Beaver County Christian girls volleyball coach Christen Adels promised her squad a dinner party at the Olive Garden restaurant if they qualified for the PIAA championships.

Adel will soon be paying up. The Eagles won the WPIAL Class A title and tied for third place at the PIAA tournament. All that in the school's first year of WPIAL competition.

"I had a few people ask me if I was disappointed that we lost in the semifinals," Adels said. "I said, 'No way.' We had a great season. I never imagined that we would make it this far. We have a lot to celebrate when I take them out for the dinner I promised them."

Beaver County Christian is one of three local teams that tied for third place at the PIAA championships. West Allegheny and Hopewell tied for third place in the Class AA bracket.

Beaver Country Christian was beaten 3-2 in the PIAA semifinals by District 5 champion North Star. The Eagles lost the first game, then rallied to win the next two.

"We expended so much energy that we got a little out of focus in the fourth game," Adels said. "We just couldn't get anything going."

Beaver County Christian earned its PIAA semifinal berth with three victories in the quarterfinal round robin. The Eagles beat District 9 champion Clarion, District 1 champion Upper Bucks Christian and District 11 champion Nativity BVM.

"The sad part is that I lose four of my top nine players to graduation," Adels said. "They will be missed."

Beaver County Chrisian had three players voted to the first team of the WPIAL Class A All-Star Team -- senior middle hitters Kristland McCracken and Sara Phillips, and junior outside hitter Kimberly McCracken.

West Allegheny and Hopewell were beaten in the PIAA Class AA semifinals. The Indians dropped a five-game match with District 3 champion Susquehannock, while Hopewell lost, 3-0, to defending champion Marion Mercy, the District 1 winner.

"Merion Mercy is one of the best teams I've ever seen," Hopewell coach Terry Borkovic said. "They were the class of the AA bracket."

West Allegheny also had the misfortune of facing Merion Mercy.

"We played them in the quarterfinal round robin on Friday," West Allegheny coach Lisa Pyrdek said. "They have twins [Shelbey and Stacey Manthorpe who] started last year as freshmen and they are even better this year."

West Allegheny faced Merion Mercy in the second of its three quarterfinal round-robin matches. The Indians opened with a 3-0 win against District 6 champion Philipsburg-Osceola and closed with a 2-1 win against District 12 champion Archbiship Carroll.

"After our loss to Merion Mercy, I asked the girls, 'Do we want to go home or stay?' " Pyrdek said, referring to the fact that West Allegheny needed two victories in the quarterfinal round robin to move on to the semifinals. "Fortunately, it worked out in our favor."

Hopewell earned its semifinal berth by placing second in its quarterfinal pool. The Vikings opened with a 3-0 victory against District 10 runner-up General McLane, and a 2-1 win against District 2 champion Holy Redeemer. Then came their match with District 3 champion Susquehannock. The Vikings dropped a 2-1 decision, losing the third game by the score of 27-25.

"I was pretty confident that we could make it to the semifinals, but knew Susquehannock would have a tough team," Borkovic said. "They had three girls who were taller than all but one of our girls."

West Allegheny faced Susquehannock in the semifinals and took them to a fifth game, before dropping 15-11 decision in the final game.

Merion Mercy dominated the championship match, as it defeated Susquehannock, 3-0, to claim a second straight title.

"We had a great season," Pyrdek said. "We were the first volleyball team in West Allegheny history to win a WPIAL title."

West Allegheny loses three players to graduation, while Hopewell loses six.

West Allegheny had three players voted to the first team of the WPIAL Class AA All-Star Team -- senior outside hitter Kristen Lang, senior middle hitter Michelle Walker and junior middle hitter Korin Wengryn.

Hopewell had two players voted to the WPIAL first team: senior setter Kristi Lucas and senior outside hitter Jen Munoz.

"Losing in the WPIAL final was a disappointment," Borkovic said. "But overall, we had a good season."