The high school girls volleyball season is right around the corner with the start of official practices and first scrimmage dates set for the middle of August.

Last season, two teams from the WPIAL out of District VII qualified for the state championship games in Mechanicsburg. Hampton fell to District I champion Pope John Paul II in four sets in Class 3A. North Allegheny qualified in 4A and defeated District I champion Unionville in straight sets. 

More: Pennsylvania high school football: Key dates for the 2024 season

Along with the two WPIAL qualifiers for the state championship, District VI also had two qualifiers and one champion with Philipsburg-Osceola defeating Trinity in four sets to claim the PIAA Class 2A state championship. West Branch also qualified for the state championship out of the district falling to Elk County Catholic in straight sets.

The PIAA championship game matchups were:

• Elk County Catholic def. West Branch 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-12) in 1A
• Philipsburg-Osceola def. Trinity 3-1 (28-22, 22-25, 25-21, 25-21) in 2A
• Pope John Paul II def. Hampton 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-15, 25-21) in 3A
• North Allegheny def. Unionville 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) in 4A

Here are some of the important dates and information for the upcoming season:

When is the first day of Pennsylvania high school volleyball practice?

Aug. 12

When are the first games for Pennsylvania high school volleyball?

Aug. 23

When do the Pennsylvania high school state volleyball playoffs begin?

Nov. 5

When are the Pennsylvania high school volleyball championships?

Nov. 16 at Cumberland Valley High School

Shapiro has been the governor for less than two years, but in that short time, he has been tested by a series of crises that garnered him national attention. Just a month after taking office last January 2023, a train derailment in bordering East Palestine, Ohio, forced the evacuation of thousands of Pennsylvanians. Last June, a heavily trafficked segment of I-95 in Philadelphia collapsed but was repaired in less than two weeks. Most recently, he was lauded for his response to the shooting in Butler.

Shapiro also has a reputation as a skilled and pragmatic legislator willing to compromise when necessary. He is one of the most popular politicians among Pennsylvania voters, with a favorability rating of up to 60%.

“He’s one of the most liked governors of all time, and his policies are pretty down the middle,” State Rep. Danilo Burgos of North Philly told WHYY News. “And that’s what Americans are calling for, is to make America the leader that it once was.”

While Republicans say they believe Donald Trump will beat Harris regardless of who she picks as VP, many still express respect for the governor.

“Josh is a very talented, smart politician and a longtime friend,” RNC delegate Jeff Bartos of Montgomery County told WHYY News. “But no matter who they put on the ticket, the Democrats are going to have the Biden-Harris agendas. They’re going to have to answer for that, whether it’s inflation, whether it’s the border crisis, whether it’s crime, whether it’s war on energy … There’s just no way for the Democrats to win Pennsylvania.”

Budget negotiations during his first year in office were temporarily delayed after a politically embarrassing incident. As the June 30 deadline neared, the governor, according to multiple accounts, privately negotiated a deal with state Senate Republicans to create a taxpayer-funded school voucher plan. Democrats privately said they were blindsided by the move and refused to give their support to the proposal.

Despite Shapiro’s efforts to assuage members of his party, the governor was forced to abandon the plan.

Shapiro scored a major win in this year’s budget, securing $500 million for a program to prepare sites for industrial or mixed-use developments. Still, the final deal did not include several other key issues Shapiro advocated for, including sustainable funding for public transit and the legalization of adult-use recreational marijuana.

“There were some things we didn’t get done this time,” Shapiro acknowledged during a news conference after signing the budget, “but in a productive democracy, this is how progress is made — by moving past partisan politics and having real conversations together.”

Has Josh Shapiro been involved in any controversies?

One of the few controversies of Shapiro’s tenure as governor came courtesy of one of his oldest allies, his now-former legislative liaison Mike Vereb.

Shapiro and Vereb, a Republican, are both from Montgomery County and served together in the state House. When Shapiro became attorney general, he brought Vereb on as a top advisor. And when Shapiro was elected governor, Vereb was one of the few Republicans to join his staff, this time in a key role as the governor’s emissary to the legislature.

But in September, Vereb resigned. His departure came shortly after reporters had learned a staffer had filed a complaint against him alleging harassment that had begun shortly after the start of the administration.

Spotlight PA learned that the administration had quietly paid out $295,000 to settle the complaint three weeks before Vereb’s abrupt resignation. Shapiro would not discuss the matter in any detail, with his administration saying only that it handled the matter in a professional and timely manner.

That settlement isn’t the only matter about which Shapiro has been notably tight-lipped. Across the board, Shapiro’s administration has been markedly more opaque than previous governors’.

As Shapiro prepared to take office, he had members of his transition team sign nondisclosure agreements and would not say who paid for inauguration events.

Unlike his predecessor, who released detailed daily schedules, Shapiro has declined to regularly release information about who he meets with behind the scenes. He also categorizes his daily calendars as “personal” papers, which exempts them from the state’s Right-To-Know Law.

The governor also loosened a notoriously tight gift ban for his employees while arguing it would still protect against gifts from lobbyists influencing his agenda.

However, Shapiro has still accepted free tickets, including to the Super Bowl, paid for by unknown donors to a little-known fund managed by Team PA, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit of which the governor is a co-chair.

He also listed tickets to sporting events, from long-time donors and lobbyists, as campaign contributions.

The administration has argued this is all in compliance with the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws, which are among the most lax in the country, and that the gift ban doesn’t apply to Team PA.

Shapiro, one of the country’s most prominent Jewish politicians, has also taken a central role in condemning antisemitism and what he sees as weak responses to it in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people.

“I am pro-the idea of a Jewish homeland, a Jewish state, and I will certainly do everything in my power to ensure that Israel is strong and Israel is fortified and will exist for generations,” Shapiro told the New York Times.

As protests against Israel’s war in Gaza — where the death toll now tops 39,000 — have escalated, Shapiro has argued some demonstrations have crossed a line into bigotry.

Amid rising protests against the war, the Shapiro administration updated the office’s code of conduct to bar “scandalous” conduct. An email accompanying the policy cited social media posts, boycotts, graffiti, and public confrontations as examples of potential “hate speech” that would not be tolerated.

He also backed a bipartisan bill that would strip state funding from any school that divests from Israel.

What’s next for Josh Shapiro?

Before Biden announced he was stepping down, Shapiro, who has made many appearances as a surrogate for and supporter of Biden, said he stood by the president.

Soon after Biden announced he would not accept the nomination for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, Shapiro issued a statement giving her his full support.

“I’ve known Kamala Harris for nearly two decades — we’ve both been prosecutors, we’ve both stood up for the rule of law, we’ve both fought for the people and delivered results,” Shapiro said in a statement released by his campaign office.

“Kamala Harris is a patriot worthy of our support and she will continue the work of generations of Americans who came before us to perfect our union, protect our democracy, and advance real freedom. She has served the country honorably as Vice President and she is ready to be President.”

As of Monday morning, Shapiro was scheduled to appear at an afternoon news conference in Pittsburgh to announce the recipients of federal pollution reduction grants.