Once ahead in last Tuesday night’s match at Jamesville-DeWitt, the Cazenovia girls volleyball team had every reason to get discouraged after surrendering two consecutive sets to the Red Rams.
Yet by the time the night was done, it was the Lakers triumphant in five sets against a J-D side that entered the match at 7-1 and the favorite in the Section III Class A ranks after falling to Oswego in the final a year ago.
Cazenovia rolled through the opening set, 25-17, but J-D got even with a 25-21 win in the second set. The third set, at the time, appeared pivotal, especially when the Red Rams broke out of a 24-24 tie, earned the serve and got the last point to take it, 26-24.
Instead of getting demoralized, though, the Lakers played its best volleyball in the late going, winning the fourth set 25-19 and then taking the final set by that exact same margin.
Lauren Lyons set a career mark with 40 assists, helped on the back line with 20 digs from Lauren Burbidge, 10 digs from Maleigha Ellithorpe and nine digs from Sarah Dickinson. Danielle Tedesco amassed 18 kills and seven digs, with Molly Carges earning 15 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and three aces. Morgan Hodinger managed to earn 16 digs to go with her seven kills. Marlin Rogers added three kills and five blocks.
After that, Cazenovia got a week to rest before visiting Homer on Tuesday, exactly a week after the J-D battle.
