In its WPIAL debut season, Beaver County Christian has the distinction of being the smallest school with a girls' volleyball program ... and it isn't even close.

The Beaver Falls school had 32 girls from grades nine through 11 last year, which is the enrollment number used by the PIAA to determine its classification cutoffs for this school year. The other school with 50 or fewer girls is Trinity Christian (47). The largest WPIAL schools competing in Class A are Bishop Canevin and Carlynton (187).

"We had been competing in the Southwestern Christian Athletic Conference, but the competition had dropped off over the past few years," said Christen Adels, in her sixth year as the Eagles' coach. "The same thing was happening with our other sports, so we decided to join the WPIAL."

Despite the enrollment shortcoming, Beaver County Christian is 6-0 in section play and ranked No. 2 in Class A.

"It's not really a surprise," Adels said. "We entered two tournaments sponsored by WPIAL teams last year and made it to the finals in both. We won the OLSH tournament and placed second at North Catholic."

Beaver County Christian made a return trip to both tournaments this year.

"We didn't do as well at the North Catholic tournament," Adels said. "We made it to the semifinals of the Gold Division, then lost to Fox Chapel, a Class AAA team."

The Eagles captured a second consecutive title at the OLSH tournament earlier this month. Then last weekend they played in the Avonworth tournament and finished as runners-up to Indiana, which is ranked No. 4 in Class AA.

"We won all 16 games we played," Adels said. "We won 12 straight in the preliminary round, then beat Serra, 2-0, in the semifinals and OLSH, 2-0, in the championship match."

Beaver County Christian's success is more astounding when one considers the fact that the school doesn't have a regulation-size court.

"Our gym is 60 feet long and 54 feet wide," Adels said. "A regulation court is 60 feet with 6 feet extra on each side. Our serving line is actually on the court, which means their serves are 3 or 4 feet shorter than they should be."

So the Eagles use Geneva College as their homecourt.

"The girls really like playing on a college court," Adels said. "But the limitations of our high school gym can be an advantage. When we practice, the small gym teaches the girls to control their passing and hitting better."

Adels grew up in upstate New York, but has college ties to Western Pennsylvania.

"I did my undergraduate work at Geneva, then attended Pitt for my graduate degree," Adels said. "Now I'm teaching at Grove City College."

Adels has only 40-plus girls in grades nine through 12 to choose from at the high school.

"I have fewer girls to choose from, but I've learned to work with the cards I'm dealt," Adels said. "We average 14 to 16 players, for both varsity and junior varsity. This year, we have 16, including two seniors who have been starting since they were freshmen."

The two seniors are 5-foot-6 senior middle hitter Kristland McCracken and 5-8 senior middle hitter Sarah Phillips.

"Both learned the game before they got to high school," Adels said. "They have to be among the best Class A players in the WPIAL."

The other seniors are 5-1 libero Macia Gilbert and 5-5 outside hitter Kristen Spratt. Gilbert was a starter at Beaver Falls last year, but had played junior varsity ball the previous two years at Beaver County Christian.

The other five varsity members are 5-6 junior outside hitter Kimberly McCracken, 5-4 junior setter Bethanne Mixter, 5-4 junior right-side hitter Sarah Gordon, 5-6 freshman outside hitter Kate Carson and 5-6 freshmen outside hitter Katie Heidegren.

Beaver County Christian will make its third tournament appearance Saturday at the Avonworth tournament.