A different season, a different head coach, plenty of different players in important roles – but it was the same glorious and perfect result for the Westhill girls volleyball team.
The Warriors’ defeated Ardsley in three sets Sunday at Glens Falls’ Cool Insuring Arena completed an undefeated run to a second consecutive New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B championship.
Despite the way it all ended, many differences could be drawn between this state title run and what Westhill accomplished in 2018, and none was bigger than the way it all transpired in Glens Falls.
A season ago, the Warriors breezed through the round-robin portion of the state final four, winning the first four sets to all but seal up a berth in the finals and not requiring any extra work prior to its four-set win over Owego in the championship round.
That didn’t happen this time. From the outset, Westhill found itself under serious pressure as Ardsley, the Section I champions, claimed sets of 25-16 and 25-23, leaving the Warriors at 0-2.
Next, against Broadalbin-Perth (Section II), Westhill rolled to a 25-14 win, only to drop the second set 25-21. Now at 1-3, the Warriors had to sweep Long Island champion Seaford to have any chance of staying alive.
Westhill did get that sweep, 25-11 and 25-17. Meanwhile, Broadalbin-Perth had lost twice to Ardsley but swept Seaford, too, so at 3-3 the Warriors and Patriots would face off late Saturday night in a single-set tie-breaker.
If the situation was stressful, Westhill never showed it, dominating Broadalbin-Perth 25-12 to earn its second straight trip to the best-of-ive-set state finals, where it would get another opportunity to face Ardsley.
With players who had gone through the unique pressure of a championship match, the Warriors were the better team, using its fine all-around game to tame the Panthers 25-16 in the first set and 25-15 in the second set.
Though the third set proved closer, the Warriors had little trouble closing it out. Breaking out of an 18-18 tie, Westhill got four consecutive points and, when Ardsley tried to answer, on match point Kate Heinrich put away the state championship clincher.
Front-line hitter Sara Galante earned tournament MVP honors, with setter Sarah Schwartz and libero Gianna Militi each named to the All-Tournament team.
