ONONDAGA COUNTY – Regardless of the class they were in, a handful of area high school girls volleyball teams all won their respective quarterfinal matches as the Section III playoffs got underway.
As the top seed in Class AA, West Genesee was at home last Friday night to face no. 8 seed Nottingham, and the Wildcats blazed to a 25-10, 25-13, 25-12 sweep of the Bulldogs.
Norah Emery led WG with seven kills. Aja Stojanovski and Nadia Stojanovski each earned four aces, more than half the team’s total of 17, as Ella Bickering, Isabella Vallely and Celia Spicer got three kills apiece. Sidney Hamilton earned 10 assists and Sonya Dunham got seven assists.
WG advances to face no. 4 seed Fulton in Wednesday’s semifinal round, the winner to get Fayetteville-Manlius or Central Square in the championship match this Saturday at 7:30 at Jamesville-DeWitt.
Over in the Class B sectional bracket, Skaneateles and Solvay faced each other, and it was the no. 2 seed Lakers earning a sweep, taking each of the first two sets by equal 25-13 margins and closing out the Bearcats 25-23 in the third.
Now the Lakers will face no. 3 seed Marcellus in the semifinal round after the Mustangs put away no. 6 seed Phoenix in four sets.
After a 25-11 romp in the opening set, the Mustangs lost the second 25-17, only to retake the lead on the Firebirds 25-18 in the third and winning the fourth set 25-21 to close it out.
With her 24 assists, Mary Curtin passed it to a well-balanced front line where Harper Camp, Ellie DeMarle and Bryn Goldsworthy each got seven kills, with Maddy Foy and Lake Ziober each adding five kills. Dorothy McMahon put up six aces and led the defense with 11 digs, ahead of Goldsworthy and Hannah Fagan getting seven digs apiece.
Top seed Westhill flattened Institute of Technology Central 25-6, 25-3, 25-7, with Ava Baty getting eight of the Warriors’ 20 aces to go with 12 assists. Alice Bender added four assists as Sofia Dimovski got six kills, Allison Lancette five kills and Jocelyn Caputo four kills.
Westhill meets Cazenovia (who needed five sets to get past Homer) in the other sectional Class B semifinal as Jordan-Elbridge, the no. 2 seed in Class C, meets Cato-Meridian in its semifinal and Bishop Ludden, the no. 3 seed n Class D, has its semifinal against no. 2 seed Living Word Academy that same night.
