Right to the final moments of the regular season, the OHSL Liberty division girls volleyball regular-season championship remained in doubt, with Westhill and Cazenovia on even terms.
And it all rode on the fifth set of the Warriors’ regular-season finale Thursday night against the Homer Trojans.
By that point, Westhill had squandered two different leads in the match. More importantly, it knew that Cazenovia, going to 7-2 in league play, had already won its last regular-season match over LaFayette in a three-set sweep, only adding to the tension.
With all of that on the line, the Warriors, drawing on its championship experience, maintained its poise and focus and won that final set, 25-21, this after winning the first set 25-14 and the third set 25-20 before Homer had claimed the second and fourth sets by equal 25-22 margins.
For the victorious Warriors (7-2 league, 12-4 overall), Delaney Martin put together 23 kills and 20 digs, with Mackenzie Martin managing 45 assists and 17 digs. Melissa Newcomb earned 11 kills and 15 digs, while Xiomara Rodriguez gained 22 digs to go with her nine kills.
Olivia Sauro and Bridget Lougen had five kills apiece as Lougen got five blocks. Claire Diefendorf had four aces and eight digs. Jordan Tucker contributed seven digs. Homer’s valiant effort included Julia Brazo’s 46 assists, fed to Caley Cornwell (18 kills), Emily Cottrell (12 kills) and Cary Trierweiler (11 kills), while Molly Ulrich earned 28 digs and Megan Guerrera 23 digs, plus seven kills.
Westhill had started its week facing LaFayette, and though it proved stressful for a while, the Warriors still beat the Lancers in four sets.
Having won the opener 25-18, Westhill was poised to seize control in the second set, but LaFayette dragged it out and won that set, 27-25. All that seemed to do, though, was make the Warriors mad, and it took that anger out on the Lancers, winning the third and fourth sets by equal 25-16 margins to close it out.
Mackenzie Martin put together 41 assists and 13 digs, with Delaney Martin earning 14 kills and 14 assists. Lougen had 10 digs and seven kills, with Newcomb also earning 13 digs and Rodriguez gaining 12 digs. Diefendorf (eight digs) and Tucker (six digs) were close behind.
Solvay actually had a chance to help its biggest rival if it could beat Cazenovia last Tuesday night at Buckley Gym, and nearly did so before running out of steam in a five-set defeat to the Lakers.
Twice, the Bearcats went out in front. It won the first set 25-21 and, after Cazenovia got on the board by taking the second set 25-18, the Bearcats appeared to reclaim momentum when it pulled out a 25-23 victory in the third set.
After that, though, the Lakers dominated the match, winning by a 25-16 margin in the fourth set, and then using long runs in the final set to win 25-9 and take the match.
Lauren Bandera still had a triple-double of 14 kills, 13 assists and 17 digs, with Jackie Gardner adding 18 assists, 18 digs and seven kills. Kseniya Mialik had 19 digs and nine kills as Jackie Allen contributed 27 digs, six kills and four aces. Michaela Marotti earned 16 digs.
On Cazenovia’s side, Molly Carges (13 kills), Willa Mihayli-Koch (10 kills) and Danielle Tedesco (nine kills) worked on a well-balanced front line where Carges and Tedesco both earned nine blocks and Mihayli-Koch added 18 digs. Jenna Britton had 29 assists.
The way it turned out, Cazenovia would end the regular season facing LaFayette, a team it lost to in late September, while Westhill took on Homer.
The Lakers swept the Lancers, but the Warriors found itself in yet another five-set classic, needing every bit of its effort and heart to edge the Trojans and get that share of the league title.
Also on Thursday night, Solvay got revenge for a five-set defeat to Skaneateles on Sept. 25, claiming a 25-17, 15-25, 25-19, 25-18 victory over that other set of Lakers to close its regular season with a 10-6 mark.
Gardner had 17 assists, eight kills and eight digs, with Allen addingb 13 kills and 12 digs. Mialik earned 10 kills and 23 digs as Bandera produced 15 assists, 15 digs, five aces and four kills. Marotti finished with 20 digs and Monica Watkins contributed five kills. Anna Smith led Skaneateles with 14 assists, five kills and 10 digs, plus a pair of aces.
