When the Marcellus girls volleyball team left the Skaneateles gymnasium on Oct. 4, having lost in three sets to the undefeated Lakers, few could have imagined what would unfold when the two sides got together again less than three weeks later.
Against a Laker team that had lost just one set all season, the Mustangs put everything together and prevailed in its own three-set sweep Monday night, completely altering the picture for the upcoming Section III Class B playoffs in the process.
“We were fired up to play,” said the Mustangs’ Devan Landers. “We wanted vengeance, and we got it.”
The notion that Marcellus could threaten Skaneateles, given what took place on Oct. 4, seemed absurd. Mustangs head coach Hy Bryant said his team had not been sharp for most of the season and has labored to improve.
“We’ve been working real hard on the things we did poorly,” he said. “(Earlier) we didn’t serve well, pass well or talk to each other on the court well. And we weren’t making good selections.”
All of that stuff had to be in place against Skaneateles, and it was, starting with the serves. The Mustangs’ high serve percentage assured that it would not give points to the Lakers as Jessica Cost, with 11 aces, set a positive tone.
Then, on defense, Marcellus flung itself all over the court to keep rallies alive, and that, combined with the power on the front line provided by Landers, Allie Massara and Hannah O’Brien, gave the Mustangs the initiative right from the start.
“Tonight, everything started to click,” said Landers.
Other than the first point, Marcellus never trailed in the opening set. It broke out of a 3-3 tie with an 8-1 spurt, and after Skaneateles pulled even at 15-15, the Mustangs went on a 7-1 run, mostly with Brittney Valentine’s deft serves, and won the set 25-20.
What followed was an epochal second set. When Skaneateles took a 13-6 lead, it looked well on the way to pulling even. But Marcellus fought back, caught up at 16-16, and from there it went back and forth for a long while, the match’s momentum hanging in the balance.
Three different times, Marcellus had set points, but could not convert, and on three other occasions the Lakers had a chance to put away the set, but could not.
Finally, at 29-29 the Mustangs gained back the serve, and when Landers put away a block that fell in the Skaneateles backcourt, Marcellus had prevailed 31-29.
Still, the Mustangs had to finish it off, and in a tight third set, the two sides traded two-point runs until, at 17-17, Marcellus all but decided matters with five straight points, all on Jessica Cost’s serve and closed out the match by a 25-20 margin.
Valentine finished with 38 digs, while Massara contributed 23 digs to go with 10 kills. O’Brien led with 11 kills as Landers picked up eight kills and four blocks.
Kelsey Burke added five kills as Cost, in addition to her great serves, earned 13 assists, eight digs and four kills. Anna Smith contributed nine assists and seven digs. Suzanna Sylcox finished with 10 digs, while Kristin Field had three aces and four digs.
Marcellus still has Saturday’s OHSL Tournament at Phoenix, plus the Class B sectionals, where a third encounter with Skaneateles is quite possible.
“We have to take what we did here and run with it,” said Landers. “We have to play just as well the rest of the season.”
