A few points here and there, and perhaps the Cazenovia girls volleyball team is talking about an undefeated week rather than a 1-2 mark.
It all started when the Lakers visited West Genesee last Monday night, where it pushed the Wildcats to the wire before taking a five-set defeat.
Each of the first three sets was close, and made a difference in the eventual outcome. Cazenovia could only pull out the second set 25-23, in between WG edging them 26-24 in the first set and 25-22 in the third set.
As a result, the Lakers’ 25-16 victory in the fourth set only prolonged the matter, and the Wildcats dominated the final set, claiming it 25-11.
Amber Robinson produced 13 assists, eight kills and 17 digs in the long match. Madison Gabor had a team-best 10 kills, adding 15 digs as Samantha Prosser, to go with 16 digs, served up six aces.
Amara Kattrein (seven kills) and Kaitlyn Puukila (five kills) contributed on the front line as Dominique Lyons amassed 25 digs. On WG’s side, Kara Sweeney had 11 aces and 22 assists, with Ella Swete adding 14 aces. Brianna Richardson and Jesse Allen each had eight kills and three aces.
Just 24 hours later, Cazenovia met Jamesville-DeWitt, who just made its own switch to a fall schedule. This time around, the Lakers didn’t let anything get away, winning three consecutive sets by equal 25-20 margins for the sweep.
Gabor and Robinson both put up six kills and nine digs, with Robinson adding 10 assists. Lyons amassed 13 digs and also got a pair of kills, with Valik earning six assists and four digs. Samantha Prossner picked up seven digs and Paige Schultze served up four aces.
When Cazenovia took on LaFayette Thursday night, all looked to be fine in the early going, but the Lakers could not hold on to its edge and lost in five sets to the Lancers.
After winning the first set 25-20, Cazenovia appeared to withstand LaFayette’s best effort when it claimed the second set 26-24. But the Lakers could not close it out.
Instead, LaFayette squeaked out close wins in both the third set (25-23) and fourth set (25-22), evening up the match and setting up the Lancers’ 25-18 win in the final set.
Through it all, Robinson gained 14 kills, 16 assists and 22 digs. Prossner also had 22 digs to go with seven kills, while Gabor had eight kills, four aces and 16 digs and Lyons got 15 digs and five aces. Kaitlyn Puukila added six kills.
LaFayette, to win, needed 40 assists from Haile Beebe, who was also won of six Lancers to get 11 or more digs. Cassidy Ubieta (23 digs, 13 kills) and Kayla McElhannon (22 digs, nine kills) led that effort as Katie Clarke added 16 kills, nine digs and six blocks.
Cazenovia’s chance for payback against LaFayette comes up next Saturday at Buckley Gym, not even 24 hours after a Friday-night trip west to face defending Class B champion Marcellus.
