Now the regular season is done for area girls volleyball teams and the quest for various Section III titles is underway.
And things got off to quite a dramatic start for Fayetteville-Manlius, who as the no. 5 seed in Class AA went to no. 4 seed Cicero-North Syracuse Saturday and knocked off the Northstars in five sets to advance to this Thursday’s semifinal against undefeated top seed Baldwinsville.
These two side had met twice in the regular season, splitting those matches. After getting swept by C-NS Sept. 9, F-M won the rematch at home in five sets exactly three weeks later.
Here, it would again go to the wire between the Hornets and Northstars. A close first set went 25-23 in C-NS’s favor, and while F-M rolled to a 25-15 win in the second set, it again got pulled into a close battle in the third set and again lost by two points, 25-23.
Staring at the end of its season, F-M didn’t blink. Instead, in yet another 25-23 decision, the Hornets pulled out the fourth set and, in the final set, gained many of the critical points in the waning minutes to pull it out 25-21.
Paige Hulbert piled up 48 assists, while Emma Williams recorded 17 digs. On F-M’s front line, Saara Vahtola earned 13 kills and also served up six aces, with Ellen Burhle gaining 11 kills, three blocks and four digs. Alexandra Burhle added five blocks and four kills as Jillian Avery and Madelyn Goskowski both picked up four digs.
Back on Tuesday night, F-M earned a 25-8, 25-11, 25-13 victory over Nottingham, seeing Diana DeVito set the pace, earning eight aces to go with eight assists.
Alexandra Burhle and Jessica Burhle each finished with four kills and two aces. Williams got four aces, while Hulbert, Sara Arthur and Erianna Madill each had three aces, Madill tacking on three assists.
With the role of favorite in Class A, Jamesville-DeWitt improved its mark to 13-2 by nearly shutting out Fowler, eventually prevailing 25-3, 25-5, 25-5, the match including a full set’s worth of aces – 25, with 10 of them served up by Kathryn Arendt in addition to her five digs.
Aimee Comanici got six aces, plus five kills and two digs. Carlene Torrens earned four aces. Alexandria Payne, with seven kills, led a well-balanced front line, with Julia Cavanaugh getting six kills and Amy Shen four kills. Madeline Ferris, with 15 assists, and Eva Dougherty, with nine assists, shared back-line duties.
A night later came a big regular-season finale against Oswego, and J-D passed the test again, winning the first and third sets by equal 25-18 margins with a tough 26-24 decision in the second set holding the key to the sweep.
Dougherty did most of the back-line work, amassing 25 assists, though Ferris contributed seven assists. Payne put away 19 kills, adding seven digs, while Alex Frank had 13 kills and seven digs. Lexie Gambacorto got five kills, five digs, three aces and two blocks as Arendt, playing superb defense, earned 18 digs.
Bishop Grimes, improving its overall record to 8-10, routed the Syracuse Academy of Science Atoms 25-11, 25-5, 25-13 in last Tuesday night’s regular-season finale.
Of the Cobras’ 21 aces, eight came from Kendall Mancuso and seven were earned by Samantha Houck. Mancuso also finished with 10 assists and three kills as Houck got nine assists.
Up front, Bri Squier picked up 11 kills, with Raquel McDonald close behind as she earned nine kills. Mara Gutchess (three kills) and Maria Canzano (three digs, two assists) helped, too.
Grimes and J-D both have automatic berths in Section III championship matches this Saturday at F-M, with the Cobras facing Bishop Ludden for the Class D crown and the Red Rams getting Fulton or Oswego in Class A.
