With the regular season now complete, the Cazenovia girls volleyball could now put all of its attention toward the most important part of its schedule.
Since only one other Class C school (Hannibal) is in the sectional tournament, so all the Lakers have to do is beat the Warriors Saturday at Jamesville-DeWitt in order to advance to the state tournament.
In order to get its tournament fix, Cazenovia invited seven other teams to Buckley Gym on Saturday for an Onondaga High School League Tournament – and proceeded to win it.
Following round-robin play, the Lakers and Homer made it to the championship round, which lasted three sets. The Trojans rallied from a 24-20 deficit to win the last six points and claim the opening set 26-24, but Cazenovia won the second set 25-19 and, in the final set, won by a 15-10 margin.
Cazenovia’s final week of regular-season competition commenced with a visit to Mexico last Monday night, where it put together an impressive 25-16, 25-22, 25-15 sweep of the Tigers.
Madison Gabor led the Lakers’ front line with 10 kills and eight digs. Dana Kiselica and Willa Mihayli-Koch each had eight digs, while Paige Schultz picked up five kills.
Amara Kattrein and Danielle Tedesco earned three kills apiece, with Tedesco adding three blocks and Kattrein five digs. Dominique Lyons and Clarese Zirbel split the back-line duties, Lyons earning 19 assists and Zirbel managing 11 assists.
Two days later, Cazenovia took on Homer at Buckley Gym. And the Lakers weren’t about to get beat on Senior Night, putting together an inspired effort to beat the Trojans in three sets.
Six seniors – Lyons, Gabor, Kattrein, Kiselica, Schultz and Maddy Ellithorpe – received Senior Night accolades. Then a pivotal opening set followed, Cazenovia going back and forth with Homer before breaking a 25-25 tie and, earning the set point, prevailing 27-25.
With momentum from that win, the Lakers rolled through the second set 25-10, and then survived a close third set with the Trojans to win 25-22 and finish off the sweep.
All of the seniors made big contributions. Lyons put up 21 assists, adding three kills and four digs, while Gabor put together six kills, five aces and seven digs. Kattrein had five kills, with Kiselica earning 13 digs. Ellithorpe added three aces and three digs as Schultz managed two kills and two digs.
As to the underclassmen, Mihayli-Koch and Jenna Britton each finished with six digs, while Tedesco put up four kills. Molly Carges had three blocks and two kills.
All of this led to Friday’s regular-season finale at Marcellus, a momentum-building match for either side – and the Lakers got that momentum, winning both of the first two sets 25-19 and losing the third set 25-16 before romping past the Mustangs 25-8 in a lopsided fourth set.
Lyons, picking up 29 assists, 15 digs, four kills and three aces, fed a front line where Gabor had 11 kills to go with 18 digs. Mihayli-Koch and Kattrein each has seven kills, the pair combining for 13 digs. Kiselica added 16 digs as Schultz managed three kills and three blocks.
