Four consecutive times, the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team had followed up a Section III Class AA championship with a conquest of Section II power Shenendehowa on the way to another state tournament appearance in Glens Falls.
But on the fifth try, the Bees finally got tripped up, beaten in a five-set epic by the Lady Plainsmen in Saturday’s regional final at Niskayuna High School, near Albany, just as the boys Bees fell in four sets to Bethlehem in its regional final at Cicero-North Syracuse.
So well versed in big matches, the girls Bees got off to the start it needed against Shenendehowa, winning the first set 25-19, only to have the Lady Plainsmen settle down in the second set and prevail by a similar 25-18 margin. When the Bees, clicking in all phases of its game, roared to a 25-15 victory in the third set, all looked to be fine.
Again, though, Shen proved resilient, overcoming a 6-0 deficit in the fourth set to tie it, 9-9, and then seizing a 17-11 lead before the Bees rallied and pulled back even, 20-0. the Lady Plainsmen had the last surge, though, with five straight points to take it 25-20.
And that sent the match to a fifth and final set. The two sides went back and forth, trading the lead several times, and then going beyond the wire, B’ville fighting off one match point while trailing 24-23, and then getting a match point up 25-24, only to have Shen’s Michelle Paulsen’s kill kept the match alive.
Then, due to a B’ville error, Shen took the lead, 26-25, and another error on the Lady Plainsmen’s second match point meant that, by a 27-25 margin, the Bees were ousted.
Shayna Webber and Rachel Aiello each finished with 17 kills, with Webber adding eight blocks and Aiello two blocks, plus seven digs and three assists. Abby May had eight kills and Rebecca Lawrence added five kills in front of Meghann Smith, who produced 39 assists, and Hannah Klaben, who earned eight assists and two aces. Pascale was sensational on defensive side, recording 20 assists.
Shen had plenty of standouts, too. Paulsen had nine kills and 11 blocks, while Colleen Connelly had 17 kills and Lauren Canterbury added 13 kills. Julia Paliwodzinski finished with 47 assists.
Over at C-NS, B’ville’s boys volleyball team would have its own close call, nearly rallying from an early deficit against Bethlehem, only to see that rally cut off in a four-set defeat to the Eagles.
It was Bethlehem getting off to the quick start, controlling the first set and prevailing 25-16. But the Bees countered with a 7-1 run to take over in the second set, never letting the Eagles catch up and prevailing 25-20 to even the match at one set apiece.
The third set essentially settled matters. Trailing early, B’ville put together a 12-4 spurt in the middle of the set, and held a 23-21 edge, ready to move out in front.
However, Bethlehem won the serve back and, with the last four points of that set, pulled it out 25-23. Now holding all of the momentum, the Eagles exchanged points with the Bees for most of the fourth set, but closed on a 6-1 spurt to win, 25-19, and advance to the state tournament in Glens Falls, keeping the Bees from repeating its 2012 state final four appearance.
In defeat, Pat Dubiel upped his total to 33 assists, with Corey Toscano getting a large portion of those passes on his way to 16 kills. Also strong on the front line, Jonathan Dunn earned nine kills, with Dalton Mahan getting eight kills and Ryan Gell seven kills. David Cerqua had a team-high 11 digs.
