While the Cazenovia girls volleyball team’s third and most important match-up with Westhill did not go quite like the first two did, that was just fine by the Lakers – so long as it was the one going home as Section III Class B champions.
The top-seeded Lakers emerged triumphant from Saturday night’s sectional final at Fayetteville-Manlius High School, where it dropped the first set to the no. 2 seed Warriors, but rolled from there to prevail in four sets.
Two months ago, any notion that Cazenovia would emerge from any match with Westhill seemed a fantasy. What no one could foresee, though, was that the Warriors’ three-set sweep of the Lakers on Sept. 7 served as the motivating factor for everything that followed.
Cazenovia rattled off eight straight wins before an Oct. 13 loss to (eventual sectional Class C champion) LaFayette. Then came the rematch with Westhill a week later at Buckley Gym, where a large and loud home crowd saw the Lakers claim a seesaw five-set battle and hand the Warriors its first defeat of the season.
Now, after each side had won twice in the sectional tournament, Cazenovia and Westhill got together one more time. And the first set belonged to the Warriors, who prevailed by a 25-19 margin in large part because it went on an early 9-3 run and made few mistakes from there.
All that did, though, was evoke the Lakers’ best work as it used an 8-1 spurt to bolt to a 12-6 lead in the second set. Eventually, the margin got to 10 points, 23-13, and despite some late struggles, Cazenovia matched Westhill’s 25-19 verdict from the opening set to even the match.
As always when the first two sets are split, the third set can prove pivotal. Just as in the second set, Cazenovia put together an 8-1 run and led by 10, but the 22-12 margin nearly vanished in the face of a furious Warriors comeback where it fought off five set points before Molly Carges hit a spike that Westhill returned out of bounds to give the Lakers a 25-23 win and a 2-1 lead in sets.
Most of the fourth set went back and forth and was tied 12 times, including at 19-19, but then Cazenovia made its decisive move, posting the last six points, including two kills apiece from Carges and Danielle Tedesco, to earn yet another 25-19 win and clinch the sectional title, too.
Lauren Lyons finished with 32 assists and 12 digs, helped on the back line by Morgan Hodinger, who had 16 digs, and Lauren Burbidge, who matched Lyons’ total of 12 digs.
Meanwhile, Carges put together 16 kills to go with six digs as Danielle Tedesco gained 14 kills, plus three blocks and three digs. Lyons got four kills as Sarah Dickinson and Lindsey Lawson each earned two kills and four blocks.
Both of the finalists got there with three-set sweeps in their respective sectional semifinals last Tuesday night – Westhill by topping no. 6 seed Marcellus, Cazenovia by doing the same against no. 5 seed Solvay.
Having beaten the Bearcats in three sets back on Sept. 15, the Lakers had confidence it would do the same in the playoff rematch. Solvay showed its improvement, battling hard in each set, but not making any kind of breakthrough as Cazenovia won the first two sets by equal 25-19 margins and added a 25-20 victory in the third set to close it out.
Carges put away 15 kills, adding three aces, six digs and two blocks, while Tedesco finished with nine kills and three blocks. Hodinger added three kills and contributed eight digs.
Lyons worked exclusively on the back line as she got 26 assists and Maleigha Ellithorpe, held to two assists, got three digs and two aces. Dickinson had four aces and two kills. Burbidge finished with six digs.
