CENTRAL NEW YORK – One set from seeing its undefeated regular season continue, the Bishop Grimes girls volleyball team finally got caught.
The Cobras’ 14-match win streak ended Wednesday night at the expense of Cazenovia, who prevailed in a five-set classic just two nights after Grimes had required five sets to get past LaFayette.
With a home crowd cheering them on, LaFayette didn’t get fazed by the Cobras winning the first set 25-15. Instead, the Lancers pulled out the second set 25-21 and, with the third set just as close, won again by that same score.
Having never in a match this late, Grimes played its best volleyball, first in pulling away 25-17 in the fourth set, then dominating the final-set race to 15 to win the match 15-6.
Kayla Duenkel accounted for nearly a full set’s worth of points just with her 24 kills, adding eight blocks, two aces and five digs, helped on the front line by Elizabeth Corl’s eight kills and Riley Abernethy’s six kills. Olivia Viatle added four kills.
Ava Christodoulou earned 38 assists, adding 10 digs, two aces and three kills. Corl contributed seven digs, while Vitale and Isabella Coppola joined Duenkel with five digs. Gabby St. James had four digs.
After all this, Grimes tried to replicate this magic against Cazenovia, and got within two points of doing so.
Twice, the Cobras led, with narrow wins in the first set 25-22 and third set 25-23. Twice, the Lakers answered, rolling through the second set 25-13 and pulling out the fourth 25-21.
All of it led to a final set that went well beyond the 15-point limit. After four match points were stopped, Cazenovia, at 17-17, got the lead and then held on to it 19-17.
Through it all, Christodoulou earned 47 assists and 20 digs. Duenkel managed 22 kills and 13 digs, with Abernethy stepping up to get 18 kills and 14 digs. Gianna DiNiro got 11 digs, Corl and Coppola each earning 10 digs.
Just 24 hours later Grimes found itself splitting the first two sets with Solvay, only to take over from there and defeat the Bearcats 25-14, 17-25, 25-14, 25-9.
Four aces by Vitale set the tone, with Christodoulou amassing 32 assists and 19 digs. Duenkel’s 16 kills were nearly equaled by Abernethy’s 15 kills. Corl had five blocks, with St. James earning seven digs and Abernethy nine digs.
Fayetteville-Manlius got its own big win Thursday when it topped Liverpool, a team it got swept by Sept. 30 but, here, rallied from dropping the opening set to beat the Warriors 18-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20.
Kalyna Dannenberg gained 21 kills and 19 digs, Malana Noble stepping up for 19 kills as she, along with Larah Schepp and Madeline Houser, had 18 digs apiece. Addison Keyes added six kills as Laila Duggal passed to all of them on her way to tying her season mark with 47 assists.
Before this, the Hornets put away Henninger in three sets last Tuesday night 25-16, 25-14, 25-9.
Five of the Hornets’ 17 aces came from Housel, Megan Kolceski adding three aces. Megan Dumas worked on the back line with 18 assists as Dannenberg got five kills and Abigail Todi stepped up with four kills.
A night later F-M swept Indian River 25-16, 25-18, 25-14. Dannenberg’s 13 kills, four blocks, six digs and two aces led the way, Olivia Tom adding eight kills and four blocks as Duggal returned to the back line and earned 17 assists next to Schepp’s 16 digs. Housel and Noble each got eight digs.
Jamesville-DeWitt rolled past Auburn 25-22, 25-14, 25-18 last Monday night, only really nervous in the first set as Merris Kessler worked her way to nine kills and Ellyana Deng got seven kills.
Lyla Commandeur had four kills and Amariyah McClinton three kills, while on the back line Lacey Phaneuf (nine assists) and Yeva Balayan (eight assists) provided depth, Balayan adding eight aces as Alana Bates joined Phaneuf on nine aces, adding eight digs as Hannah Trevisani earned seven digs.
In four sets on Thursday night J-D defeated Oswego 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20. Many of Balayan’s 20 assists went to Deng (10 kills) and Kessler (nine kills), with Aaliyah Anderson and Quinn Pfister getting five kills apiece. Phaneuf and Bates both earned four aces, with Bates’ 13 digs just ahead of Trevisani’s 12 digs and Anderson’s 11 digs.
J-D, as the no. 2 seed in the Class A sectional playoffs, meets no. 3 seed Fulton in the semifinal, the winner to get top seed Indian River in the Nov. 9 final at Phoenix.
Meanwhile, Grimes has the top seed in Class D and awaits a semifinal against Living Word Academy or Bishop Ludden as F-M grabbed the top seed in Class AA with a bye directly into a semifinal where it faces the winner of Wednesday’s match between no. 4 seed Oswego and no. 5 seed Auburn.
