Whatever mid-season bouts of inconsistency and doubt that surfaced for the Cazenovia girls volleyball team are now swept away, and there’s no telling where the road might end.
The Lakers gained a bit of payback in Tuesday night’s match against Westhill at Buckley Gym, prevailing in five sets over the defending Section III Class B champion Warriors.
Back on Sept. 16, Cazenovia lost in four sets at Westhill, getting off to a terrible start in that match before an inspired comeback fell attempt fell short– something that the Lakers stored away, knowing that, if it could get out of the gate faster, it might fare better when it met the Warriors again.
Indeed, Cazenovia got that quick start, roaring past Westhill 25-16 in the first set, and that momentum carried over into the second set, where the Lakers prevailed, 25-19.
In fact, the match was nearly a sweep – but now it was Westhill’s turn to rally, pulling out the third set 25-23 and then, in the fourth set, erasing Cazenovia’s 17-12 lead with a 9-2 run. They went back and forth until it was 25-25, but two points from victory, the Lakers were denied again as the Warriors won back the serve and claimed the set 27-25.
Showing its own resolve, Cazenovia broke out of a 13-13 tie in the final set with a series of big serves from Jenna Britton in a decisive 7-1 run. Westhill never recovered and the Lakers, by the same 25-19 margin as in the second set, won the match.
All told, Britton put together 51 assists, to go with 17 digs and four aces. There were plenty of defensive standouts, from Taylor Eldred (18 digs) and Katie Davis (17 digs) to Rebeckah Swart (15 digs) and Paige Nardella (12 digs).
But none of them did more to save points than Willa Mihayli-Koch, who amassed 20 digs and, for good measure, put away 13 kills, a total only topped by Molly Carges, who had 21 kills and four blocks. Danielle Tedesco had 11 kills, six blocks and seven digs as Eldred added six kills.
On Westhill’s side, Melissa Newcomb had 20 kills and 10 digs, with Delaney Martin adding 13 kills and 18 digs. Mackenzie Martin recorded 32 assists and Xiomara Rodriguez added 17 digs.
Having won four straight matches, Cazenovia went for five in a row Thursday and tried to complete a regular-season sweep of Homer, whom it beat on Sept. 18 in four sets.
This one would also go four sets – and also finish with the Lakers on top. Perhaps too comfortable after a 25-12 romp in the opening set, Cazenovia lost, 25-18, in the second set, but rebounded in a big way, controlling the third and fourth sets against the Trojans, winning each of them by equal 25-17 margins.
Tedesco and Mihayli-Koch both finished with 12 kills, with Carges contributing six kills and four blocks. Britton put together 31 assists, eight digs and five aces.
Mihayli-Koch got a team-best 15 digs as part of a great defensive effort where Nardella managed 11 digs, Eldred had six digs and Swart had nine digs to go with four assists, two kills and three aces. Homer saw Emily Cottrell manage 11 kills and 22 digs, with Julia Brazo adding 25 assists.
All of this left Cazenovia tied with Westhill for first in the OHSL Liberty American division, each with 6-2 league marks as the Lakers only have one match this week, going to Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central on Tuesday night.
