CENTRAL NEW YORK – Each time they met this fall, the Westhill girls volleyball team proved too good for Marcellus, reversing the positions they held in 2021.
And in the most important match of all, it remained that way as the top-seeded Warriors got the best of the no. 2 seed Mustangs Friday night at Chittenango High School to take the Section III Class B championship.
What happened in the opening set proved instructive. Though Westhill led early, Marcellus made its way back and even took a 19-18 lead before the Warriors rattled off four straight points and ultimately took the set 25-21.
In the second set, even with a 5-0 run by Westhill, Marcellus rallied to pull even, 18-18, only to see the Warriors save its best volleyball for the homestretch, going in front for good and again winning 25-21.
Not wanting any more drama, Westhill scored the first seven points of the third set, and though Marcellus got within four on several occasions, by a 25-19 margin the Warriors claimed the sectional title.
Ava Baty produced 27 assists, five aces, four kills and five digs as Tori Militi earned 22 digs and Sydney Medeiros eight digs.
Janiah Robinson, with nine kills, led a well-balanced Westhill front line as Alison Lancette and Eva Tarolli had seven kills apiece. Sofia Dimovski (seven digs) and Hannah Schmitz (six digs) also contributed on the defensive side.
In defeat, Marcellus saw Bryn Goldsworthy earn 11 kills and 13 digs. Carly Hopper, Bella Palen and Sarah Louer each got six kills, Hopper earning 17 digs and Louer 12 digs as Chloe Kuttruff had 27 assists and 15 digs. Lauren Mahler had 10 digs.
These teams got there in wildly different manners, with Westhill handling no. 4 seed Cortland in three sets in its semifinal last Tuesday while Marcellus needed five sets to outlast no. 3 seed Homer.
It proved a rough start for the Mustangs against the Trojans as it dropped the first set 25-15, but it promptly took over in the next two sets, winning each of them by the same 25-15 margin.
Then came the fourth set where Marcellus, on the brink of a match win, saw Homer rise up to take that set 25-23. Unfazed, the Mustangs dominated the final-set race to 15, winning it 15-7.
Through it all, Hopper had 18 kills and 23 digs, plus five aces. Goldsworthy earned 13 kills and 27 digs, with Louer getting 11 kills and 20 digs.
Palen earned eight kills to go with her six blocks as, on the back line, Kuttruff amassed 48 assists and nine digs, with Mahler matching Louer’s total of 20 digs.
Westhill had a far easier time of it, seeing Militi set the tone with her six aces to go with 10 digs as Baty picked up 25 assists, plus four digs and three kills.
Leading the Warriors’ front line, Robinson had nine kills and four blocks, while Lancette picked up eight kills. Emmie Sisack gained five kills and seven digs as Schmitz got three aces, three kills and eight digs.
With the sectional title secured, Westhill faces the Section X champions in regional play next Wednesday night, needing two wins in the regional round to advance to the Nov. 19-20 state final four in Glens Falls.
