Now that the area’s high school girls volleyball teams are heading toward the regular-season homestretch, each match gets more important.
Westhill (12-1) has a big showdown this Thursday against unbeaten Cazenovia, but didn’t look past Homer last Tuesday night, taking just three sets to sweep the Trojans 25-9, 25-12, 25-15.
Montanna Gedney had five aces, seven kills, six assists and six digs, with Mackenzie Martin earning 20 assists to go with four kills, four digs and two aces. Brigid Heinrich put away a team-best nine kills, while Sara Galante earned six kills.
Another sweep followed on Thursday night, Westhill handling Mexico 25-15, 25-17, 25-13 as Martin picked up 25 assists and Gedney got 12 kills. Jasmine Jackson earned six kills and Galante had five kills as Leah Diefendorf got five aces
Marcellus also won twice last week, honoring its seniors before last Tuesday’s match against Phoenix, and then going out to sweep the Firebirds 25-12, 25-12, 25-14.
Olivia Quick finished with 18 assists, her passes going to Sydney French and Meghan O’Brien as they both got eight kills and three aces. Julia Piorkowski put away seven aces to go with her 11 digs as Rachel Randall had five digs. Grace Hoey had three kills and three assists.
Then the Mustangs (9-5) took its turn with Homer on Thursday, dropping a close first set 26-24, but then rolling through the next three sets 25-17, 25-20 and 25-21 to beat the Trojans.
French put together 11 kills and 19 digs. Piorkowski had five aces to go with nine kills and five digs. O’Brien added seven kills as Quick had 28 assists, three aces and three kills. Michaela Godbold chimed in with seven digs as Hoey had four digs and three kills.
West Genesee rolled to a 25-11, 25-10, 25-8 sweep of Nottingham last Tuesday night, with Anna Snyder earning 26 assists. Carolyn King finished with 11 kills as Julia Quirk got five kills, with Sam Sprague adding four kills. Madelynn Tibbetts had six digs and Audrey Dennis had five digs as she and Sarah Rigge earned three kills apiece.
But the Wildcats lost Thursday to Cicero-North Syracuse, a team it swept Sept. 20, but lost to 25-6 in the first set of the rematch, and though WG took the second set 25-21, it dropped close sets to the Northstars 27-25 in the third and 25-23 in the fourth.
Snyder still had 32 assists and 10 digs, with Dennis getting 19 digs and Greta Jasinski adding 18 digs to go with five assists. King managed 26 kills, while Quirk had five kills and nine digs. Arlea Vecchio had 10 digs as Rigge improved to four kills.
Solvay made two different comebacks in last Wednesday’s match against Bishop Grimes, losing a close first set 26-24 but then winning the second set 25-20.
The Cobras got its own 25-20 win in the third set and, after the Bearcats won the fourth set 25-18, answered by defeating Solvay by that same 25-18 margin in the final set.
Allie Posnick led the Bearcats with 33 assists, with Gabby Rivera getting 20 digs and eight aces, and Bella Petralito added 18 digs. Brielle Bagozzi added 17 digs to go with 10 kills as Anna Rolince had 13 kills and five aces.
During Thursday’s 25-19, 25-15, 25-13 sweep of Institute of Technology Central, Bagozzi had seven aces as she and Ashley Bosco both picked up eight kills. Rolince and Sophia Marotti had six kills apiece as Posnick picked up 20 assists.
Bishop Ludden was at home last Tuesday and swept Hamilton, winning the first and third sets by 25-18 margins over the Emerald Knights, with a 25-12 set in between.
Madison Prowak had five aces, with Maylasia Wright getting four aces along with seven assists. Meghan Wilkinson gained nine digs as Aurora Deshaies earned seven kills and three aces. Mary Patrick and Kate Ruddy had four kills apiece.
Ludden played twice on the weekend, falling in four sets to LaFayette on Friday 24-26, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 despite Deshaies getting 11 kills and seven aces, with Morrell adding 15 assists and Wilkinson 19 digs. Josie Towne and Madison Prowak had six kills apiece.
On Saturday, the Gaelic Knights lost, 25-13, 25-22, 25-22, to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, with Wright getting 12 assists and passing them to Deshaies, who had 10 kills. Wilkinson added nine digs.
Jordan-Elbridge dropped a 25-3, 25-21, 25-21 decision to LaFayette last Tuesday, playing well after a lopsided opening set. Renee Eggleston had eight kills, while Ashlee Eaton had seven digs and three kills. Mackenzie Kreisler got eight assists. Emily Bard earned nine digs and Cassie Schader got six digs.
In Thursday’s match against Hannibal, J-E lost, 25-5, 25-20, 25-15, playing better as the match went on, but still taking a defeat as Kreisler earned 10 assists, passing it to Ashlee Eaton, who had five kills. Eggleston and Schader had three kills apiece. Bard got five digs.
