HOMER – What seems just as routine as winning Section III championships for the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team is what tends to happen next.
Renewing a long-time rivalry built out of important matches with one another, the Bees and Section II’s Shenendehowa squared off again in Saturday’s Class AAA regional final at Homer High School.
And the result was similar to many of these past match-ups, with B’ville giving an all-out effort but Shen proving to be too tough and prevailing in three sets to return to next weekend’s state final four in Glens Falls.
B’ville had a full week to recuperate from the Nov. 9 sectional final where it rallied from two sets down to top Liverpool in five, and knew quite well it could not afford to yield that much ground to Shen and survive it.
In that sectional final it was Madison MacKaig, with 31 assists, and Addy Garcia, with 19 digs, leading the comeback as MacKaig also picked up seven kills, four blocks, three aces and seven digs.
Amelia Hahn finished with 15 kills, with Mallory Offredi getting 10 kills. Natalie Dauphinais earned eight kills, four blocks and an ace as Aaniya Johnson stepped up with five blocks.
All of these stars wanted to repeat this effort against Shen, but from the outset B’ville found itself in catch-up mode, seeing each of the first two sets end with Shen prevailing 25-15.
Of course, this was the exact same situation the Bees had overcome against Liverpool, and for much of the third set it appeared that, at least, B’ville could drag out this match, too.
It didn’t happen, though. Shen, at 24-23, pulled out match point and earned the regional title, ending B’ville’s season and the high school career of six seniors on the Bees’ roster.
MacKaig, Hahn, Garcia, Offredi, Johnson and Ally Dixon composed this senior class, meaning it is up to players like Dauphianais to keep the Bees at the top of the local crowd in 2025.
