Abington Heights recovered from an early-season loss to Blue Ridge and defended its Lackawanna League championship with a win in a playoff game against Valley View on Monday.

Starting Wednesday, the Comets begin a quest to repeat as District 2 Class 3A champions.

The quarterfinal round begins with two matches at 6 p.m. Seventh-seeded Scranton (3-7) plays at No. 2 Abington Heights (12-5). Fifth-seeded Wyoming Valley West (7-7) is at No. 3 Delaware Valley (8-7).

One quarterfinal match has No. 6 West Scranton (4-6) at No. 3 Wilkes-Barre Area (8-5) on Thursday at 4:15 p.m.

Hazleton Area (14-2) earned the top seed and received a bye into the semifinal round. It will host as a doubleheader May 19.

Nolan Moore leads the hard-hitting Abington Heights front line. He has 195 kills this season. Dan Beck, who had 11 kills against Valley View on Monday, is second with 155. Billy Johnson has 123 kills and Ben Reese has 119.

Ryan Horutz earned his 500th assist of the season and has 520 overall. Chris Cummins has 205 digs, while Horutz has 135.

The two Lackawanna League teams met earlier in the year with Abington Heights winning, 3-0. Beck had 10 kills and Johnson had nine in the win.

Delaware Valley swept Wyoming Valley West in their Wyoming Valley Conference match in mid-April. Eric Choi had 10 kills and 21 assists and Chase Peereboom had 11 kills, eight service points and six digs for the Warriors in the first meeting.

Manhamudl Latifou leads Wilkes-Barre Area’s balanced attack with 99 kills. Denzel Herrera has 96, Fareed Williams Jr. has 91 and Matthew Clark has 90.

Tijan Njai has 203 assists and Clark has 144 for the Wolfpack.

West Scranton closed out the Lackawanna League season with three straight wins, beating Mountain View, Elk Lake, and Forest City. Desang Rai, Elvis Tejada, Emilio Moya, and Jonathan Morales lead the Invaders.

The Class 2A playoffs start Thursday with quarterfinal matches.

No. 8 Dallas is at No. 1 Crestwood; No. 5 Blue Ridge is at No. 4 North Pocono; No. 6 Nanticoke Area is at No. 3 Valley View; and No. 7 Western Wayne is at No. 2 Holy Redeemer. All four matches start at 6 p.m.

Three of the four pairings are rematches from the regular season.

Crestwood swept Dallas in their WVC matchup in late March. JJ Stec, who has 431 kills this season, had 25 kills, Luke Joseph had 36 digs and Zach Koons had 33 assists in the win.

Ethan Burns leads Dallas with 67 kills and 60 blocks, Michael Elgonitis has 61 kills, Andrew Lisman has 57 kills and Luke Nicolai has 216 assists.

North Pocono defeated Blue Ridge, 3-1, in their Lackawanna League matchup. Aden Butler was a force for the Trojans with 20 kills. Jace Butler had 16 digs and 32 assists and Warren Kramer had 13 digs for North Pocono.

Jacob Brown had 15 kills and Parker Glasgow had nine to lead Blue Ridge. Riley Phillips added 37 assists for the Raiders in the first meeting.

Valley View swept Nanticoke Area in late March. Luke Stevens had 12 kills and 10 service points, Jagger Roe had seven kills and 10 service points and Antonio Farina had 22 assists for the Cougars.

Ethan Yendrzeiwski and Zachary Zubritski each had nine kills for Nanticoke Area. Yendrzeiwski added nine service points and Brayden Isaacs had 18 assists.

Holy Redeemer is the defending District 2 champion. Koirey Tang has 232 kills to lead the Royals. Jack Wasiakowski has 161 kills, 594 assists and 147 service points; Sebastian Cooney has 194 kills; and Max Mohutsky has 249 service points.

Logan Pauler leads Western Wayne with 112 kills. Braden Laity has 89 and Eli Bilski has 75. Gavin Morcom runs the offense with 287 assists and has 143 digs, while Bilski has 169 digs and Pauler contributes 142 digs for the Wildcats.

DISTRICT 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS
CLASS 3A

Defending champion: Abington Heights.

Dates: Quarterfinals, May 13-14; Semifinals at Hazleton Area, May 19; Final at TBA, May 21.

Seeds: 1-Hazleton Area (14-2), 2-Abington Heights (12-5), 3-Wilkes-Barre Area (8-5), 4-Delaware Valley (8-7), 5-Wyoming Valley West (7-7), 6-West Scranton (4-6), 7-Scranton (3-7).

Players to watch: Kendrick Ortiz Mendez (HAZ); Sebastian Burgos (HAZ); Daniel Posada (HAZ); Nolan Moore (AH); Dan Beck (AH); Ryan Horutz (AH); Manhamudl Latifou (WBA); Matthew Clark (WBA); Denzel Herrera (WBA); Chase Peereboom (DV); Eric Choi (DV); Zabwon Welch (WVW);  Wilangel Henriquez Felipe (WVW); Desang Rai (WS); Elvis Tejada (WS); Jayden Tulenan (SCR); Charles Chalmers (SCR).

CLASS 2A

Defending champion: Holy Redeemer.

Dates: Quarterfinals, May 14; Semifinals at the highest remaining seed, May 19; Final, May 21, 30 minutes after the Class 3A final.

Seeds: 1-Crestwood (15-1); 2-Holy Redeemer (16-2); 3-Valley View (15-3); 4-North Pocono (11-5); 5-Blue Ridge (12-6); 6-Nanticoke Area (10-8); 7-Western Wayne (7-8); 8-Dallas (5-11).

Players to watch: JJ Stec (CRE); Eric Rinehimer (CRE); Zachary Koons (CRE); Koirey Tang (HR); Jack Wasiakowski (HR); Max Mohutsky (HR); Luke Stevens (VV); Jagger Roe (VV); Aden Butler (NP); Jace Butler (NP); Warren Kramer (NP); Jacob Brown (BR); Parker Glasgow (BR); Ethan Yendrzelwski (NAN); Zachary Zubritski (NAN); Logan Pauler (WW); Eli Bilski (WW); Ethan Burns (DAL); Michael Elgonitis (DAL).