What the Westhill girls volleyball team has shown this fall is that the opposition doesn’t matter, nor does its standing or the fact that it’s a large or small school.
Either way, Westhill finishes on top, just as it did last Monday when it traveled to Liverpool, one of the better local Class AA sides, and dismissed these other Warriors in a three-set sweep.
The 25-18, 25-10, 25-11 romp featured another star turn from Mackenzie Martin, who augmented her 20 assists with six kills and seven blocks as Sarah Schwartz got 11 assists.
Up front, Sara Galante put away 13 kills, plus five digs and two aces. Kate Heinrich had six kills as Montanna Gedney put together five kills, nine digs and three aces. Giannai Militi added eight digs as Katie Culligan and Brigid Heinrich had four kills apiece.
A night later, Westhill was back home, dropping Mexico 25-19, 25-10, 25-21 as Schwartz served up eight aces to go with her 16 assists.
Martin had 15 assists and eight kills as Galante got 12 kills and four aces, with Gedney earning six kills and Militi eight digs. Heinrich, Culligan and Aubrey Thomson had three kills apiece.
The weekend brought even more success, starting with the Warriors sweeping West Genesee in three sets on an emotional Senior Night.
Each of the Westhill players wore “84”drawn on the back of their left legs to honor Montanna Gedney’s late father, Chris, who wore no. 84 during his days as a tight end at Syracuse University.
Then it won the match 25-21, 25-6, 26-24 over the Wildcats as Galante got 11 aces and 11 kills, with Martin adding 16 assists and Schwartz earning 15 assists.
A day later, in the OHSL tournament at Phoenix, Westhill won the top division, recovering from dropping a set against Solvay to take the semifinal and then top Sknaeateles in the final round.
Solvay and Marcellus, two traditional volleyball rivals, went head-to-head, but here it was all Mustangs as it took just three sets to beat the Bearcats 25-18, 25-16, 25-19.
Marcellus saw Sydney French put away 15 kills and add five digs, with Bronte Stahl getting 20 assists, plus seven digs and two blocks. Evelyn Webster also had seven digs as Michaela Godbold had three kills and two aces.
Solvay’s Myah Platler earned 11 kills, with Nicole Backus getting five kills as Sophia Guadaganolo had four aces. Allie Posnick had 20 assists and nine digs as Alexa Filicia (eight digs) and Jordan Bamba (seven digs) helped on the defensive side.
Looking to recover against LaFayette Thursday night, Solvay did so, claiming the first set 25-16 and, after a 25-22 loss in the second, pulled out a close third set 25-23 and closed out the Lancers 25-20 in the fourth.
Posnick earned 34 assists and 20 digs, adding six kills and three aces. Platler got 18 kills and Bamba gained 20 digs as Brielle Bagozzi contributed eight kills. Guadagnolo had eight aces and Flicia five aces, with Backus getting five kills and Izzy Lambert four kills.
Bishop Ludden nearly got another big win at LaFayette last Wednesday in the wake of its Oct. 11 win over Bishop Grimes.
Here, the Gaelic Knights twice went ahead, winning the first set 25-19 and the third set 25-18, but twice saw the Lancers get back even, 25-22 in the second and 25-23 in the fourth. In the final set, it was close again – and LaFayette pulled it out, 25-23.
Aurora Deshaies picked up 18 kills and 15 aces, plus eight digs. Sarah Morrell had 37 assists as Jasmine Cuffee got 11 kills and Emma Catalano finished with 10 digs. Bethany Miller led the Lancers with 29 assists, 16 digs and seven aces.
Ludden went from there to a 27-25, 25-19, 25-21 loss to Homer a night later, which came despite Deshaies’ nine kills and Morrell getting 19 assists and seven digs as Catalano added 10 digs.
West Genesee had an easy time of it in last Tuesday’s match with Corcoran, sweeping the Cougars 25-12, 25-14, 25-13 as Brynn Zajac produced nine assists, five kills and seven digs.
Maddy Porter had eight assists and eight digs as Mackenzie Winn had 10 digs and five aces. Sarah Rigge had three aces, joining Julia Quirk as they each got four kills. Caroline Sgroi had nine digs and three kills. Arlea Vecchio contributed seven digs.
But the Wildcats struggled in Thursday night’s 25-10, 25-19, 23-25, 25-13 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse. Porter had 14 assists and seven digs, with Zajac getting 13 assists, 10 digs and three aces. Quirk got a team-high seven kills as Sgroi
Jordan-Elbridge played Fulton last Monday and lost, 25-17, 25-23, 28-26, to the Red Raiders, the Eagles not quite able to get the points late in the second and third sets to turn things around.
Ashlee Eaton had eight kills and five digs, with Megan Bard also getting five digs. Mackenzie Kreisler recorded nine assists as Emily Bard had 17 digs. Liz Roik (31 assists), Sydney Lawson (10 kills) and Jayda Blakeman (eight kills) led Fulton.
Off until Thursday, J-E took on Living Word Academy, recovering from a 25-16 first-set loss with a 25-14 romp in the second, only to fall in the next two sets to the Lions 25-19 and 25-21. Kreisler had 12 assists and Emily Bard 13 digs as Anna Simpson had nine digs.
