In a post-season that had already seen a massive amount of surprise outcomes, the East Syracuse Minoa girls volleyball team sought one of its own.
By the time the no. 3 seed Spartans met no. 2 seed Whitesboro in Wednesday night’s Section III Class A semifinal at Oneida High School, top seed and three-time defending champion Carthage was out, its 78-match win streak stopped by Watertown in the other semifinal match.
Now ESM looked to avenge two regular-season defeats to Whitesboro, but could not do so, unable to win a single set from the Warriors.
In the first set, Whitesboro prevailed 25-19. ESM would get closer in each of the next two sets, but again the Warriors finished in front, by margins of 25-21 and 25-22, and end the Spartans’ season with a 16-4 record, with three of those losses coming to Whitesboro.
Erin Herrmann led Whitesboro’s back line with 33 assists, while Cameron Boehlert had a fine all-around effort of 13 kills, six aces and 14 digs. Marissa Burke added nine kills as NataliaDzeravenets had 14 digs and Jessica Blaszak got 13 digs.
A night earlier, in the Class D sectional semifinal at Clinton High School, Manlius-Pebble Hill got within a couple of points of its second massive comeback in as many rounds before falling to no. 4 seed DeRuyter.
Back on Feb. 10, the no. 9 seed Trojans had rallied from two sets down to stun top seed Blessed Virgin Mary. Now the same scenario presented itself when DeRuyter pulled out a close first set 25-23 and then took the second set 25-20.
Maybe finding itself in a comfortable position of adversity, MPH handled the Rockets 25-13 in the third set and dominated the fourth set, too, winning it 25-14 to pull even.
The final set went back and forth, and the Trojans got close – but DeRuyter pulled it out, 25-22, putting an end to MPH’s memorable post-season run.
Ren Brown finished with 36 assists, with Mariah Rinaldi putting up 10 kills and 13 digs. Anna Szombathy added 11 digs and Emma Purce had eight digs. Sarah Smith served up eight aces, to go with five kills and five digs.
Helping Rinaldi on the front line, Halle Erwin had nine kills and five digs, with Taylor Germain earning seven kills and two blocks. Claudia Cook had five kills and five digs as Liza Bruno picked up six digs and three kills.
For the Rockets, Mikayla Quigley picked up 29 digs and Kail Lidell had 23 assists, her passes going to a well-balanced front line where Amber Stedwell and Emma Downs each got eight kills, with Lily Harvey adding seven kills and Molly Lawrence getting six kills.
