Even with all the improvement it had made late this season, the Skaneateles girls volleyball team could not quite catch up to the sides atop the OHSL Liberty division.
Some evidence of this was provided in last Tuesday night’s match against Homer, where the Lakers were equal with the Trojans for a long while before taking a four-set defeat.
Each of the first two sets followed similar patterns, with exchanges of points and no one taking full control. Homer, who had swept Skaneateles on Sept. 23, won the opening set 25-23, but the Lakers rebounded and, by that same 25-23 margin, won the second set.
They were on close terms during the third set, too. Yet once the Trojans claimed that set 25-20, it started to take control of the contest, also prevailing in the fourth set, 25-19, to close out the match.
Kelsey Kraetz had an impressive night for the Lakers, earning 10 blocks and nine kills, while Anna Smith had seven kills to go with her 10 assists, four digs and two aces.
Kelsey Farrell, with five kills and eight digs, and Bailey Herr, with four kills and four digs, also made solid contributions. Bella Falcone added three assists and two blocks as Emily Baldwin earned five digs and Shannon Foehl four digs.
Homer featured Emily Cottrell, who had 28 digs and nine kills, and Molly Ulrich, who had 30 digs and five aces. Cary Trierweiler also earned nine kills as Trojans setter Julia Brazo put together 28 assists and 11 digs.
Two nights later, going to Solvay, the Lakers would again take a four-set defeat to a Bearcats team looking to even things up after Skaneateles stopped them in five sets on Sept. 25.
A 25-17 loss in the first set didn’t faze the Lakers, who won the second set by an impressive 25-15 margin. All that did though, was arouse Solvay to its best efforts as it claimed the third set 25-19 and the fourth set 25-18 to take the match.
Smith managed 14 assists, five kills and 10 digs, plus a pair of aces. Kraetz put away 10 kills as Foehl and Herr had four kills apiece. Defensively, Foehl had a team-best 14 digs, just ahead of Herr (13 digs) and Mallory Davis (12 digs), with Emma Goodell adding 10 digs and Farell eight digs.
Solvay featured Jackie Gardner, who had 17 assists, eight kills and eight digs, and Jackie Allen, who got 13 kills and 12 digs. Kseynia Mialik earned 10 kills and 23 digs as Lauren Bandera produced 15 assists, 15 digs, five aces and four kills.
So that meant Skaneateles would complete its regular season at 6-12, the mark not really reflecting the work it had done throughout the fall to compete in a very tough league.
