The West Allegheny High School girls' volleyball team entered the 2009 season with the goal of repeating as WPIAL Class AA champions.

Senior middle hitter Korin Wengryn was determined to reach that goal, regardless of how painful it would be.

"It means the world to me to win this title," said Wengryn after accepting her second gold medal. "It's my senior year and I've been playing with a torn rotator cuff. I have to get surgery, but that can wait until after the season. I wouldn't miss this for anything."

Despite the handicap, Wengryn led West Allegheny to its second WPIAL title with an inspirational performance.

"It usually hurts me the day after the game," said Wengryn, who led the Indians with 14 kills and eight blocks. "I take some Motrin before the game and my adrenaline gets me through. I play because I love to play the game."

West Allegheny earned its championship trophy with a 3-0 sweep of Freeport in Saturday's match, which took place at Chartiers Valley High School.

"We had lot of extra pressure on us being the defending champs," senior setter Carissa Miara said. "We just made sure we worked hard every day, just like we did last year."

On Tuesday, West Allegheny swept District 10 runner-up Meadville, 3-0, in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs. The Indians advance to tomorrow's quarterfinal round robin, which will take place at Central York High School.

West Allegheny came into the season with high hopes, despite the graduation of three key starters, including middle hitter Michelle Walker and outside hitter Kristen Lang, who were both voted first-team WPIAL Class AA All-Stars.

"We lost our big hitters from last year's team," Miara said. "We had to fight back just as hard this year, but we did have Korin and Chelsea [Katkich], and they did a great job."

West Allegheny had a more balanced attack all season.

"We played more as a team this year," Katkich said. "We played so well together and had a lot of confidence. We played that way last year, but we didn't have Michelle to rely on this year. Everybody stepped up to fill the void she left."

West Allegheny quickly found out how tough it would be to defend its title. The Indians dropped a 3-2 decision to South Fayette in the first half of section play.

"[The South Fayette loss] was a wakeup call for us," Miara said. "We started working harder after that loss."

West Allegheny coach Lisa Pyrdek agreed: "It was a rude awakening for us. Ever since that match, we knew we had to play our game in every match. Fortunately, we've been able to do that."

West Allegheny rebounded in the second half of section play and defeated South Fayette, 3-0, which left the two teams tied for the Section 3-AA title.

"We're just playing unbelievable now," Wengryn said. "And we're going to keep getting better."

West Allegheny was seeded No. 1 in the 22-team Class AA bracket, while Freeport claimed the No. 2 spot.

"I can see why they are the defending champions," Freeport coach Tom Phillips said. "They have a great team. I think we were a little in awe of them. The experience of having been here before really helped them."

Miara and her teammates agreed with Phillips' assessment.

"Being here last year helped me so much," Miara said. "We learned so much to get to this point. We just keep feeding off last year. We just keep getting better as the season goes on."

West Allegheny opened the title match with a convincing 25-14 victory. Freeport settled down and played much better in the next two games, but the Indians posted victories of 25-22 and 25-20 to close out the match and claim a second consecutive championship trophy.

"We lost three great players from last year's team, but we had a lot of experienced players coming back," Pyrdek said. "The majority of my players had played at this level, so they were accustomed to the pressure of being one of the top seeds. They were a little more comfortable this year than they were last year."

Wengryn and her teammates have one more goal to reach -- a PIAA title.

"We want to win a state title more than anything," Wengryn said. "We've been talking about it since we were in eighth grade. Now we're seniors and I know we can do it."

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