No matter what anyone else may have felt, this particular Section III Class AA championship for the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team, the program’s 10th in a row, stood out for a number of reasons.
Part of it was the sheer dominance of the Bees, who dropped just a single set to Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division foes all season.
Another part was the uncertainty that gripped the program in the off-season when long-time head coach Mary Jo Cerqua’s status was put into question, leading to a visible public debate before Cerqua was retained.
Yet another part was the circumstances of Saturday night’s sectional final, with the top-seeded Bees playing a virtual road match against no. 2 seed Fayetteville-Manlius, different from years past when those finals were held at Cicero-North Syracuse, a neutral venue most of the time.
Even if the setting, and opponent, were different, the reality was the same as the Hornets’ effort was noble and tough, but the Bees were simply better.
In the first set, B’ville took it 25-19, and it blitzed through the second set 25-11. F-M then took a big lead in the third set, only to have the Bees roar back and, by a 25-18 margin, earn yet another sectional title.
B’ville first had to get past no. 4 seed C-NS in last Thursday’s semifinal. After a 25-14 romp through the first set, the Bees were pushed in the next two sets, but still won them by 25-21 margins.
Not only did Summer McClingtic get 12 assists, she contributed nine kills and seven digs, with Jenna Garvey taking over more back-line duties as she finished with 18 assists.
Rileigh Kimball led with 14 kills and nine digs, while Katie Welcher earned nine kills. Maggie Weigand got seven digs to go with her four kills. Sophia Cronk had four kills and three aces. Sophia Kordas earned three kills and Carly May added two kills.
For C-NS, Cassidy Ormond had nine assists and Kim Barry seven assists to go with four kills and two blocks. Defensively, McKenna LaPorte managed 16 digs and Brooke Segars six digs as Adriana Houston had five kills.
Two days later, F-M fell, and B’ville found itself once more trying to add a third state championship to its ever-growing list of accolades.
That requires the Bees to get through an all-too-familiar obstacle in the AA regional final – Section II champion Shenendehowa, who has knocked out B’ville in this round the last two years.
B’ville and Shen meet again this Saturday at 2 p.m. at Gloversville High School, with the prize a berth in the state final four to take place Nov. 17-18 at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls.
