Waking up early on Saturday morning, the Hamilton girls volleyball team made the drive to Jamesville-DeWitt High School, in hot pursuit of a Section III Class D championship that had just eluded them the previous two years.
New York Mills stood in the way – and like Oppenheim-Ephratah in 2009 and Living Word Academy in 2010, the Marauders ended up with the title, beating the Emerald Knights in four games.
What made this defeat so painful went beyond just the fact that it was a third straight loss in the sectional finals. Hamilton had played a terrific match to beat New York Mills early this season, and figured it could reach a similar level in this championship showdown.
But the Marauders had other plans, bolting out to a 22-13 lead late in the first game and, despite a furious Emerald Knights rally, prevailing 25-19.
In the second game, Mills broke out of a 3-3 tie with five straight points and never trailed again. Hamilton fought hard and caught up at 20-20, but fine serves from the Marauders allowed them to prevail 25-21 and take a 2-0 lead in games.
This, by itself, did not alarm Hamilton, since it knew that Mills had erased a similar deficit to eliminate DeRuyter in a five-game semifinal classic. Now the Emerald Knights looked to do the same.
Improving its serves and placement of spike attempts, Hamilton erased a quick 2-0 deficit in the third game and stretched out the margin to as much as nine points before easily claiming the game 25-17, prolonging the match.
And the fourth game looked even better, as the Emerald Knights kept building the margin until it was 21-11, and everyone in the J-D gym, even Mills partisans, were thinking about a fifth game.
Except that the fifth game never happened. The Marauders climbed back to 22-17 and, after a Hamilton point, reeled off six in a row to tie it, 23-23. The Emerald Knights got the serve back for a game point, but could not convert, leaving it 24-24.
Then Mills inched ahead, 25-24, squandered a match point with a bad serve, but watched Hamilton serve wide for a second match point – which it converted to win 27-25 and take the sectional title.
In defeat, Morgan Brooks managed 12 digs and five kills. Carrie VonMuench had six kills, while Clara Jones posted 10 digs. Rachel Holcomb picked up seven assists as Emily Powrie managed seven digs and four kills. Hannah Sorosky added six assists.
Hamilton will lose just three seniors, including Holcomb, to graduation, so a large returning cast should mean yet another chance next season to get to the final – and this time win.
