CENTRAL NEW YORK – Perhaps no one in area girls volleyball could bring more confidence into the Section III playoffs than West Genesee, given how it finished the regular season with two high-quality victories.
It began Tuesday night against Fayetteville-Manlius, where the Wildcats got even with the Hornets, and continued two nights later when it knocked off Class AAA front-runner Liverpool, both of those matches going four sets.
Having lost in four set to F-M on Sept. 28, the Wildcats claimed the first two sets of the rematch 25-21 and 25-18. F-M took the third 25-20 and threatened to extend it longer, but WG pulled out the fourth set 25-23 to end it.
Sonya Dunham had 26 assists and Sidney Hamilton added 19 assists. Up front, Claire DeVore led with 14 kills, with Cami Zajac getting eight kills as Isabella Vallely, Lillianna Iacampo and Ella Bickering had seven kills apiece. Alaina Dudzinaski added six kills as Zajac and Colleen Barry both earned 15 digs.
Impressive as this was, WG followed it up with another great performance against Liverpool, who also had beaten the Wildcats earlier this season, though that Oct. 2 match went five sets.
Here, they split the first two sets, WG getting the opener 25-21 and the Warriors taking the second 25-19. Recovering well, the Wildcats got the third set 25-20 and then played its best in the fourth, taking it 25-15 to clinch the match.
DeVore earned 14 kills and three blocks, helped by Vallely’s seven kills and three blocks. Bickering had five kills and nine digs as Celia Spicer had four kills and Dudzinski four blocks. Zajac’s 17 digs led the defense as Dunham recorded 15 assists and Hamilton added 11 assists.
Jordan-Elbridge won in four sets over Cato-Meridian 25-21, 25-18, 21-25, 25-14 to open its final week of the regular season.
Sydney Parsons had 12 kills and Ryleigh Gill earned seven kills, with Zoie Karcz and Brooke Chiaramonte each earning 13 assists and Claire Brown getting 12 digs. Kendra Anderson finished with nine digs, one more than Chiaramonte and two more than Karcz.
And the Eagles kept it up Thursday against Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, dashing through the first two sets 25-6 and 25-11 and then taking the third set 25-18 for the sweep.
Abby DelFavero earned six of J-E’s 19 aces, adding three kills. Isabella Jay added three aces as Parsons and Brenna Tubbert each got three kills and Karcz finished with eight assists.
Bishop Ludden breezed past Syracuse OnTech 25-3, 25-14, 25–13 last Tuesday night, with Abigail Mossotti earning nine of the Gaelic Knights’ 23 aces. Sarah Prowak had five aces and Julianna Ligoci had four aces to go with four kills. Sophia Rivera had seven assists.
Then Hamilton played Ludden on Thursday night and the Emerald Knights took it 25-17, 25-13, 25-12. Prowak finished with four kills, Rivera adding five assists and Grace Hilton getting nine digs.
The Section III playoffs has Ludden as the no. 3 seed in Class D, meeting no. 2 seed Living Word Academy in a Nov. 1 semifinal. That same night, J-E, as the no. 2 seed in Class C, hosts a semifinal against no. 3 seed Cato-Meridian, and before all this West Genesee, the top seed in Class AA, hosts no. 8 seed Nottingham in Friday night’s quarterfinal round.
