Based on the lopsided numbers it had put up during the playoffs, the Skaneateles girls volleyball team appeared to be on a direct path to the Section III Class B championship.
Maybe it had been too easy, though.
For when the challenge increased again in last Saturday’s final against Cazenovia at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, Skaneateles could not quite get the points it needed, leading to a painful four-game defeat.
These two Laker teams took wildly diverging paths to the final round. As Skaneateles breezed through Mount Markham and Solvay, Cazenovia had required five games to fight past Marcellus, then four games to topple top seed Canastota.
However, when Skaneateles fought to a 24-21 lead in the opening game of the championship match, it looked like Cazenovia might get left behind again.
But this was not the same Cazenovia squad that lost both regular-season meetings with its namesakes, as it proved by fighting off three game points, then taking two more points to steal that opener 26-24, leaving Skaneateles fans in shock.
For a moment, Skaneateles recovered, taking the second game 25-19, but it would pay a price in each of the next two games for spotting big margins to Cazenovia.
Trailing 17-10 in the third game, Skaneateles came all the way back and took a 21-20 lead. But Cazenovia kept its poise and, at 23-23, earned the last two points to win, 25-23, putting Sknaeateles in a 2-1 deficit.
Now fighting for its life, Skaneateles fell behind 20-13 in the fourth game. Ryan Merle’s serves led to seven straight points and a 20-20 tie, but Cazenovia made a 4-1 run in response. Despite saving two match points, Skaneateles lost 25-23, and those other Lakers were sectional champions.
Merle finished with 14 kills, plus four aces. Katherine Hill had 11 kills, while Emily Wood had eight kills. Chloe Warner gained 26 assists and Destin VanTyle helped with five assists. For Cazenovia, Alissa Easterly had 28 assists and six aces, with Julie Gregg (11 kills, three aces) leading the front line.
Reaching the final did not require heavy lifting. Skaneateles took on Solvay in last Wednesday night’s Class B semifinal at Chittenango and took three short game to knock out the Bearcats.
Solvay had risen from a no. 11 seed to get this far, winning at both no. 6 seed Adirondack and no. 3 seed Lowville in the opening two rounds.
None of that success translated into this round, though. The Lakers tore through the first game 25-12 and won the second game 25-15 before dominating the third game 25-6 to close things out in a hurry.
Warner, with her 24 assists, set up a balanced front line where Wood had nine kills and Hill got eight kills to lead the way. Merle had six kills and three blocks, with Alexa Campanile adding five kills. VanTyle had four kills and four assists.
Skaneateles finished with a 17-3 mark, and because of the way it fell in the finals, it also left with a lot of hunger for next season. Warner and Leigh Ryan graduate, but Wood, Hill, Merle, VanTyle and Campanile come back in 2009-10, bent on taking the last step to a championship.