CENTRAL NEW YORK – Some defeats are easier to take than others.
True, the Cazenovia girls volleyball team lost to Skaneateles on Oct. 12. But the fact that it pushed the 13-1, reigning Section III Class C champions to five sets in a result less lopsided than their first meeting in September had to be encouraging.
And with both Lakers sides moving up to Class B for the sectional playoffs, there was always a chance they could meet again.
Meanwhile, Cazenovia moved on to a busy week which commenced last Monday at Buckley Gym with its second sweep of Phoenix that carried far more importance than just another good regular-season victory.
It gave head coach Brian Ellithorpe his 400th career win, earned over the course of 28 seasons in Cazenovia where he has also spent time coaching the winter program at nearby Morrisville-Eaton.
Having handled the Firebirds Oct. 2 in three sets, the Lakers did the same here, taking the first set 25-14 and the second 25-16 before tearing through a 25-6 third set to end it.
Lucy Bliss and Mya Skeele each put up four aces, with Olivia Pirkl adding three aces to set the tone as Bliss tacked on 11 assists and five digs, helped on the back line by Becca Ziemba with her 14 assists, four digs and two kills.
Alyssa Wardell led Cazenovia at the net, putting away eight kills. Skeele earned five kills, with Pirkl,, Sophie Reger and Olivia Morse earning three kills apiece.
A far tougher assignment awaited two nights later at Marcellus, and Cazenovia nearly won it, only topped in five sets by the Mustangs.
The Lakers won the first set 25-17, only to drop the next two sets by 25-11 and 25-15 margins before everything fit together in a dominant fourth set that Cazenovia claimed 25-7.
Marcellus absorbed this and, in the final set, won it 15-11, overcoming 10 assists from Bliss and eight assists from Ziemba. Bliss also had 14 digs, with Pirkl getting 10 digs to go with a team-best seven kills. Reger and Alyssa Wardell had four kills apiece.
On the Marcellus side, Mary Curtin got 20 assists and Chloe Kuttruff 10 assists. Elle DeMarle had 10 kills and four blocks, Bryn Goldsworthy and Harper Camp each earning seven kills as Goldsworthy earned 14 digs and Camp 10 digs.
After playing Saturday in the OHSL tournament in Phoenix, the Lakers find out Sunday its placement in the sectional Class B playoff bracket.
Ultimately, the Lakers drew the no. 4 seed. On Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Buckley Gym, Cazenovia faces no. 5 seed Homer in the quarterfinals, the winner to get either Westhill or Syracuse ITC in the Nov. 1 semifinal, with the title match Nov. 4 at Jamesville-DeWitt.
