CENTRAL NEW YORK – In an attempt to fully secure local bragging rights, the Westhill girls volleyball team instead ceded them to a West Genesee side who already appears to be putting a special season together.
The Wildcats’ four-set victory over the Warriors last Monday night was an ideal follow-up for WG after it had earned its first win over Baldwinsville in 15 years the week before. It also avenged a sweep to Westhill in the Hornet Pride Tournament at Fayetteville-Manlius on Sept. 9.
Here, every set was a close, tensely-fought battle, and the first two were split. The Wildcats claimed the opener 25-22, only to have Westhill win the second 25–23.
Both the third and fourth sets would go beyond the point limit and feature multiple set points. At 25-25 in the third, WG gained the serve and held on, and it did so again in the fourth after seeing it get to 26-26.;
Kami Zajac, with 10 kills and 21 digs, anchored a Wildcats front line where Claire DeVore had 12 kills and Ella Beckering nine kills. Sonya Dunham had 25 assists and 12 digs, Sidney Hamilton adding 15 assists and 15 digs as Colleen Barry led the defense with 26 digs, adding four aces.
Westhill, meanwhile, saw Ava Baty get 28 assists and 23 digs. Alice Bender added 22 digs as Eva Tarolli got 11 kills, Sofia Dimovski 10 kills and Jocelyn Caputo nine kills. Brynn Schneider and
Alison Lancette had five kills apiece, combining for 12 blocks.
Given no time to rest, WG found itself facing Fulton 24 hours later, and it went quite well at first, the Wildcats taking the first two sets by comfortable 25-17 and 25-16 margins.
But Fulton fought its way to wins of 25-21 in the third set and 25-23 in the fourth. Again, WG found itself in a decisive fifth set and, again, it came through, prevailing 15-12.
Dunham had 21 assists and Hamilton 15 assists, passing it to a front line where DeVore led with 14 kills. Alaina Dudzinski had six blocks to go with her four kills as Isabel Vallely gained five digs. Barry earned 11 digs, Ella Bickering nine digs and Zajac eight digs to go with four kills. Cella Spicer had three aces.
Yet another match on Thursday had WG handling Oswego 25-15 and 25-14 in the first two sets. The Buccaneers did extend it 25-20 in the third, but the main lineup helped the Wildcats win the fourth 25-19.
DeVore’s 10 kills beat out Beckering’s total of seven kills. Dudzinski added six kills and six blocks, with Hamilton getting 14 assists and 12 digs as Dunham earned 16 assists.
Before all this, Westhill had roared to a first-place finish at F-M. During the preliminary rounds, the Warriors did not drop a set against Oswego, Auburn, Jamesville-DeWitt and Central Square and got a 25-11, 25-17 sweep of WG.
Only in the final, against host F-M, did Westhill nearly get stopped. The Hornets claimed the opener 25-23, but the Warriors won the second 25-10 and, in a decisive third-set race to 15 points, edged the hosts 15-13.
Facing Cazenovia on Wednesday night, Westhill won the first 25-14, but then had to pull out a 26-24 second set and lose the third 25-18 before finishing off the Lakers 25-16 in the fourth.
Baty finished with 21 assists paired up with Emmie Sisack’s career-best 16 assists. Tarolli, with 13 kills, led a three-pronged front line where Lancette had 10 kills and Dimovski added nine kills.
