Not only did the Chittenango girls volleyball team go through the entire 2018-19 season without a defeat, it nearly went the entire way without any opponent taking a set off them.
Only in the final match, against Cortland, did the Bears buckle a bit as, after winning the first set 25-16, it struggled plenty in the second set and the Purple Tigers won it 25-21 to pull even.
Quickly, Chittenango dealt with this small bit of adversity and, in the third set, handled it 25-14, proceeding to close out Cortland in the fourth set by a 25-19 margin.
Moving to 17-0, the Bears had Tyla Cutrie earn more than a set’s worth of points just with her 27 kills, adding three blocks and six digs.
Shelby Maring had 26 assists and four aces, while Bayla Cutrie earned 15 assists, three aces and two kills. Sydney Pellman had four kills, two aces and six digs, with Savannah Penoyer serving up six aces to go with 17 digs.
Before this, Chittenango had an impressive effort at Whitesboro last Wednesday night, consistently a step or two ahead of the Warriors while recording a 25-16, 25-15, 25-16 sweep.
Tyla Cutrie managed 15 kills, 10 digs, three blocks and two aces, the passes coming from Maring (16 assists) and Bayla Cutrie (15 assists) as the pair combined for 10 digs, too.
While Bayla Cutrie earned seven kills, Penoyer impressed with seven aces and 11 digs, Pellman adding four aces as libero Brenna Stanton earned nine digs and Jada Masciat got four kils.
Moving to boys volleyball, Chittenango was unable to earn a set in last Monday’s match against Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, the Bears falling to the Red Devils 25-18, 25-20, 25-17.
Tom McIntosh had 11 assists, helped on the back line by Noah Watson (four assists) and Brandon Turner (three assists) as Seth Kimball produced 11 digs, plus five kills.
Nick Callahan had a team-best six kills, plus two assists, as Austin Strickler and Keith Spurgeon matched Kimball’s total of five kills. Zephaniah Scott added four kills and two blocks. For VVS, Evan Kirkpatrick (10 assists, six kills, six digs), Colten Terrer (16 assists, three blocks, seven digs) and Adam Durfee (nine kills) led the way.
Weather postponed all of the Bears’ activity until Friday night, when it hosted Mount Markham and put together a 25-19, 28-26, 25-22 sweep of the Mustangs, Watson getting 13 assists and three aces as McIntosh added 11 assists.
Callahan had nine kills, adding three blocks and eight digs, while Turner had five kills. Spurgeon, Scott and Kimball had four kills apiece as Kimball got 14 digs and Caleb Barnard earned 12 digs.
Then Chittenango swept Westmoreland 25-21, 25-21, 25-17 on Saturday afternoon, McIntosh getting 17 assists and Watson adding 16 assists.
Barnard got 13 digs as Spurgeon had nine kills and Callahan eight kills, adding 10 digs. Kimball got six kills and 12 digs as Strickler also earned six kills. Griffin Furco contributed six digs and Scott earned four kills.
