With its pair of victories last week, the West Genesee girls volleyball team moved into second place in the CNY Counties League standings behind undefeated Baldwinsville in advance of a showdown between the Wildcats and Bees Tuesday night in Camillus.
The Wildcats opened its week at 5-1 on the season, and improved on that mark with a 25-7, 25-13, 25-14 sweep of Corcoran last Monday night, a match that included 24 assists and seven digs from Sasha Mekker.
Audrey Dennis had eight kills and five digs, while Carolyn King had seven kills and three assists. Rachel Hillery put together five kills, five aces and four digs as Sam Sprague, Madison Smith and Mackenzie Smith earned three kills apiece and Jaylin Mallore picked up 10 digs.
It expected to get tougher two nights later, when WG visited Liverpool, but instead the Wildcats again displayed a high level of skill and expertly put away the Warriors, claiming the first and third sets by 25-17 margins and dominating the second set 25-12 in between.
On a well-balanced front line, King earned nine kills, to go with four aces. Hillery and Dennis had eight kills apiece, with Hillery adding 11 digs and Dennis getting six digs. Mekker again finished with 24 assists, plus nine digs, three kills and two aces. Mallore also had nine digs.
Elsewhere, Jordan-Elbridge roared to a 25-8, 25-10, 25-17 sweep of Syracuse Academy of Science last Tuesday night to improve to 3-6 on the season. Emily Klock recorded 11 of the Eagles’ 20 aces, while Bailey Van Gorden earned nine assists. Emily Jennings contributed four assists as Caelyn Forbes had three assists. Cassie Schader got a team-best three kills.
In matches on Thursday night, J-E swept Fowler in three sets, while Bishop Ludden returned to face Central Square and took a five-set defeat to the Redhawks.
The Eagles’ 25-17, 25-14, 25-19 win over the Falcons involved lots of Klock, who served up eight aces and added 10 kills. Van Gorden often passed it to Klock, finishing with 12 assists and four aces as Jane Strife got six digs, two aces and two kills. Molly Derby and Renee Eggleston had three kills apiece.
Ludden, for its part, lost the first two sets to Central Square 25-17 and 25-21. Two points from defeat on a couple of occasions, the Gaelic Knights pulled out a 25-23 third set and 28-26 fourth set, only to have the Redhawks recover to take the final set 25-18.
Natalie Fagan finished with 20 assists, her passes often going to Aurora Deshaies, who earned 11 kills and six blocks. Sarah Smith had six kills, with Bridget Brogan getting 14 digs as she and Nicole Noreault each earned four kills. Meghan Wilkinson had a season-best 31 digs and Kari Plumridge contributed four kills.
