CENTRAL NEW YORK – A 12-7 regular-season record helped the Jordan-Elbridge girls volleyball team gain, for the first time in program history, a top seed for the Section III playoffs.
The Eagles lead the six-team Class C bracket with a bye directly into the semifinals, where on Nov. 5 it will face the winner of a first-round match between no. 4 seed Hannibal and no. 5 seed Syracuse Academy of Science, with the finals set for Nov. 9 at Phoenix.
In the last week of the regular season. J-E went through a tough four-set match with Cato-Meridian last Monday but did enough to defeat the Blue Devils 25-14, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19.
Zoie Karcz put together seven kills, eight assists and 15 digs, Brooke Chiaramonte getting 17 assists and 17 digs. Brenna Tubbert led the Eagles with eight kills, Claire Brown managing 22 digs and Isabella Jay 13 digs as Abby DelFavero had five kills and Sydney Parsons four kills to go with four aces.
A 25-20, 25-18, 25-8 loss to Phoenix followed two nights later, the Firebirds led by Olivia Edwards’ 26 assists and 20 digs along with 16 kills and 12 digs from Maura Catanzano. Karcz had 13 digs and Jay nine digs for the Eagles as Tubbert and Madison Clochessy earned three kills apiece.
Meanwhile, West Genesee showed that it least it made some progress against Baldwinsville, the SCAC Metro division’s top side.
It was something that didn’t happen when the Wildcats lost to the Bees in September, but did take place in last Tuesday’s rematch, which WG lost in four.
Unbeaten in league play this fall, B’ville found itself in two close sets thanks to the Wildcats’ level of play, yet still took both of them by 25-20 and 25-22 margins.
WG finally grabbed the third set in another 25-20 decision to extend the match, leading to a fourth set where B’ville took over again and closed it out 25-17, led by Amelia Hahn’s 14 kills and Mallory Offredi’s 10 kills.
Eliana Becker gave the Wildcats 30 assists during the night, her passes going to Norah Emery, who had eight kills, and Bella Vallely, who got seven kills. Miley Ginty and Celia Spicer had five kills apiece as Hollis Pfeiffer gained 19 digs, augmented by Sidney Hamilton’s 12 digs and Maddie Cook’s 10 digs. Lizzie Dunham had seven digs.
Buoyed by this effort, WG went out Thursday and, hosting a Cicero-North Syracuse side it lost to in five sets earlier this month, prevailed in three, each of them close.
All the important points went in the Wildcats’ favor at the end of sets in this 25-23, 28-26, 26-24 decision where Becker ably spread around her 35 assists as Pfeiffer recorded 18 digs, Cook 14 digs and Hamilton 12 digs to go with three aces.
To lead the front line, Vallely earned 10 kills, with Emery close behind getting nine kills. Alaina Dudzinski stepped up with seven kills, Spicer adding six kills and Ginty five kills as they both joined Vallely and Dudzinski recording two blocks.
For the sectional Class AA playoffs WG earned the no. 2 seed and meets no. 7 seed Nottingham Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round, the winner to get Central Square or Henninger in next week’s semifinals.
As for Bishop Ludden it enters the sectional Class D playoffs as the no. 4 seed, needing to beat no. 5 seed Living Word Academy Tuesday to advance to next week’s semifinal against no. 1 seed Bishop Grimes.
