Growing more accustomed to the fall routine, the Marcellus girls volleyball team encountered no serious hurdles in its first full week of action.
The Mustangs worked for all three sets at Phoenix last Tuesday night, but still swept the Firebirds 25-18, 25-18, 25-22.
Nicole Fletcher, who was the goalie on the girls soccer team that went to the state finals a year ago before going to her top sport, had nine kills and seven blocks. Devon Landers also had nine kills, adding three aces, two blocks and five digs. Jessica Cost fed them with 20 assists as Tori Bingham picked up four kills.
Then, just as in winters past, Marcellus zoomed by Westhill 25-13, 25-17, 25-16 on Thursday night. Cost, with her 17 assists, fed it to Fletcher (nine kills, five blocks) and Landers, who had six kills, four aces and three blocks. Allie Massara added five digs and three blocks.
In defeat, the Warriors saw Annaleigh Gedney pick up 14 assists, three digs, two kills, two aces and two blocks. Laura Nanno (10 digs) and Katie McGraw (eight digs) also played solid defense as Abby Bornstein and Clarissa Sterly put up three kills apiece.
In a non-league match last Monday night, West Genesee swept Westhill 25-18, 25-8, 25-17. For the Wildcats, Liz LaComb gained seven assists, with Emily Shackleton picking up three aces. Jesse Allen added three kills, two aces and two blocks. On the Warriors’ side, Clarissa Sterly had seven kills, with Annaleigh Gedney earning 10 assists. Abby Bornstein had five kills, four aces and four digs.
The Warriors turned around 24 hours later and beat Fowler 25-11, 25-6, 25-15. Lauren Eaton had nine aces, while Mackenzie Davis had 10 assists and Gedney got six assists. Kelsey Matukas had five kills and Sterly had four kills.
WG, meanwhile, returned Thursday to beat Utica Proctor 25-17, 25-21, 25-21. Each set was competitive, but the Wildcats proved too good as LaComb earned 21 assists, five kills and two aces.
Shackleton had seven kills, with Brianna Richardson adding four kills and two blocks. Allen, Trish Andrews and Jesica Hillery each had three kills.
A night later, the Wildcats nearly had a big upset against Skaneateles, but lost in five sets. Though it lost the first set 25-19 and the third set 25-12, it won narrow 25-23 decisions in the second and fourth sets to stretch it to the limit before losing the final set 25-21.
LaComb piled up 40 assists, feeding it to Christina Holzhauer (15 kills), Shackleton (14 kills) and Allen (eight kills), with Andrews picking up five kills. Julianna Augustine (22 kills, eight digs, five blocks), Colleen Cargile (24 assists) and Sidney Lawson (15 assists) led Skaneateles along.
Solvay, playing at Cazenovia on Tuesday, lost the first two sets 25-13 and 25-15, but did avoid a sweep by winning the third set 26-24 before dropping the fourth set to the Lakers 25-21.
Meghan O’Toole led the Bearcats’ front line with six kills, with Kiersten DiBello and Kyndra Jackson both earning four aces. Lauren Bandera had 10 assists and Leslie Santos added 12 digs.
But the Bearcats would claim a five-set classic with LaFayette on Thursday. Beaten 25-16 in the opener, Solvay controlled the second set 25-17 and pulled out the third set 27-25. The Lancers tied it, 25-22, in the fourth set, but Solvay pulled it out, 25-23, in the finale.
Through it all, Bakowski and Julie Gardner both had 24 digs, Gardner adding eight kills and four aces. Heather Thompson had nine kills and Brenna Poli added seven kills. Jackie Gardner gained 14 assists and 11 digs. Kiersten DiBello had five aces and nine digs.
Bishop Ludden fell to LaFayette 25-7, 25-9, 25-8 on Tuesday, and moved on to take a 25-3, 25-12, 25-8 loss to Skaneateles Thursday night.
