Having waited 41 years to earn a Section III championship, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls volleyball team didn’t want to wait as long to find success in its first-ever appearance in the state Class A tournament.
But the challenge for the Red Rams was a big one, for it had to go to SUNY-Potsdam to play its opening-round regional game against Section X champion Massena, and then travel again to Gloversville High School to meet Section II powerhouse Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake in the regional final.
The first part was handled quickly enough last Tuesday night, J-D defeating Massena in three sets. The Rams took the opening set 25-10, also cruised through the second set 25-11 and went on to beat the Red Raiders 25-13 in the third set to sweep it.
Up front, Alexandria Payne led J-D with 11 kills, while Alex Frank got eight kills, three aces and five digs. Julia Cavanaugh contributed six kills as Lexie Gambacorto set a tone with seven aces, to go with seven digs and three kills. Amy Shen served up eight aces.
On the Rams’ back line, Eva Dougherty managed 15 assists, while Madeline Ferris gained eight assists and seven digs. Kathryn Arendt matched Payne’s total of five digs, while adding two assists and two aces.
Burnt Hills offered a far bigger challenge on Saturday night. The Spartans were the defending state Class A champions and, overall, had claimed six state titles since 2002, but the Red Rams did not show any fear of them, even if the match ended in a four-set defeat.
The entire opening set was a back-and-forth battle. For each Burnt Hills surge, J-D would answer, and it stayed even, with both sides missing out on chances to win the set, until, at 25-25, the Spartans regained the serve and got the set point it needed to pull it out, 27-25.
Flush with momentum from that win, Burnt Hills cruised through the second set, 25-15, but the Rams weren’t done, playing close to perfection in the third set to throttle the Spartans 25-12 and prolong the match.
For a long while in the fourth set, J-D believed that it would extend the match to the wire, as it was tied, 17-17, before Burnt Hills, displaying its championship poise, regained the lead and kept it in a 25-22 decision that ended the Rams’ season.
Through it all, Payne accumulated 20 kills and 20 digs, with Gambacorto getting 11 kills, four aces and five digs. Frank contributed 17 digs to go with her seven kills as Shen got five kills, three blocks, five digs, two aces and two assists.
Dougherty managed 30 assists, to go with seven digs. More defensive help came from Arendt, who got 13 digs as Cavanaugh earned four digs and two kills and Ferris contributed three digs.
