Now the Canastota girls volleyball team looked to add to its rich winning heritage by going out and taking the Section III Class B championship.
A 20-1 regular-season mark (the only loss came to Adirondack on Feb. 5) left the Raiders with the top seed in Class B and a first-round bye.
Rested and prepared to go again, Canastota entered the fray in last Friday night’s Class B quarterfinal and swept past no. 8 seed Homer in three games.
Homer, who had beaten the likes of Marcellus and Skaneateles earlier this season, came close in the opening game, only to have the Raiders finish in front 25-22.
That led to Canastota cruising through the third game 25-13, and while Homer nearly extended the match in the third game, the Raiders’ narrow 25-23 win secured a trip to the next round.
Active as always, Jessica Patterelli put together 18 assists, 12 digs and nine kills. On a balanced front line, Denae Rinaldo and Sarah Willis each matched Patterelli with nine kills, with Willis adding 12 digs and three aces. Chelsea Backus had seven digs, Larissa Kutuzba got six digs and April Swanson had five digs.
In Tuesday night’s Class B semifinal at Chittenango, the Raiders will face no. 4 seed Cazenovia, who survived a five-game epic with defending champion Marcellus to get this far. The winner gets Skaneateles or Solvay in Saturday’s championship match at Jamesville-DeWitt.
