At least for one round, the Cazenovia girls volleyball team would hang on to the Section III Class B crown it claimed a season ago.
The Lakers, with the no. 5 seed, had to travel Friday to face no. 4 seed Christian Brothers Academy in the Class B quarterfinals — but still came out on top, outlasting the Brothers in four games.
CBA had beaten Cazenovia back in the opening week of the season, on Dec. 3. More than two months later, the Lakers would script a different ending — but it took a while to get to that point.
As is often the case, the opening game proved pivotal. Both Cazenovia and CBA had multiple chances to earn game points, only to throw them away. The stalemate went to 30-30 before the Lakers got the serve and, finally, earned the point it needed to win 32-30.
That win was made more vital by the fact that CBA took a close second game 25-23. Shaking that off, Cazenovia gradually began to wear the Brothers down, earning a 25-21 win in the third game, then pulling away in the fourth game to complete the match 25-17.
On defense, Rachel Burbidge earned 19 digs, to go with four assists. Her back-line mates, Chelsea Lauria and Megan Robinson, both had strong efforts, as Lauria earned 13 assists and five kills, while Robinson had 15 assists.
Up front, Cazenovia split up the duties, as Hannah Koennecke emerged to produce 10 kills and two blocks. Close behind her, Lizzy Reed had eight kills, while Sarah Race had seven kills. Amber Robinson added three kills and five assists.
For CBA, Alex Horowitch had 27 assists, feeding it to Lianna Artessa (11 kills), Jessie Bongiovanni (10 kills) and Emily Norkett (nine kills) at the net.
Cazenovia will now face 19-0 top seed Canastota in Wednesday night’s Class B semifinal at 8 p.m. at Jamesville-DeWitt, with the winner to come back to J-D on Saturday for the final against Skaneateles or Marcellus.
