CENTRAL NEW YORK – Getting a bit more work as the regular season wound down, the Westhill girls volleyball team also reached some landmarks along the way.
One in particular came out of Monday night’s match against Cazenovia, where the Warriors were pushed to four sets but managed to put up big numbers while defeating the Lakers 25-20, 25-14, 22-25, 25-17.
The extra set meant extra opportunities on all sides to build up numbers, which Alice Bender noticed. By match’s end, the Westhill libero had 31 digs, a new single-match school record.
Sophia Johnson impressed, too, amassing 41 assists, her passes going to Eva Tarolli, who put up 18 kills and a career-best eight blocks to next to Ava Baty’s 13 kills and 14 digs. Emma West earned six kills, with Jocelyn Caputo and Lottie Bruzdzinski each earning four kills and Bruzdzinski managing six blocks.
A night later, in a non-league match against a solid Cicero-North Syracuse team Westhill did manage to beat a large school, something it could not pull off against Baldwinsville or Liverpool.
The Warriors topped the Northstars in four sets 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, nearly pushed to a fifth but closing it out as Bender shattered her day-old school record, this time amassing 41 digs.
Johnson dazzled, too, with 42 assists and 13 digs as, up front, Tarolli had 14 kills and seven blocks, Baty adding 13 kills. Caputo improved to nine kills and Lucy DeMore added five kills. Baty earned 11 digs.
Marcellus continued its strong late-season play against Fulton Monday night, splitting the first two sets but then taking over against the Red Dragons to prevail in four 25-17 ,18-25, 25-17, 25-23.
Just missing a fifth set with Fulton had to bring some confidence, as did Harper Camp earning 15 kills and Maddy Foy 14 kills, the pair combining for nine digs.
Mary Curtin anchored the back line, not only earning 30 assists but serving up four aces. Lake Ziober earned seven kills and three blocks, while Dorothy McMahon converted six kills.
Even bigger, though, was the Mustangs outlasting Skaneateles in a five-set classic two nights later.
Having lost the opener to the Lakers 25-23, Marcellus slammed through the second set 25-6, which allowed it to absorb a 25-19 loss in the third and rebound to win the fourth 25-21.
The final-set race to 15 was all Mustangs as it won 15-5, seeing Chloe Kuttruff, with her 46 assists, pass it to a well-balanced front line where Foy had 14 kills, Camp got 13 kills, McMahon earned 12 kills and Ziober had 10 kills. Foy and Caiden McLymond each added three aces.
On the Lakers’ side, Finn Pas’cal got 15 kills, adding 18 digs. Hannah Ruetsch got six kills, with Natalie Quinn earning eight digs as Delaney Fish accumulated 31 assists and added nine digs, plus three aces.
Still flush with momentum, Marcellus got an impressive 25-19, 25-12, 27-25 sweep of Phoenix Friday night to improve to 9-6 led by Kuttruff’s 35 assists. Foy got 12 kills, with Ziober and Camp adding nine kills apiece and McMahon picking up seven kills.
Solvay swept Mexico 25-12, 25-21, 25-21 last Tuesday night, led by Hannah Cintron’s 13 assists and Emma Rutkowski’s eight kills. Ashlyn Smorol got five kills, with Victoria Zappala getting four kills as Rachel Willsey and Samantha Sacco led the defense, each earning eight digs.
Then, against a Bishop Grimes team which had just lost its first match of the season to Cazenovia in five sets a night earlier, the Bearcats pushed it to four sets but lost 25-14, 17-25, 25-14, 25-9.
Cintron still got nine assists, four aces and 15 digs. Rutkowski had five kills and 10 digs, with Willsey and Smorol each earning four kills and three aces. Gianna D’Eredita had nine digs ahead of Ciera Togni’s eight digs.
When the sectional Class B pairings were announced Westhill had the top seed and a quarterfinal against no. 8 seed Institute of Technology Central. Marcellus, the no. 2 seed, would host no. 7 seed Solvay in its quarterfinal as Skaneateles, with the no. 6 seed, visits no. 3 seed Homer on Wednesday night.
