It was a night of repeats at the WPIAL boys' volleyball finals last night at La Roche College. North Allegheny and Ambridge successfully defended their WPIAL championships with straight-set sweeps.

North Allegheny claimed its sixth Class AAA title in seven years with a 3-0 upset of top-seed Penn Hills. It was the 12th overall title for the Tigers -- one short of the WPIAL recordheld by Penn Hills.

"The difference this time is that we blocked well and served with a purpose," said North Allegheny coach Dan Schall, referring to the fact that the second-seeded Tigers had a 3-8 record in regular-season tournament competition against Penn Hills.

"We got them out of rhythm with our blocking and came through with the big kills when we really needed them."

Penn Hills was making its first appearance in a WPIAL title match since 1996. The Indians had been ranked No. 1 in the state since the start of the season.

"We didn't pass well and didn't run our offense," Penn Hills coach Dan Brown said. "We had so many breakdowns in our passing game and they did a good job of blocking."

North Allegheny set the tone for the match with a 25-19 win in the first set, then built a nine-point lead in the second set and held on for a 25-22 victory. The third set was a marathon, with both teams combining for 11 match points, and the Tigers pulled out a 35-33 victory.

Ambridge defended its Class AA title and claimed its third title overall with a sweep of Deer Lakes. The match was much closer than the scores indicated as the Bridgers recorded victories of 25-22, 25-21 and 25-21.

Top-seeded Ambridge was led by junior outside hitter Nick Goodell, who led all competitors with 19 kills. Goodell recorded the winning kill in all three sets.

The four finalists earn an automatic berth in the PIAA tournament, which begins Tuesday. Latrobe and Derry also qualified.

Latrobe earned its berth in the Class AAA tournament with a 3-0 win against Seneca Valley in the consolation for third place. Derry qualified for the Class AA tournament with a 3-0 win against Keystone Oaks.