SYRACUSE – For one April evening, past glory merged with present quality, and gave the Marcellus girls volleyball team a landmark victory.
When the Mustangs defeated Westhill in five sets Monday night, it not only kept the Mustangs undefeated at 5-0, it brought an end to the 44-match win streak of the reigning two-time state Class B champion Warriors.
Marcellus was on the receiving end of a handful of those 44 straight victories, and the memory of them, combined with plenty of match experience and poise, proved valuable.
Westhill, as so many times before, got the jump by winning the first set, but the close 25-22 margin indicated the Mustangs were up to the challenge and it responded by taking two close sets by 25-21 and 25-22 margins.
And even when the Warriors tore through the fourth set 25-10, Marcellus absorbed it and, in the final set, inched back in front and held off all of Westhill’s charges to take the match 25-21.
Bronte Stahl not only produced a team-beat 18 kills for Marcellus, she had three aces and contributed 18 digs, just behind the total of 21 digs from libero Sarah Louer as Elaine Grattan and Brooke Finnarty both gained 10 digs.
Miranda Stewart, stepping up to help Stahl on the front line, recorded 10 kills, while Anna Fern had eight kills, four assists and a team-best five aces. Finnarty gained five kills and Grattan got four kills.
Feeding it to all of the Mustangs’ front line players, Jenna Mattison finished the night with 42 assists, adding eight digs, three kills and an ace.
On Westhill’s side, Hannah Schmitz’s 36 assists went to Kate Heinrich (14 kills), Alison Lancette (13 kills), Morgan Richardson (10 kills) and Katie Culligan (nine kills). Charlotte Formica had eight digs, Jaida Welch seven digs and Tori Milliti six digs as Richardson earned four aces, with Militi and Schmitz earning three assists apiece.
