Still comfortably sitting on top of the OHSL Liberty American division standings, the Westhill girls volleyball team looked forward to Wednesday night’s clash with second-place Marcellus, but only after adding to its win total.
The Warriors prevailed over Mexico in straight sets last Tuesday night to improve to 7-1 overall. The 25-10, 25-17, 25-20 sweep of the Tigers included four kills apiece from Mackenzie Martin, Jasmine Jackson, Sara Galante, Isabella Radio-Rodriguez and Aubrey Thompson, with Rachel Daniul earning four digs.
Back home Thursday night, Westhill handled Phoenix 25-8 in the first set, but battled 25-21 in the second and needed a long third set, 30-28, to complete the sweep of the Firebirds. Still, Martin had 16 assists, nine digs, four aces and four kills, with Brigid Heinrich adding eight kills and Galante getting six kills, plus 10 digs. Daniul got six digs and Jackson earned four aces.
Marcellus, for its part, was quite impressive in last Tuesday’s match against Homer, beating the Trojans 25-19 in the first and third sets while, in between, rolling to a 25-14 decision in the second set.
Julia Piorkowski, with eight kills, led a well-balanced Mustangs front line as Sydney French got seven kills, three aces and three digs. Grace Hoey had five kills, three aces, two blocks and two assists as Meghan O’Brien had three kills. Olivia Quick delivered 15 assists and Sarah Jeske had six assists as libero Michaela Godbold earned 14 digs.
As Marcellus hosted its own volleyball tournament on Saturday, Westhill went to the Baldwinsville Fall Swing Tournament and won the Silver division, defeating Cicero-North Syracuse in the semifinals and Webster Schroeder (Section V) in the finals.
West Genesee needed a high-quality win to kick-start its season, and had that chance to earn it last Wednesday night at Liverpool. And the Wildcats made quite a comeback attempt, only to fall to the Warriors in five sets.
Easy wins by equal 25-15 margins in the first two sets suggested a Warriors sweep, but the Wildcats roared back to take the third and fourth sets by the same score of 25-21. The fifth set was also close, but Liverpool revived just in time to defeat WG 25-20.
Anna Snyder, in defeat, amassed 45 assists and 14 digs. Audrey Dennis had 14 kills and 18 digs, with Carolyn King getting 18 kills, three blocks and three digs as Arlea Vecchio had 12 digs and Madison Stanton 11 digs. Sarah Rigge had six kills, with Greta Jasinski and Julia Quirk each getting five kills.
For Liverpool, Madison Lapoint had 16 kills and five aces, with Leahana Keeling getting 12 kills, two blocks, two aces and two assists. Toria Betelak managed 11 kills and Sophie Vangelov got eight kills to go with 19 assists. Sydney Caviness managed 20 assists and Ashley Teixeira had 17 digs.
Before that, WG took little time last Monday sweeping Corcoran, winning each of the first two sets by 25-9 margins and adding a 25-10 win in the third set as Snyder put together 20 assists, five aces and six digs, often passing it to King, who had 17 kills. Dennis had nine digs as Madelyn Tibbetts got seven digs and three aces.
Solvay could not stop undefeated Cazenovia last Wednesday in a 25-22, 25-12, 25-17 defeat, with Delaney Yorks (21 assists, 11 digs) and Morgan Hodinger (13 kills, seven digs) pacing the Lakers. Then, in the B’ville Fall Swing, the Bearcats dropped the Silver division quarterfinal to Webster Schroeder.
Bishop Ludden fell last Monday to Living Word Academy, the Gaelic Knights taking the first set 25-22, but seeing the Lions rebound, claiming the second set 25-21 and then controlling each of the next two sets by 25-12 margins.
Aurora Deshaies gained nine kills, with Mary Patrick adding seven kills. Sarah Morrell had 13 assists and five digs as Meghan Wilkinson (nine digs), Sarah Smith (eight digs), Emma Catalano (seven digs) and Maylasia Wright (four digs) helped on the defensive side. Amelia Ritz (29 assists) and Erika Gilbert (26 digs, nine kills) led Living Word.
Ludden lost Thursday to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown in four sets as Deshaies got 14 kills, adding four aces, three blocks and two digs. Morrell had 14 assists, with Wilkinson contributing 16 digs. Smith had three aces and three kills as Patrick got four assists.
Jordan-Elbridge visited Bishop Grimes last Monday night and fell to the Cobras 25-13, 25-21, 25-16, with Mackenzie Kreisler earning five assists and Emily Jennings adding three assists. Kreisler, Renee Eggleston and Ranait McGuire each had three kills, with Eggleston adding seven digs. Emily Bard got four digs and Cassie Schader had three aces.
The Eagles turned it around Wednesday with a sweep of Syracuse Academy of Science that included a rare 25-0 shutout in the second set to go with 25-15 and 25-11 wins in the other two sets.
Megan Bard keyed that second-set run and earned 10 aces overall. Ashlee Eaton had four aces, with Cassie Klock adding three aces. Molly Derby and Morgan Schneider had three kills apiece as Eggleston picked up nine assists.
