Tower Hill and Archmere warm-up before their semifinal game. Tower Hill won the match, 3-1, to advance to the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Championship game. Photo Credit: Ryan Colasanti

The Tower Hill Hillers defeated the Archmere Auks and the St. Mark’s Spartans defeated the Middletown Cavaliers in the semifinals for a chance to compete for the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Championship title on November 16.

NEWARK, Del. — The 2026 DIAA Volleyball Championship matchup is set. The Tower Hill Hillers will take on the St. Mark’s Spartans for the state title on Monday, November 16, at 7:00 p.m. The Spartans and Hillers will meet at the Bob Carpenter Center with a state title on the line for the third season in a row.

Tower Hill defeated Archmere, 3-1

Tower Hill senior Sydney Fischer stood to the left of the back line as Archmere junior Olivia Borsello started her serve. The serve tipped off the top of the net and was handled by Tower Hill senior Parker Lewicki. Lewicki passed the ball to Skylar Donohue and the junior set the ball to the front left of the net where Fischer was waiting.

Fischer rose up and hit the ball hard, right at Borsello in the middle of the court. Borsello only had time to react as Fischer’s kill moved at a ferocious pace. The ball hit off Borsello’s hands and landed way behind the field of play. 

Fischer recorded her third kill of the fourth set and increased the Hillers’ lead to 7-2, helping Tower Hill defeat Archmere and return to the state championship for the third season in a row.

“It’s so exciting,” Fischer said about moving onto the state championship game for the third straight season. “I really hope it goes well. Little nerve wracking again being in The Bob, but yeah I’m really excited.”

Fischer finished the game with 30 kills, with eight of them coming in the fourth set to go along with an ace that helped increase the Tower Hill total to 23. Hiller junior Cadence Davis scored the game winning kill on a strike from the left side after having to leave the game earlier due to an injury. The Hillers won the fourth set, 25-21.

“It was so cool,” Fischer said about Davis’ game winning play. “I think that’s exactly what we wanted. I mean in the huddle we told her like we all have her back, we’re all here for her even if she’s down or she’s hurting, like we have her, anything she needs she just needs to communicate with us and I think it really like spoke to how well our team culture is.”

With Davis’ short absence and the defense focused on limiting Fischer’s impact, the Hillers found an advantage in the middle with strong performances from senior Madison Squire and Jillian Truesdell. The pair combined for over 20 kills and three blocks in the semifinal.

“Seeing what they gave us and trying to just be aggressive especially when a key player like Cadence goes down,” Squire said. “I had to really step-up for my team and just be aggressive and just kind of take control of that front line.”

The Tower Hill versus Archmere matchup has been a staple in the past three DIAA tournaments. The Hillers won each of the last two matchups with sweeps of the Auks, but Archmere was able to win a set against Tower Hill in this year’s matchup, storming back from a seven point deficit to win, 26-24. It’s only the third set Tower Hill has lost this season.

St. Mark’s defeated Middletown, 3-0

Middletown junior Kaitlyn Haupt rose from the back line and hit the ball toward the St. Mark’s side of the court. The ball bounced off the hands of one Spartan then the hand of another before the kill fell to the ground past the back line. The score gave the Cavaliers a four point lead in the first set and forced a Spartan timeout to regroup. 

The timeout proved to be well timed.

St. Mark’s scored ten of the next 12 points of the set turning a four point deficit into a four point lead within minutes. The Spartans never trailed again and won the first set, 25-21. 

St. Mark’s carried the momentum from the first set win into the rest of the matchup, sweeping Middletown, to advance to the 2026 DIAA Volleyball Championship game.

“It feels so good, like me and my team have worked so hard to get here,” St. Mark’s junior Lina Clark said postgame. “There’s been a lot of pressure this whole season to just keep working hard and keep persevering and I feel like all of our hard work just really paid off and showed tonight.”

Clark played a big role in the Spartans closing out the victory with two kills and two blocks from her spot in the middle of the court. Freshman Anna Spofford led the Spartans with five kills in the third set including the game winner on a strike from the right side of the net that landed in the middle of the Cavalier defense. The Spartans’ sweep is their second in the tournament and 13th of the season.

A crucial part of the Spartans’ victory was their defensive play around the net. St. Marks finished the game with ten blocks, turning potential kills into points four times in both the first and final sets. Clark was a big part of that defensive effort accumulating four blocks in the game.

“We go over spots where people hit and how to get there. Me and Gia [Pezzullo] have really been working on pressing, being explosive and I feel like all of our training just came out tonight and it was great,” Clark said. 

Pezzullo finished the game as the Spartans leading scorer with 14 kills and paced an offensive attack that featured multiple players with five or more kills. 

The Spartans will need to take all their successes from this game along with the winning momentum into their battle against the reigning state champions. The Hillers and Spartans have met on this stage twice before in the same amount of years and the Spartans have come out as the runners-up each time without winning a set. 

The trilogy of this recent rivalry is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center on Monday, November 16.

Ryan Colasanti joins Delaware Live following four years at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. There he covered multiple sports for the school’s radio station as both a reporter and editor. Ryan is excited to return back to the state and cover all things Delaware sports.