CENTRAL NEW YORK – Through its first two matches of the 2021 season, the Cazenovia girls volleyball team found itself unable to make a lot of headway against high-quality opposition.
The Lakers began its season Sept. 1 at Buckley Gym against Homer, where it was quite close in each of the first two sets, but could not quite get the points at the end it needed.
Prevailing 25-23, 25-22, 25-14, the Trojans inlcuded Mya Updyke getting 21 assists and Mallory Douglass earning 26 digs, with Keira Miller getting six kills and Lilly Sorenson five kills.
On the Lakers’ side, Maren Smith had four kills and six digs, with Carleigh Szalach getting three kills and five digs. Zoe McLean earned 10 digs and Caryn Gagnon added seven digs to go with her six assists. Becca Ziemba had four digs, with Kennedy Snyder and Corrine Albicker each getting three digs.
Hosting Solvay two days later, Cazenovia lost, 25-14, 25-18, 25-18 to the Bearcats, who saw Jayde Coyne, Alicia Granger and Neveah Baker each earn 10 digs. Granger added nine kills in front of a back line where Brayla Bagozzi had 12 assists and Toni Sardo added nine assists.
Again busy on the defensive end, Smith had 10 digs for the Lakers, with Szalach and Snyder both earning six digs. Gagnon picked up five assists as Szalach, McLean and Ziemba each had two kills.
Now on the road, Cazenovia had a match with Institute of Technology Central postponed, but did play Phoenix last Thursday night and reached the win column with a four-set decision.
Sailing through the opening set 25-16, the Lakers were pushed in the second set, yet pulled it out 25-23. That gave Cazenovia a cushion against the Firebirds claiming the third set by that same margin before the visitors won the fourth set 25-21 to end it.
Szalach had 11 assists and Gagnon picked up five assists. Snyder led the defense with eight digs as McLean and Smith both got five digs. Smith also had four aces and five kills, with Eliza Gurney also earning five kills to go with three aces. McLean had four kills and two aces.
After appearing in last Saturday’s Fayetteville-Manlius Tournament and winning in its division, the Lakers had a chance to build some momentum in matches this week against Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and Jordan-Elbridge.
