CENTRAL NEW YORK – With all of their regular-season work done, area high school girls volleyball teams geared up to pursue four different Section III fall championships.
Skaneateles is the defending Class C champions and boosted its own confidence further when it won the Oct. 22 Onondaga High School League tournament at Phoenix.
As the top seed, the Lakers meet no. 4 seed Solvay in Thursday night’s semifinals, two nights after the other semifinal between Cazenovia and Phoenix.
Defending the Class B sectional title, Marcellus has the no. 2 seed and will face Homer in one semifinal, while Westhill, the top seed, meets no. 4 seed Cortland in the other semifinal.
Before they hit the post-season, though, Westhill and West Genesee united for a good cause last Monday for the “Pink Out” match that benefited the Angel Fund and breast cancer research.
With both sides wearing pink jerseys and honoring survivors of breast cancer, the match turned into a classic, and the Wildcats were able to edge the Warriors in five sets.
Westhill won the opener 25-21, but WG controlled the next two sets by 25-17 and 25-16 margins. The Warriors pulled even 25-20 in the fourth but, in a tense final set, the Wildcats, at 15-15, were able to win the serve and close it out 17-15.
Cami Zajac led WG with 17 kills and 11 digs. Celia Spicer added 10 kills, with Claire Devore adding nine kills as Olivia Snyder also got nine kills to go with her 25 assists. Sonya Dunham managed 17 assists and 12 digs. Sidney Hamilton paced the defense with 26 digs.
On Westhill’s side, Ava Baty (23 assists) and Emmie Sisack (11 assists, 16 digs) worked on a back line where Tori Milliti got 23 digs. Hannah Schmitz had 18 digs to go with her eight kills as Alison Lancette (12 kills), Eva Tarolli (nine kills) and Janiah Robinson (seven kills) provided power up front.
A night later, WG routed Henninger 25-15, 25-10, 25-21 to improve its record to 8-7, getting seven aces from Nadia Stojanovski and four aces from Lilianna Iacampo, who also had four kills. Ella Beckering earned six kills as Maggie Dalgety and Isabel Gardner each earned three kills in front of Snyder, who got 18 assists.
All of this got the Wildcats to the no. 4 seed in Class AA, meaning it had to get past no. 5 seed Cicero-North Syracuse Friday night in order to challenge top seed Baldwinsville in the semifinal.
WG did so in an impressive manner, sweeping the Northstars 25-16, 25-19, 25-23 as Zajac managed 15 kills and 13 digs, with Devore adding six kills. Dunham got 17 assists as Snyder earned 10 assists and five kills.
Solvay swept Jordan-Elbridge 25-17, 25-20, 25-9 last Monday night as Jayde Coyne and Ashley Filicia each served up seven aces and the Bearcats had 23 aces overall.
Coyne got seven kills, just ahead of Hannah Haase and Susie Overend (six kills each), with Filicia getting 23 assists and Nevaeh Baker 10 digs. Lisa Mendez added three aces and seven digs.
J-E got five kills from Sydney Parsons and three aces from Madyn LaFleur. Sarah Lane also had three aces, to go with nine digs and five assists.
Playing again a night later, J-E was able to sweep Hannibal 25-13, 25-21, 25-22 to improve its overall record to 6-13.
Bishop Ludden, meanwhile aimed in the first round of the Class D sectional playoffs to avenge its five-set defeat to Bishop Grimes a week earlier – but once again, the Cobras prevailed in five sets.
Twice, the Gaelic Knights trailed, after a 25-23 loss in the first set and a 25-12 defeat in the third. Twice, Ludden rallied, grabbing the second set 25-17 and romping through the fourth 25-11.
The final set proved close, but Grimes won it 15-12, ending the Gaelic Knights’ season with a 10-9 record.
