CENTRAL NEW YORK – With the regular season’s conclusion fast approaching the Cazenovia girls volleyball team again confronted the one side it knows it must beat for area Class B supremacy.
And while it lost to Westhill in four sets Monday night, the Lakers responded two nights later by handing 14-0 Bishop Grimes its first defeat of the season in a five-set epic.
Twice, the Cobras led, with narrow wins in the first set 25-22 and third set 25-23. Twice, the Lakers answered, rolling through the second set 25-13 and pulling out the fourth 25-21.
All of it led to a final set that went well beyond the 15-point limit. After four match points were stopped, Cazenovia, at 17-17, got the lead and then held on to it 19-17.
Nearly a full set of points came from Olivia Pirkl’s 21 kills, but she didn’t stop there, shining on defense with 23 digs as, next to her, Alyssa Wardell put up 10 kills and added seven blocks, Jocelyn Szalach earning five kills.
So many stood out on defense, from Pirkl to Caitee Fenton getting 17 digs and McKenzie Warman 12 digs. They all flanked Lucy Bliss, who augmented her 38 assists by earning 15 digs, plus three blocks, three aces and two kills.
For Grimes, Ava Christodoulou earned 47 assists and 20 digs. Kayla Duenkel managed 22 kills and 13 digs, with Riley Abernethy stepping up to get 18 kills and 14 digs.
Westhill, undefeated in the Onondaga High School League and defending sectional champions, faced the Lakers last Monday night and were on the other end of a record-breaking effort in a four-set defeat to the Warriors.
Swept by this same Westhill side on Sept. 12, Cazenovia at least made sure it didn’t happen here, grabbing the third set by a 25-22 margin after dropping the first set 25-20 and the second 25-14.
Still, the Warriors closed it out 25-17 in the fourth seeing its libero, Alice Bender, set a new school mark by recording 31 digs next to Sophia Johnson, who got 41 assists. Ava Baty had 13 kills and 14 digs next to Eva Tarolli, who paced the front line with 18 kills and eight blocks.
For its part, the Lakers had plenty of defensive standouts, from Pirkl with 18 digs to Warman earning 15 digs. Fenton and Bliss earned 14 digs apiece.
Aside from her defense, Bliss also got 19 assists as Wardell earned a team-best six kills. Pirkl managed five kills as Sofie Reger had four kills and McKenna Weismore managed nine digs.
All of this followed Cazenovia’s five-set defeat to Skaneateles on Oct. 16 where twice Cazenovia rallied to extend the match, only to get beat in the final set 15-6 by those other Lakers.
Bliss had 28 assists, 12 digs, three blocks and three aces. Wardell’s 14 kills and four blocks led the front line, Pirkl adding 10 kills and Fenton five kills to go with 11 digs. Warman’s 20 digs were just ahead of Pirkl’s 19 digs.
The victory over Grimes clinched a winning record for Cazenovia before Thursday’s match with Hannibal, where in three close sets the Lakers prevailed again 25-22, 25-23, 25-22.
Olivia Ruddy, with six kills, led the Cazenovia front line against Hannibal. Wardell got four kills and four blocks, with Bliss getting nine assists and seven digs, Warmath earning six digs and Fenton three aces.
With a 10-6 record, Cazenovia earned the no. 4 seed for the Section III Class B playoffs. The Lakers host no. 5 seed Phoenix this Friday night at 7 p.m., the winner likely to face top seed Westhill in the semifinals.
