Chittenango — Not content with claiming a second Section III Class B title in three years, the Westhill girls volleyball team attained new heights – and by doing so, is going to Glens Falls Civic Center this weekend in pursuit of a state championship.
Gaining the most prestigious victory in program history to date, the Warriors survived an epic battle with Section V champion Honeoye Falls-Lima in Saturday’s regional final at Chittenango High School, prevailing in five close, hard-fought sets over the Cougars.
From the outset, one great run was answered by another, and Westhill immediately let HF-L know that it would not easily go away.
Trailing 15-8 in the opening set, the Warriors used an 11-4 run to climb back in it. When the Cougars regained a 23-19 lead, Westhill again rallied, fended off a set point, and while it lost that set 26-24, the match’s tone was put in place.
Now Westhill seized the early lead in the second set, going up 9-5. But it couldn’t get away, HF-L catching up at 19-19 and then leading, 23-21, ready to go up two sets. Again, the Warriors denied the Cougars on a set point, and this time, at 24-24, took the lead and held on to its serve to win, 26-24, and even it at one set apiece.
The back-and-forth drama continued in the third set, with Westhill seeing leads of 10-8 and 18-16 dissipate, but the last surge belonged to the Warriors, who prevailed by a 25-22 margin to go up 2-1.
What happened in the fourth set would prove crucial. Even though HF-L won it by that same 25-22 margin, Westhill nearly rallied from a 15-6 deficit, pulling within one, 23-22, before the Cougars closed it out. So the Warriors remained a confident unit, even though the match was going the distance.
continued — HF-L also started fast in that final set, leading 8-3. But after a Westhill time-out, it promptly went on an 8-1 run to go in front and was still ahead, 15-12, when the Cougars were forced to use a time-out of its own.
Now it was the Warriors’ turn to surrender a lead, as they tied at 17, 19, 20 and 22 and 23. At just that moment, though, the Warriors inched in front, 24-23, and with one match point managed to end this epic match by a 25-23 margin.
Mackenzie Martin’s long afternoon included 50 assists, eight kills and nine digs, while Delaney Martin led Westhill with 23 kills and 16 digs. Montana Gedney had a team-best 22 digs to go with seven kills and three aces as Bridget Lougen got 14 kills and Melissa Newcomb added 13 kills and 13 digs. Leah Diefendorf contributed 14 digs.
