CENTRAL NEW YORK – Going into October, the Cazenovia girls volleyball team sported a 3-6 record, as much a reflection of the tough competition it faced than any commentary on its own quality.
But the Lakers began the month with a dominant performance Oct. 1 against Phoenix, taking little time to put away the Firebirds 25-7, 25-9, 25-12.
Overall, Cazenovia had 20 aces, six of them by Eliza Gurney, with Maren Smith getting five aces to go with her three kills.
Zoe McLean added three aces and three kills as Carleigh Szalach led with four kills. With so many free points from the aces, setters had less production, but Caryn Gagnon still had six assists and Becca Ziemba added four assists.
Back in action Monday to face Mexico, the Lakers would find things much more challenging, but still tamed the Tigers in four sets.
A narrow 25-22 win in the first set was followed by Mexico taking the second set 25-20 to pull even. In the pivotal third set, both sides had chances, but at 25-25 Cazenovia gained the serve and then held on to it.
That 27-25 win carried over into a fourth set where the Lakers closed it out 25-19, with Gagnon this time needing every bit of her 22 assists to go with three aces and two kills.
Smith again earned five aces, adding five kills. Szalach, who had a team-best seven kills, joined Corrine Albicker in earning four aces as Gurney equaled Smith’s five kills. McLean had three kills and Kayla Goodfellow got two kills.
Playing Hannibal on Tuesday, a close first set went 25-21 in the Lakers’ favor, and from there Cazenovia rolled to 25-15 and 25-14 wins to complete another sweep.
Gagnon earned nine assists, her passes often going to Szalach, who gained five kills. Smith added three kills as Gurney had three aces. Smith, Gagnon, McLean and Mya Skeele earned two aces apiece.
Then it was Cazenovia handling Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 25-6, 25-7, 25-19 on Wednesday night as Kennedy Snyder emerged to earn a career-best nine aces.
Smith got four aces to go with her five kills as Ashley Lordon also earned five kills. Szalach, Gurney and Skeele had three kills apiece as Gagnon managed six assists, Audrey Wells got five assists and Albicker had four assists.
All of this led to Thursday’s match at Solvay, the Lakers’ fourth in as many nights, and for a moment it appeared to be working itself into the match when, after losing the first set 25-21 it routed the Bearcats 25-12 in the second and then got within two points of winning the third.
However, Solvay pulled out that set 26-24 and, with all the momentum, claimed the fourth 25-11 to end the match as Alicia Granger led the Bearcats with 16 kills, six aces and nine digs, with Brayla Bagozzi getting 16 assists and Toni Sardo adding 13 assists.
On the Lakers’ side, Gagnon was credited with 12 assists and three aces. Szalach augmented her five kills with five aces as Gurney also got five kills, with Lordon getting four kills and McLean adding three assists.
All of this leaves Cazenovia at the .500 mark (7-7) heading into matches next week against Jordan-Elbridge and Hannibal.
