Three years has passed since the Marcellus girls volleyball team has held the Section III Class B crown – far too long, by its own high standards.
But now the Mustangs are one win from getting back on top, this after it swept past undefeated, no. 2 seed Canastota in three games in Wednesday night’s Class B semifinal at Chittenango High School.
With that win, Marcellus, the no. 3 seed, advances to Saturday’s 5 p.m. championship match at Jamesville-DeWitt against another unbeaten opponent – South Jefferson, the top seed, who swept Christian Brothers Academy in the other semifinal, also on Wednesday.
Going in, the consensus view of the Marcellus-Canastota semifinal was that it pitted the Mustangs’ raw power, personified by junior hitter Nicole Fletcher, against the defensive skills of the Raiders, who were led by senior Jessica Patterelli, Section III’s all-time leader in assists with more than 2,000 to her credit.
Yet it was Fletcher’s serves that helped Marcellus take control of the opening game. Trailing 5-3, the Mustangs won back the serve, and Fletcher promptly reeled off five consecutive points to give her side the lead for good. Just to be sure, Fletcher served up the last five points of the game, too, culminating with an ace as Marcellus won 25-15.
In all, the Mustangs put up 11 consecutive points, bridging the first and second games. Despite an early 5-0 lead, though, Marcellus watched Canastota storm back and inch ahead, 8-7.
After an exchange of points, at 11-11 the Mustangs put up a 4-0 run, earning the lead for keeps. With Cassie Roberts putting up superb serves, Marcellus again closed strong with six straight points and again won by a 25-15 margin to go up 2-0 in games.
For a long while, it looked like the third game would extend the match. Marcellus was sloppy, and Canastota exploited that to take an 18-11 lead, at one point earning six points in a row.
Not wanting to go any further, the Mustangs rallied and tied it at 19-19 with an 8-1 spurt, then caught a break when a point that should have put the Raiders up 21-19 was instead awarded to Marcellus because Canastota had an improper rotation.
So when the Raiders went back ahead 22-20 and 23-22, instead of having game point the Mustangs still were in it. It moved ahead 24-23, squandered one match point, regained the lead at 25-24, then watched Fletcher put away the final point with a kill that grazed one of the Canastota players.
Overall, Fletcher had 13 kills, three aces, three blocks and four digs. Devon Landers earned four of her five kills in the third game as Sara Ryan added four kills. On the back line, Jena Annable had 17 assists as Jess Cost added eight assists and 11 digs. Libero Tabby McBride was a steady defender throughout the night.
Patterelli, in the last match of her storied high school career, had 15 assists, three kills and five digs as teammate Stephanie Thornton added eight kills.
This sectional final against South Jefferson will represent the last time Marcellus will pursue a winter sectional championship, as in the next school year it will move the volleyball program to the fall, along with the likes of Solvay, Westhill, Fulton and LaFayette.
