As a mid-season test, girls volleyball teams from Marcellus and West Geneee both went to the Baldiwnsville Fall Swing Tournament on Oct. 8.
The Mustangs, moving way up in the level of competition, only went 2-4 in Pool C against Burnt Hills, Thomas Edison and City Honors. Marcellus then lost a 23-25, 25-20, 15-11 decision to Fulton in the Silver playoffs.
WG, meanwhile, got put in Pool A with host B’ville, and went 1-5, splitting with Fulton, but swept by the Bees and Queensbury. Moved into the Bronze playoffs, the Wildcats fell to Horseheads 25-15, 25-17.
Marcellus remained unbeaten, though, in the Onondaga High School League, though it got pushed by Fulton Wednesday in a four-set win over the Red Raiders.
They split the first two sets, the Mustangs prevailing 25-22 in the opener and Fulton claiming the second set 25-21. Marcellus cruised to a 25-14 win in the third set and, in the fourth set, held on 25-22 to close things out.
Jessica Cost backed up her 36 assists with four kills and four aces. Nicole Fletcher had 17 kills and nine blocks, while Devon Landers added 13 kills. Tori Bingham added five assists as Brittney Valentine, with 12 digs, and Allie Massara, with seven digs, led the defense.
When WG resumed league play on Tuesday, it took four sets to beat Corcoran 25-7, 25-15, 20-25, 25-21.
Chrstina Holzhauer amassed 13 aces, 17 digs and six kills, while Jackie Harris had seven aces and 16 digs. Liz LaComb had 20 assists and 13 digs, with Emily Shackleton adding 15 digs, matching Jesse Allen’s total of five kills. Elle Swete added nine digs.
A wild battle with Cicero-North Syracuse followed on Thursday night. After winning a tight opener 25-23, WG lost the next two sets 25-14 and 25-16, but regrouped to win the fourth set 25-16 before taking a 25-18 defeat to the Northstars in the final set.
Through it all, LaComb had 22 assists and nine digs. Shackleton again had 15 digs, to go with six kills, while Holzhauer had seven kills and 15 digs. Allen put up five kills and seven blocks, with Harris producing 17 digs and Swete adding 10 digs.
Solvay fell to Skaneateles 25-14, 25-8, 25-9, as Lydia Bakowski finished with 16 digs, getting defensive help from Kiersten DiBello (nine digs, three aces), Leslie Santos (eight digs) and Jackie Gardner (six digs). Lauren Bandera managed four assists.
The Bearcats did sweep Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central 25-8, 25-9, 25-11 Thursday night. Gardner amassed 10 assists, six kills and four digs, while Bandera put together five aces and six assists. Heather Thompson matched Gardner with six kills and Brenna Poli added five kills.
Westhill played Phoenix on Thursday and won a one-sided opening set, 25-12. On the brink of going up 2-0, the Warriors lost the second set 26-24 and watched as the Firebirds took the next two sets by scores of 25-22 and 25-19.
Annaleigh Gedney put together 23 assists, adding seven digs. Katie McGraw (14 digs) and Abby Bornstein (13 digs) defended well, with Laura Nanno adding 12 digs to go with seven kills.
Emily Persons got 10 digs as Abbey Townley had five kills and four aces. Carrie Griffo put up four kills and three blocks, with McGraw managing five aces and Bornstein five kills. Clarissa Sterly contributed four kills.
Bishop Ludden fell to ITC 25-14, 25-18, 25-21, though Micaela Dixon had seven aces, three kills and three blocks and Jackie Lovell put up seven aces, four assists and three digs. In a 25-9, 25-19, 25-14 loss to Cazenovia, Calleigh Bishop had seven digs, while Lovell got four aces and five assists.
