The boys volleyball team won 3-2 against Mt. Lebanon in WPIAL quarterfinals on Thursday, earning a spot in semifinals.

Junior Ayush Rai said the energy at the start of the game was different from that at the end. 

“We were all nervous to start, and by the end, we were still nervous, but mostly confident as well,” Rai said. 

Sophomore Christian Jones agreed, saying that even though the Highlanders were nervous, they overcame their nerves. 

“We were very hopeful during the game,” Jones said. 

The team won the first two sets, lost the next two, then won the final one.

Jones said the team saw that they needed to change how they were playing in the third set. 

“We just realized we needed to restructure what we were doing,” Jones said. 

Jones said the fifth set was very difficult for the team to win.

“The fifth set was really competitive, but we learned to shut them down quickly,” Jones said. 

One player who stood out on Baldwin was junior Martino Suta.

“Martino was just there defensively,” Rai said. 

A moment that stood out to Rai was when one of the players on Mt. Lebanon hit the ball really hard, and Suta was there to dig it up. 

Another player who stood out on Baldwin was senior Alex Kelly. 

“He had great swings,” Jones said. 

Rai said the Highlanders did particularly well when it came to blocking the ball. 

Lebo, meanwhile, had one athlete who was great at serving. The Blue Devils also were able to take advantage of Baldwin’s shortcomings, Rai said.

“It was mostly our mistakes,” Rai said. 

Baldwin now moves on to the WPIAL semifinals on Monday against North Allegheny.

“North Allegheny is one of the best teams in the state. So our goal is to play a really good game against them,” Rai said.