ONONDAGA COUNTY – Everything the Westhill and Skaneateles girls volleyball teams had done this season had essentially built to a single match last Saturday at Jamesville-DeWitt High School with the Section III Class B championship on the line.
On one end was the Warriors, the defending champions, and on the other the Lakers, the Class C champions who moved up to face a greater challenge – too great to overcome, as it turned out.
In just three sets, Westhill repeated its 2022 sectional title, never letting Skaneateles enter the argument, starting with an opening set in which the Warriors steadily built its margin until it prevailed 25-17.
During the second set, it looked like Westhill would cruise again, but the Lakers chipped away at a 22-15 margin, only to see the comeback fall short in a 25-21 decision.
Now just wanting to extend the match, Skaneateles twice led by four points in the third set, but each time the Warriors erased it, ultimately repeating its 25-21 win from the second to close out the match.
Ava Baty, with her 32 assists, fed it to a deep front line where Eva Tarolli led with 12 kills. Close behind her, Alison Lancette had nine kills, with Jocelyn Caputo getting eight kills and Sofia Dimovski seven kills. Alice Bender led the defense with 12 digs.
For the Lakers, Delaney Fish had 10 assists, with Cydney Pitman adding eight assists. Ayla Pas’cal earned seven kills, three blocks, four digs and two aces as Maggie Lootens, who had 10 digs, joined Ellie Walsh in getting five kills apiece. Alyssa Franciomone produced 14 digs.
Already, Skaneateles had vanquished one big rival in last Wednesday’s sectional semifinal, enduring two long sets with Marcellus but still managing to end it in three.
Having lost the opener 25-18, the Mustangs pushed the second set well beyond its point limit, with half a dozen set points squandered before, at 28-28, the Lakers got the serve back and won that set 30-28.
Another close set followed, but again the key points went to Skaneateles and it closed out the victory 27-25 as Franciamone had 18 digs, Fish got 11 assists and Pitman nine assists to go with six digs.
Lootens earned 11 kills on the front line, Pas’cal adding six kills. Walsh had five digs and nine digs, plus a pair of aces.
In defeat, Marcellus had 30 assists from Mary Curtin up to a balanced front line where Harper Camp had 11 kills, Maddy Foy 10 kills and Ellie DeMarle nine kills. Hannah Fagan got 10 digs and Bryn Goldsworthy six digs to go with three aces and four kills. The Mustangs’ season ended with a 9-7 record.
Westhill, meanwhile, was dominant in the other semifinal against no. 4 seed Cazenovia, tearing through the first set 25-9 and the second set 25-11 before closing it out 25-14 in the third.
Sophia Johnson and Sydney Medeiros each got four aces to set the tone, the team eventually producing 16 aces overall as Baty finished with 17 assists and 10 digs.
Balanced up front, the Warriors had Tarolli, Lancette and Brynn Schneider earn seven kills apiece, while Dimovski had three kills. Bender had a team-best 10 digs and Eva Militi added six digs.
After vanquishing Skaneateles in the sectional final, Westhill could look ahead to a return to the state Class B tournament, beginning Wednesday with a regional match against Section X’s Ogdensburg at Massena High School.
