titles.

"It's a standard that was set by Bob Miller," said North Allegheny coach Dan Schall, referring to the Tigers' former coach, who is a member of the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. "Everyone in this program wants to live up to that standard. They responded to the challenge tonight."

North Allegheny earned its title berth with a 3-0 sweep of Penn-Trafford in the quarterfinals, and a 3-0 shutout of Penn Hills in the semifinals. The Tigers recorded their 17th consecutive 3-0 sweep of the season in the title match against Bethel Park.

"The nervousness of being here for the first time had a big effect on us," said Bethel Park coach Tom Allman of his team that advanced to the title game for the first time in school history. "We had never played in a match of this magnitude. [North Allegheny] is a very confident team and played very strong. They never backed off."

North Allegheny opened the match with a 25-18 victory, but fell behind 13-9 in the second game. At that point, Schall called a time out. The Tigers responded with 16 points, while limiting Bethel Park to seven, to close out a 25-20 victory.

"The same thing happened in the Penn Hills match," said North Allegheny senior John Skarupa, referring to the semifinals. "We fell behind by four points in the second game and fought back. We knew how to handle a four-point deficit."

North Allegheny took control in game three by scoring 11 of the first 14 points, en route to a 25-10 victory.

"This team is not satisfied," Schall said. "Winning a WPIAL title was one of our goals, but this was never the end goal. We still have a hungry group that will be ready for next week."

Schall is referring to the PIAA tournament, which began Tuesday. North Allegheny opened with a 3-0 win against City League champion Schenley. That earned the Tigers a berth in tomorrow's quarterfinal round-robin, which will be held at Penn State University's Multisport Indoor Facility.

"Our goal is to win a state title," said Wappler, a three-year starter and two-time selection on the first team of the WPIAL Class AAA All-Star Team. "We came up short last year. We want it more than anything."

North Allegheny advanced to the PIAA semifinals last season, before dropping a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to Landisville Hempfield of PIAA District 3.

"We lost to the eventual champion by [a combined total of] only four points," said Scarupa, who is also a three-year starter and two-time first-teamer on the WPIAL All-Star Team. "We were that close to the title match last year."

Schall used 13 different players in the championship match.

"We are really deep," Schall said. "And there were some guys who didn't touch the court tonight who could have made a contribution. It's one of our strengths."

The Lancers fell one win short of a PIAA berth after a 3-2 loss to Hopewell in the WPIAL Class AA consolation match third place.

Deer Lakes jumped out to a 2-1 lead with a pair of 25-16 victories sandwiched around a 25-17 loss in game two. Hopewell rebounded with a 25-23 win in game four and a 15-10 win in the fifth and deciding game.

Deer Lakes advanced to the semifinals before dropping a 3-0 decision to Ambridge, the eventual champion.