Granted, it was just the quarterfinal round of the Section III Class B playoffs. But Saturday’s girls volleyball match between no. 4 seed Cazenovia and no. 5 seed Marcellus at Buckley Gym carried as much tension and excitement as championship contests.
Many different times, it looked like the Lakers had thrown away its chances to win — but at the last possible moment, it got the steel and nerves to edge past the Mustangs in five games.
With that win, the Lakers advances to Tuesday night’s Class B semifinal against top seed Canastota at Chittenango High School. The winner goes to Jamesville-DeWitt for Saturday’s final against Skaneateles or Solvay.
Marcellus had won eight of the last nine sectional titles — a reign only broken by Cazenovia, who had prevailed in 2006 in a five-game epic, so it was only fitting that, to eliminate the Mustangs again, the Lakers had to again go the full distance.
Cazenovia led through most of the opening game, only to see Marcellus, down 16-13, use six straight points to go in front. Though the Lakers rallied and tied it 20-20, the Mustangs made the last move and won that game 25-22.
The Lakers answered by zooming to an 11-3 lead in the second game. Marcellus did pull back within one on two different occasions, but Cazenovia got seven of the last nine points and won 25-19 to even the match at one game apiece.
Only once did Cazenovia trail in the third game, at 7-6. Once it took the lead at 9-8, the Lakers kept it, fending off all kinds of Marcellus comeback attempts and closing on a 5-1 spurt to win it, 25-20, and go up 2-1.
At one point in the fourth game, Cazenovia led by four, and still carried a 17-16 edge in the late going. Not wanting its season to end, Marcellus grabbed the lead and kept it, claiming its own 25-20 win to force the match to the limit.
Good as the first four games were, the final game topped them. It had no less than 14 ties and several lead changes, as neither side got an edge larger than three points.
Breaking a 21-21 tie, the Lakers got the ball back, then used two great serves by Rachel Burbidge to make it 24-21, setting up three possible match points. But when Burbidge’s serve went wide, Marcellus responded with two more points to tie it again, 24-24.
Somehow, Cazenovia shook off this disappointment, regained the serve at 25-24, and used Hannah Koennecke’s kill shot to the back line to clinch the victory, 26-24.
Through the long battle, Alissa Easterly picked up 31 assists and 10 kills. Julie Gregg had 11 kills, with Leah McAleer earning nine kills before leaving late in the fifth game due to injury.
Lindsey Nourse gained seven kills and Koennecke added six kills and three blocks. Lizzy Reed finished with five kills and three blocks, with Burbidge getting four aces and Megan Robinson helping out with eight assists.
On the Mustangs’ side, Kassie Phillips had 11 kills and 10 blocks on the front line, with Kayla Howard (10 kills, four blocks) and Rebecca Eddy (nine kills, four aces, five assists) helping out and Samantha Vulcano feeding them 36 assists.
To get its shot at Marcellus, the Lakers first had to beat no. 13 seed Jordan-Elbridge in last Wednesday’s opening round, and it did so in a three-game sweep.
Cazenovia jumped all over the Eagles, winning the first two games by margins of 25-5 and 25-11 before easing to a 25-23 win in the third game.
Gregg finished with nine kills, to go with four aces, while Nourse had three kills and two blocks. On the back line, Robinson and Chelsea Lauria both had seven assists, giving Easterly (five assists) a chance to rest before Marcellus showed up.
