The strong start for the Westhill girls volleyball team nearly ended against its neighbors from Solvay, but with a comeback from a two-set deficit, the Warriors pulled out a five-set victory over the Bearcats.
Longing to regain the upper hand in this rivalry, Solvay delighted the home crowd by winning the first set 25-21 and the second set 25-20. Westhill absorbed all this and, in the third set, won 25-20 before controlling the fourth set 25-15.
A close final set saw the Warriors pull it out, 25-21, as Montanna Gedney led the way with 16 kills, 14 assists and 11 digs, while Mackenzie Martin had 25 assists, 11 kills and six digs.
Brigid Heinrich, with 14 kills, and Sara Galante, with 13 kills, had season-best totals as Jasmine Jackson earned six aces, with Rachel Daniul (10 digs), Sophia Sgroi (six digs) and Leah Diefendorf (five digs) working on defense.
Solvay’s Allie Posnick had 18 assists, her passes often going to Brielle Bagozzi, who had 10 kills and seven digs. Anna Rolince added six kills and Sophia Marotti got four kills as Ashley Bosco earned three kills. Gabby Rivera produced 15 digs, helped by Delana Thomas (seven digs, three aces), Phoebe Guadagnolo (six digs) and Alexa Filicia (five digs).
On that same night, Jordan-Elbridge won a five-set decision over Institute of Technology Central, twice coming from behind. ITC took the first set 26-24 and the third set 25-20, but J-E got the second set 25-19 and the fourth set 25-21 to pull even, and then held off the visitors in a tense 25-23 fifth set.
Renee Eggleston and Cassie Schader each finished with 10 kills, while Ranait McGuire had seven aces to go with six kills. Cassie Klock and Evelyn Woodin each had three aces as Woodin contributed five digs and Ashlee Eaton six digs. Emily Jennings got 15 assists, helped by Jaime Karagosian, who had five assists.
Solvay recovered from the defeat to Westhill by taking four sets to beat Mexico Wednesday night, while Westhill visited Homer and split the first two sets, but then gradually took charge and beat the Trojans 25-20, 19-25, 25-19, 25-17.
Aside from her 21 assists, Martin also got nine kills and six digs. Gedney had 15 digs to go with eight kills and eight assists. Heinrich earned a team-best 12 kills as Galante notched five kills and 11 digs. Jasmine Jackson and Emma Bryant each had four kills as Sgroi and Dainul contributed nine digs apiece. In Friday’s match against Fulton, Solvay prevailed in four sets, improving its record to 3-4.
Marcellus would play against ITC a day before J-E did, sweeping those Eagles 25-18, 25-11, 25-9. Sydney French set the tone with nine aces, with Olivia Quick adding four aces to go with 16 assists. Sophia Matthews earned four aces and Michaela Godbold had three aces.
A day later, the Mustangs got another sweep, this one a 25-13, 25-8, 25-11 rout of Mexico. Quick put together 20 assists, seven digs and four aces, each of them team-leading totals, while French, Meghan O’Brien and Julia Piorkowski got six kills apiece, French adding three aces as Grace Hoey contributed three kills.
West Genesee followed up back-to-back defeats to Baldwinsville and Fayetteville-Manlius with a 25-6, 25-7, 25-14 rout of Nottingham last Monday night. Madelyn Tibbetts had six aces and Greta Jasinski got five aces as Carolyn King produced 12 kills, with Anna Snyder earning 21 assists.
Two nights later, at Cicero-North Syracuse, WG found itself in three close sets, but won all of them over the Northstars 25-22, 25-23, 26-24.
King had 14 kills, with Audrey Dennis earning seven kills and nine digs and Sam Sprague adding five kills. Snyder augmented her 27 assists with nine digs and three blocks. Jasinski earned 16 digs as Madison Stanton and Caroline Sgroi had six digs apiece, helped by Tibbetts (four digs), Arlea Vecchio (five digs) and Julia Quirk (three digs, two kills).
Bishop Ludden ran up against private-school rival Bishop Grimes last Wednesday and took a 25-17, 25-21, 25-20 defeat to the Cobras. Mary Patrick had six kills, with Aurora Deshaies adding four kills and five digs. Sarah Morrell had seven assists as Meghan Wilkinson gained seven digs. Sarah Smith got three kills and Emma Catalano added four digs.
Hosting Hannibal a night later, Ludden dropped a 27-25 decision in the first set and lost each of the next two sets by 25-20 margins. This happened despite Deshaies’ 14 kills and Morrell’s 13 assists and five digs. Madison Prowak got five kills as Wilkinson added nine digs, with Smith and Josie Towne also managing five digs.
