In what was clearly its toughest stretch of the season, the Skaneateles girls volleyball team would try to take down three top-level opponents in a four-day span, but could only beat one of them.
That was Living Word Academy, who arrived last Monday night and took an early lead, only to see the Lakers dominate the rest of the way to prevail in four sets.
Skaneateles, perhaps, was helped by losing that first set 29-27 to the Lions, for it rolled through the second set 25-9 and then took the next two sets by 25-11 and 25-14 margins.
Margaret Canty did a bit of everything, from serving up eight aces to producing 12 assists, seven kills and five digs. Kelsey Kraetz managed 10 kills, three blocks and two digs, while Bailey Herr had five kills, eight digs and three aces. Cassidy Pitman had eight assists, three aces and three digs. Mia Grasso, Emily Baldwin and Olivia Nye each picked up four digs.
Without any time to rest, Skaneateles had to host Westhill 24 hours later. Each of the first two sets went to the wire, but the Lakers dropped them by 25-23 and 26-24 margins, and the Warriors took over in the third set, claiming it 25-15.
Kraetz again produced 10 kills, adding five blocks and two digs. Herr added eight digs, four kills and four assists, while Canty had eight assists, three aces and three kills.
Defensivel, Emma Goodell picked up 14 digs, with Karah Blair adding 12 digs and Cassidy Pitman seven digs. Westhill featured Mackenzie Martin, who had 29 assists, 12 digs and three kills, feeding it to Delaney Martin (11 kills) and Montana Gedney (10 kills, 11 digs) on the Warriors’ front line.
And this led to Thursday’s visit from undefeated OHSL Liberty American division leader Cazenovia. This latest clash of Lakers sides saw Skaneateles unable to gain any kind of momentum, taking 25-15 defeats in each of the first two sets, followed by a 25-17 loss in the third set.
Still, the effort was full, as reflected by the 11 digs put up by Emma Goodell on the defensive side. Kraetz had six kills and three blocks, with Herr adding four kills and two aces. Canty finished with six assists, four aces, three kills and two digs as Olivia Nye added five digs. Cazenovia saw Jenna Britton earn 23 assists and Molly Carges get 12 kills, four aces and three blocks.
Having fallen to 5-4 on the season, Skaneateles looks to recover in matches this week against Marcellus on Tuesday and Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central on Thursday night.
