Ever since its Sept. 13 defeat to Baldwinsville, the West Genesee girls volleyball team has faced little stress against all of its other CNY Counties League foes.
The Wildcats began its work last week by sweeping Nottingham 25-9, 25-5, 25-5. Sasha Mekker earned nine of the Wildcats’ 20 aces and also produced 22 assists. Rachel Hillery had nine kills, helped on the front line by Audrey Dennis (seven kills) and Carolyn King (five kills) as Jaylin Mallore got four aces and four digs.
Having played five straight road matches, the Wildcats finally had its home opener Wednesday night, against Cicero-North Syracuse, where both teams entered the match with just one loss on the season.
But even though C-NS kept most of the scores close, the Wildcats still won in a 25-20, 25-17, 25-19 sweep. Mekker raised her total to 23 assists, adding five digs and three aces, with Mallore earning 21 digs to complement Mekker on the back line.
Dennis had a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs, with King earning eight kills and seven digs. Hillery got four kills, four aces and 11 digs as Madison Stanton had four kills and six digs. Madison Smith picked up five digs.
On the C-NS side, Jessica Barry still picked up 15 assists and five digs, adding two kills and two blocks. Olivia Johnson earned a team-best eight kills, with Madelyn Murray getting four kills and Savannah Ciciarelli picking up 18 digs to go with four aces.
Bishop Ludden returned on Thursday and rallied from two sets down to win a a five-set thriller over private-school rival Bishop Grimes.
Somehow, the Gaelic Knights didn’t get discouraged when it lost the first two sets by narrow 27-25 and 25-13 margins. Instead, Ludden rolled through the third set 25-13 and did the same in the next two sets, claiming those by 25-14 and 25-13 margins to complete the comeback.
Meghan Wilkinson earned 20 digs, with Emma Catalano adding 11 digs to go with three kills. Aurora DeShaies had seven kills and three aces as Bridget Brogan recorded 19 digs, four aces and three kills. Nicole Nerault also had three aces as Natalie Fagan got eight assists.
Grimes, in defeat, got 10 kills apiece from Bri Squier and Raquel McDonald, with Samantha Houck earning 25 assists and seven aces as Maria Canzano got 13 digs and Kendall Mancuso nine digs, plus five kills.
After all this, Ludden lost in four sets to Hannibal on Friday, pulling out a 26-24 decision in the second after losing 25-19 in the opening, but watching the Warriors take the next two sets by margins of 25-12 and 25-22.
Deshaies gained 10 kills, with Noreault managing four kills. Fagan gained 12 assists on a back line where Wilkinson earned 17 digs and Brogan 12 digs to go with her two aces. Hannibal featured Abigail Kyle, who had 20 assists and 17 digs, along with Cassandra Long and Katie Pitcher, who each had 14 digs and combined for 16 kills.
Solvay, in its lone match last week, got a much-needed win on Tuesday when it swept Institute of Technology Central 25-4, 25-8, 25-11. The Bearcats recorded 29 aces, with Taylor Preble getting seven of them plus four assists as Allie Posnick added six aces and seven assists.
Helping out, Mackenzie McCarthy had five aces and seven assists as Phebe Guadagnolo recorded a team-best five kills and Brielle Bagozzi had four kills, plus three aces. Anna Rolince finished with four aces and two kills. Lauren Nichols had three aces and two kills.
