Queens of the \u2018Burgh, a girls summer high school volleyball tournament, is back in town.<\/p>\n
Designed for incoming high school juniors and seniors, the tournament spans over two days and is held at All-American Field House, located at 1 Racquet Lane in Monroeville.<\/p>\n
On July 24, athletes will undergo testing for approach and block jumps, participate in positional drills and engage in 6v6 competition. Players will be selected onto teams during a draft party held immediately after the combine.<\/p>\n
The next day, the teams will participate in pool play then enter a playoff bracket to determine final standings. All matches will be filmed and made available to the participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers will be drafted the night of the 24th,\u201d said John Skarupa, the tournament founder who has coached at Avonworth since 2020. \u201cThe tournament has definitely gotten bigger this year. We have 74 players, more sponsors, and up to 22 college programs attending for recruiting purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
This high-profile event provides an opportunity for high school volleyball players in the Pittsburgh area to showcase their skills, receive professional coaching and compete at a high level. It emphasizes skill development, fundamentals and mental game preparation.<\/p>\n
Coaches are current collegiate players, and the environment is designed to be fun, competitive and growth-oriented, helping athletes improve while enjoying the sport.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s coaches are IUP\u2019s Delaney Concannon (Panthers) from Thomas Jefferson, IUP\u2019s Kyra Schmidt (Hawks) and Dickinson\u2019s Avery Butcher (Princess Penny) from North Allegheny; IUP\u2019s Brooke Kessler (Thunder) from Bethel Park, Muskingum\u2019s Addy Rusek (Muskies) from Burrell, West Chester\u2019s Bria Stepp (Rams) from Seneca Valley, Frostburg\u2019s Bailey Rafferty (Princess Colussy) from
\nWaynesburg, and Lynn\u2019s Laney Wilson (Knights) from Albert Gallatin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my first year being involved in the Queens tournament,\u201d Concannon said. \u201cThe past two years, I have been attending open gyms for college athletes, but I am very excited to also be a part of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe progression Queens has made over the past couple of years is incredible. It is so nice to see girls volleyball growing and how many love this sport. Two of my IUP teammates, Kyra Schmidt and Brooke Kessler, are also coaches for the tournament, and we cannot wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skarupa also cannot wait to see how things develop during pool play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot of fun watching by those three (IUP) teammates coach against each other,\u201d he said. \u201cThey also all coach at a local club called 3dge that is a LOVB affiliate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concannon has a specific idea about what type of athlete she is looking to draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want my team to be a group of girls who want to compete and win,\u201d she said. \u201cI expect my team to be full of energy, excited to play, and to just give it everything they have each play of every game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concannon is a 5-foot-10 senior outside hitter at IUP. She was named to the 2025 All-PSAC West second team, AVCA Division II Atlantic Region Team as an honorable mention selection, and the 2024 All-Atlantic Regional Tournament Team.<\/p>\n
She started in 27 matches and appeared in 95 sets last season, recording 320 kills, 310 digs, 31 blocks and 33 aces. She had a season-high 29 kills with 12 digs against Seton Hill in November.<\/p>\n
Concannon was named PSAC West Athlete of the Week in women\u2019s volleyball when she led IUP to a weekend sweep against Cal (Pa.) and Seton Hill to secure the No. 2 seed for the Indians in the PSAC West Conference.<\/p>\n
The TJ product logged 27 kills against Cal in four sets and 29 against Seton Hill in five sets. She also had a total of 37 digs over nine sets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m extremely excited for the upcoming season,\u201d she said. \u201cWith only graduating one senior from last fall, I have big expectations for the team. I would love to win another PSAC championship and at least make it to the Elite 8.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concannon also was named Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I graduate in December, I\u2019m staying at IUP to get my masters in speech pathology,\u201d Concannon said. \u201cHopefully, during grad school I can keep volleyball in my life by assisting the team in any way I can. I would love to eventually coach somewhere once I am all finished with school.\u201d <\/p>\n
At Thomas Jefferson, Concannon was a two-sport standout, competing in volleyball and basketball, and was a goalie for the soccer team as a junior. She was a member of section championship squads in volleyball in 2019 and 2022 and set single-season records in kills (496), blocks (82) and hitting percentage (.453). <\/p>\n
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Concannon landed All-PIAA and All-WPIAL accolades twice and was a first-team all-section selection three times. She also competed in club volleyball for Revolution. <\/p>\n
On the basketball court, Concannon broke single-season records in rebounds and blocks and was named All-WPIAL and all-section.<\/p>\n
The 5-2 Kessler is a junior libero\/defensive specialist at IUP who led the Crimson Hawks with 392 digs in 2025 and was credited with 98 assists and 35 aces. She appeared in 29 matches and played 102 sets.<\/p>\n
Kessler registered 25 digs Nov. 14 against Cal and had a season-high seven assists Nov. 18 against Shepherd. <\/p>\n
At Bethel Park, she was a two-year varsity letter winner in volleyball and the team leader in both digs and assists in 2023. <\/p>\n
North Catholic coach Amanda Fetter is the event director of the Queens tournament, which features a roster of experienced high school and college volleyball coaches.<\/p>\n
Also highlighted will be the play of several top regional athletes, including the likes of Thomas Jefferson OH Viola MacNeil, Indiana MB Allison Lichtenfels, Plum OH Keirstin Curry, North Catholic MB Kaylee Garr and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart MB Adrianna Batts.<\/p>\n
TJ is a perennial section champion in girls volleyball. The Jaguars won their 28th section crown in 2025 \u2014 which also was their sixth straight and 14th in the last 15 years. <\/p>\n
The Jaguars had nine returning starters last year, led by the 5-foot-10 MacNeil along with libero Sophia Janosko, setters Tatum Betler, Lia Vickers and Riley Burnsworth, right-side hitter Mia Trbovich and Vivian Bishop, at middle hitter. Janosko, Betler, Vickers and Trbovich will be seniors this year. Burnsworth and Bishop are juniors. <\/p>\n
TJ\u2019s game-day rotation last season also included DS Sofia Slivan and OH Vanessa Warden. Emma Tagmeyer and Gina Gudakas are returning middle hitters. <\/p>\n
MacNeil was a two-time PCVA all-state selection along with being named All-WPIAL and all-section. Other returning section all-stars include Burnsworth, Janosko, Trbovich and Betler. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur team exceeded our expectations throughout the season,\u201d TJ coach Courtney Frost said. \u201cWe have come back from deficits and battled as a team on more occasions than I would prefer, but that just shows our staff how much these girls really want to win. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am extremely proud of this team and what we accomplished. We have a good variety of underclassmen as well as our seniors.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Jaguars won the Section 3-3A title with a 12-0 record and secured the No. 4 seed for the WPIAL playoffs. TJ also won the section championship in 2024 with an identical 12-0 mark. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queens of the \u2018Burgh, a girls summer high school volleyball tournament, is back in town. Designed for incoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-293840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}