All that the Chittenango girls volleyball team wanted was a chance to play on its home floor with a Section III Class A winter championship on the line.

But the no. 2 seed Bears fell one match short of that goal, falling to no. 3 seed Whitesboro in Wednesday night’s Class A semifinal at Clinton High School as it could not hold on to early leads in the first two sets and saw a third-set rally fall short.

That opening deficit proved important. Chittenango led, 15-13, only to have Whitesboro go on a 6-1 run to charge in front to stay. All told, the Warriors finished the set on a 12-4 run, capped by Claire Parisi’s kill on set point.

Having lost the opener 25-19, the Bears cranked up its defense early in the set, Allie Cerio and Allison Choi earning digs as, again, it led early, 11-7. But just like the opening set, Whitesboro took over in the middle stages, helped by big serves from Meghan Herrmann and the power of Christina Borza during a decisive 12-4 run.

Chittenango lost that set, 25-18, and trailed through most of the third set, too. Though the Bears battled and were within one, 20-19, late in the set, the Warriors got the critical points and, by a 25-22 margin, ended the match and, with it, Chittenango’s season.

Cerio finished with eight assists and nine digs, with Hannah Bailey adding six assists and five digs. Emily Wood piled up 17 digs and Ashley Young 15 digs as Wood also led the team in aces (seven) and kills (five). Megan Mayer contributed three kills.

Whitesboro, who advanced to the sectional against top seed Carthage, saw Herrmann gain 34 assists as Paige Porta got 26 digs and Borza 20 digs to go with her 12 kills. Alexiz Webster added 10 kills as Marissa Burke earned seven kills and Claire Parisi six kills.

Still, as a whole, the volleyball season at Chittenango has sparkled, with the girls finishing 16-2, its lone defeats to Whitesboro and Tully. And that’s included the boys side, who stayed undefeated and moved to 12-0 on the season last Monday night with a three-set sweep over Westmoreland.

The Bears bashed the Bulldogs 25-16, 25-20, 25-13, steadily led by Tyler Howard, who had 14 assists, five kills, three blocks and two aces, though plenty of players contributed in one way or another.

Rob Howard had a team-best six kills, while Zane Garvey and Seamus St. Leger both picked up five kills. Garvey and Holden Lalor gained four aces apiece as Lalor added six assists. Grant Czarnecki had four kills, three aces and two blocks.

So started a week where Chittenango had three matches, including Wednesday’s showdown with visiting Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, which resulted in a 13th straight win, though it proved tougher than most of the first 12.

The Bears beat the Red Devils 25-18 and 25-21 in each of the first two sets, and nearly earned a sweep. But the Red Devils pulled out the third set, 25-23, and were on the brink of sending it to the wire before Chittenango, by that same 25-23 margin, ended the match.

Through it all, Tyler Howard had 35 assists, 11 kills and four blocks. On a well-balanced front line, Garvey had 12 kills, while Czarnecki managed 11 kills and St. Leger 10 kills in front of Rob Howard, who had seven kills and six digs. Cooper Young contributed seven digs.

VVS lost despite 20 kills and 16 digs from Henry Cleveland as Jayson Decker picked up 38 assists and Seth Brewster had 40 digs.