EDITOR’S NOTE: As a step in getting ready for the start of 2021 sports seasons, NEPASportsNation.com is taking a look back at the 2020 season in District 2.
Champions
Berwick won District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional and Wyoming Valley Conference titles.
North Pocono won the Lackawanna League.
District 2 titles were won by Delaware Valley in Class 4A, Holy Redeemer in 2A and Blue Ridge in A.
State tournament
All four District 2 representatives lost in their first match in the champions-only Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament.
Standings
Lackawanna: North Pocono 7-1, Dunmore 6-1, Western Wayne 5-2, Lackawanna Trail 3-2, Blue Ridge 3-3, Susquehanna 3-4, Mountain View 2-3, Montrose 1-7, Elk Lake 0-7.
WVC: Berwick 13-0, Nanticoke 12-1, Delaware Valley 10-2, Holy Redeemer 9-3, Crestwood 8-5, Pittston Area 7-6, Lake-Lehman 7-6, Tunkhannock 7-6, Hazleton Area 6-7, Wilkes-Barre Area 2-8, Hanover Area 2-9, Dallas 2-10, Wyoming Valley West 2-11, Wyoming Area 0-13.
Playoffs
Delaware Valley won the District 2 Class 4A title with a pair of three-set sweeps, including against Hazleton Area in the final.
Berwick won the District 2-4 Class 3A Subregional with three straight three-set sweeps. The Lady Bulldogs faced seventh-seeded Athens in the final. Athens knocked out second-seeded Nanticoke, then got past sixth-seeded Tunkhannock, which took out third-seeded North Pocono in the quarterfinals.
Holy Redeemer won District 2 Class 2A with a three-set sweep of third-seeded Western Wayne, which dumped second-seeded Dunmore in the semifinals.
Blue Ridge won a pair of straight-set matches on the way to the District 2 Class A title. The Lady Raiders won in the final over third-seeded Susquehanna, which took out second-seeded Lackawanna Trail in the semifinals.
COVID Impact
As the only indoor sport in the fall, girls volleyball took the biggest hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lackawanna member Abington Heights and WVC member MMI Prep sat out the season. Forest City played just five late-season matches and did not participate in the Lackawanna League.
Even after those three teams were taken out of the mix, schedules could not be completed.
In the WVC, only 4 of 78 matches were unable to be played. In the Lackawanna, 6 of 36 matches in a trimmed-down schedule never got played.
Although District 2 conducted full tournaments, as part of its policy for 2020-21 state tournaments, the PIAA eliminated non-champions from its brackets.
Noteworthy
With no-contests declared and an uneven number of games, the Lackawanna League created an impromptu championship match in which North Pocono (7-1) defeated Dunmore (6-1). … The Lackawanna League had originally planned to use two divisions in 2020, but changed that with two fewer teams participating. … Berwick took a perfect record into the state tournament.
