As if all of those times the West Genesee girls volleyball team getting beat up by Baldwinsville wasn’t painful enough, having to witness a milestone in the Bees’ program while defending its home court had to hurt even more.
The Wildcats’ tremendous effort in last Tuesday’s match did not yield anything, other than B’ville prevailing once more and, by doing so, allowing long-time head coach Mary Jo Cerqua to reach her 500th career victory.
Every other local program has tried, with little success, to stop B’ville. West Genesee is the only other program with a sectional championship in the last decade, so it only figured that, to get win no. 500, the Wildcats stood in the way.
Having swept WG on Sept. 13 at home, the Bees patiently endured an exchange of points in the opening set before going on a 14-3 run with its usual blend of power, defense and strong serves to prevail 25-15.
Much the same thing was going on in the second set, an early exchange and a B’ville breakout, until the Wildcats, down 20-11, stormed back and took a 24-23 lead to earn a set point. But WG couldn’t clinch it, and didn’t do so again at 26-25 when a serve flew long, and the Bees pulled it out 28-26.
Trailing 4-1 in the third set, B’ville scored 24 of the next 28 points to end the match. Maddie Stone led the Bees with 21 assists, six kills and seven digs. Michelle Voyer notched 12 kills, six digs and three aces, while Kiannah Titus got three aces, three kills, four blocks, three assists and eight digs.
For the Wildcats, Sasha Mekker produced 20 assists and nine digs and Jaylin Mallore piled up 16 digs and Madison Stanton eight digs. Up front, Audrey Dennis and Carolyn King each had seven kills, with Madison Smith adding five kills and Rachel Hillery four kills and four digs. Dennis gained five digs.
It didn’t take long for WG to recover, as it went to Fayetteville-Manlius Thursday and put together a 25-17, 25-16, 25-16 sweep of the Hornets. Between King getting 14 kills, Dennis earning 10 kills and Hillery putting away seven kills, the Wildcats had plenty of power in front of Mekker, who got 29 assists, four aces and eight digs.
Defensively, Mallore earned 14 digs, with Hillery, Dennis and Greta Jasinski gaining nine digs apiece. Stanton had six digs and Smith contributed four kills and two blocks.
Bishop Ludden returned to action last Tuesday and lost, 25-13, 25-8, 25-12 to LaFayette. Natalie Fagan had five assists, with Meghan Wilkinson getting seven digs and Bridget Brogan five digs. Wilkinson, Brogan, Sarah Smith and Aurora Deshaies had two kills apiece. For the Lancers, Sophia Powless had 12 kills, 14 digs and six aces, with Rhiannon Abrams adding 25 assists and six digs.
The Gaelic Knights turned that result around Thursday, sweeping Hamilton with a pair of 25-22 sets before a 25-10 romp in the third to improve to 5-6 overall.
Deshaies had five kills and two blocks, with Wilkinson and Brogan adding three kills apiece and combining for 16 digs. Fagan earned 12 assists, four digs, two aces and two kills as Emma Catalano added seven digs as Kari Plumridge gained three assists and Smith produced three aces.
Ludden’s next match would take place against Institute of Technology Central, an opponent Jordan-Elbridge handled last Tuesday as J-E recorded a 25-14, 25-9, 25-17 sweep of this Eagles clash.
Bailey Van Gorden picked up 13 assists and a team-best eight aces. Emily Klock and Renee Eggleston each had four aces as Klock gained eight kills and Eggleston three kills. Allie Derby and Jane Strife joined Klock notching three digs apiece.
