Just when the Skaneateles girls volleyball team appeared ready to stomp, uncontested, toward a perfect regular season, an all-too-familiar rival thwarted those plans.
Marcellus, in a complete turnaround from what took place just 18 days earlier, stunned the Lakers with a three-set sweep in last Monday night’s match at the Mustangs’ home gym.
When they had first met Oct. 4, Skaneateles, on its home court, had little real stress in prevailing 25-19, 25-14, 26-24. Even as Marcellus nearly extended the match, there was little reason to think that this version of the Mustangs would ever make the Lakers worry too much, either in the regular season or playoffs.
Once the rematch started, though, it was instantly clear that Marcellus had improved in all facets of the game, 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, especially the likes of Brittney Valentine and Allie Massara, flung itself all over the court to keep rallies alive, and that, combined with the power on the front line provided by Massara, Haley 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, Skaneateles never led in the first set. Marcellus 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 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, Skaneateles had set points, but could not convert, and on three other occasions the Mustangs 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.
Through it all, the Lakers’ Sidney Lawson managed 23 assists and 13 digs. Julianna Augustine managed 13 kills and 17 digs, while JoAnna Dean had five kills and 16 digs. Natalie Roche augmented her 12 digs with four kills.
On the Mustangs’ side, 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. Cost, in addition to her great serves, earned 13 assists, eight digs and four kills. Anna Smith contributed nine assists and seven digs.
This changed the narrative going into Saturday’s OHSL Tournament at Phoenix. More importantly, the path to the Section III Class B title got a lot more difficult, especially if Skaneateles and Marcellus end up in a third encounter.
