It was a birthday Hempfield boys volleyball coach John Howell will never forget — March 13, 2020.

“It was a Friday and we had scrimmaged earlier that week,” said Howell, remembering the day as if it were yesterday. “I had to walk into practice and tell the kids our season was canceled. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

“We had seven seniors on that team. Our whole starting lineup was back, including Will Kuhns, a four-year starter who could have been the WPIAL MVP in Class 3A and would have broke our school scoring record. They had the potential to be one of the two best teams I’ve had in 24 years at Hempfield. I feel so bad for those kids.”

It’s one year later, and Howell, like most coaches in the WPIAL, enters the 2021 season with more questions than answers.

“I didn’t know what to expect when we stepped on the court at Shaler,” said Howell, referring to Shaler’s Titan Series, a seven-team tournament held Saturday. “These kids have not played a high school volleyball match for two years. And I knew very little about the teams we played. It was a learning experience for everybody.”

Hempfield tied for third place in the day-long event, posting a 6-5 record.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Howell said. “We had only two players who had started a varsity match and made it to the semifinals. Three of our losses were to Meadville, the champion. I talked with their coach and they never shut down because they had very few cases of COVID. They were able to practice while we were shut down.”

The two returning starters Howell referred to are middle hitters Sean Knight, a senior, and junior Chaz Ewer. Both are 6 feet 4.

“We decided to build the team around them,” Howell said. “One thing this team has is size. We have five kids who are 6-4 or taller. Our biggest concern is setting. We are using two setters who have no varsity experience.”

Hempfield’s setters are 6-0 senior Trey Chobirko and 5-10 junior Dominic Hipps.

Howell is unsure of what to expect when the Spartans begin play in Class 3A Section 3.

“I usually know who every team has coming back,” Howell said. “This year, I don’t have a clue. And it doesn’t help that Norwin and Penn-Trafford began the season in quarantine.”

Hempfield was supposed to open with Norwin on Tuesday, but that match has been rescheduled. The Spartans play host to Central Catholic on Thursday.

North Hills

Cody Patterson enters his second season as head coach at North Hills, but had to wait until Saturday for his first match.

“My first season as head coach lasted two weeks,” said Patterson, who served as assistant coach the previous two years. “We had a good group of seniors on that team. It was disappointing they didn’t get to play.”

North Hills opened the 2021 season on a positive note, despite having no varsity experience. The Indians posted a 3-0 non-conference win against Moon in Patterson’s debut.

“I was very pleased with our performance,” Patterson said. “It was exciting to get back on the court. The energy was up. The kids were so happy to be playing again.”

Patterson’s squad has 7 seniors, no juniors, 2 sophomores and 10 freshmen.

“None of my kids have previous varsity experience,” Patterson said. “And a lot of the freshmen are first-year players since we didn’t have a junior high team last year.”

Patterson’s top players in the season opener were 5-10 senior outside hitter Caleb Frisco, 5-10 senior setter Ryan Filipcic and 5-9 sophomore outside hitter Joe Frisco.

“Caleb led us with 12 kills,” Patterson said. “His brother Joe led us in serve-receive. Ryan did a good job in his debut as setter.”

North Hills had the unfortunate task of opening its Class 3A Section 2 schedule with Tuesday’s match against top-ranked North Allegheny. The Indians play at Butler Thursday.

“We are a small team, but the kids play smart,” Patterson said. “We are in a tough section, but my kids do not give up easy. We’re excited for the season.”

In quarantine

Penn-Trafford and Norwin are among five teams that begin the season in quarantine. The others are Ambridge, Beaver County Christian and Derry Area.

“We had to postpone three matches,” said Penn-Trafford coach Jim Schall on Sunday. “The soonest we can practice is Wednesday. We have to have so many practices before we can play and unfortunately this coming weekend is Easter. So our first match will be April 8.”

Derry and Norwin find themselves in a similar situation.

“We had to cancel a [non-section] match against Martinsburg Central and postpone another with West Shamokin,” Derry coach Shawn Spencer said. “It’s a hectic start to the season, but hopefully it calms down by mid-April and we can get back to a normal schedule.”

Norwin had to postpone its first two section matches.

“We are shut down until Friday,” Norwin coach Nick Fallone said. “Nothing changes, though. Our goal is still the same, to win the section and compete in the WPIAL playoffs. We’ll make up the games we miss later in April.”

Ambridge pulled out of Saturday’s tournament at Shaler.

“We had a positive COVID case on the team on Friday, so some of the team is quarantined and out of an abundance of caution, we canceled our practices and removed ourselves from the tournament,” Ambridge coach Glenn Freed said.

Beaver County Christian is shut down for the first time this school year.

“We had a school musical that ran from March 17-20 and approximately 30 kids tested positive,” Eagles coach Christen Adels said. “None of my players were affected, but the school shut down and postponed all activities until after Easter. Our match on April 6 has been rescheduled, and our match on April 8 will most likely be postponed. Hopefully our first match will be on April 13.”

First Published: April 2, 2021, 10:30 a.m.