Sister, brother, mom, dad, brother-in-law: Penn State ties run deep for Lainy Pierce
By Mike Miazga volleyballmag.com
Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Kendall and Lainy Pierce after Penn State won the 2014 NCAA title/Mark Selders

There are plenty of stories about volleyball families with strong school ties.

But the Pierces from Eden, N.Y.?

“They are a Penn State family,” Russ Rose said.

In more ways than can be imagined.

Robert Pierce played volleyball at Penn State from 1985-1989, earned All-American honors and once held the program single-season record for service aces.

His wife, Kiernan, was a member of the Penn State track and field team from 1984-1989.

And all three of their children are or have been Nittany Lions, including current defensive specialist Lainy Pierce, as her teams heads into the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship in Kansas City. Lainy, a 5-foot-8 senior serving specialist, and her teammates are 33-1 and play Nebraska on Thursday night.

Lainy’s older sister, Kendall, who graduated in 2015 with two NCAA titles to her credit.

The youngest, Declan, is a redshirt freshman on the Penn State men’s team.

And Kendall’s husband is Aaron Russell, a former Penn State All-American, a 2016 Olympian and currently playing professionally In Italy.

Lainy Pierce at Penn State’s practice Wednesday in Kansas City/Ed Chan, VBshots.com

“It’s in their blood,” Rose said of the Pierce clan. “They also are all stunning-looking people, so their Christmas cards are keepers. The family is terrific.”

Robert Pierce said Penn State was the right place for his kids. “We believe in the university,” he said. “We had great experiences there.

“It wasn’t easy for us there and it hasn’t been easy for our kids. In this day and age in the world we live in, you have to put your kids in the hands of people you trust. I have 100 percent faith in (Penn State men’s coach) Mark Pavlik and Russ Rose. They are good people who I know are going to take care of my kids. I know they will be really hard on them, but I trust the processes.

“If it was easy everybody would be doing it, but it’s not. It’s hard. Kendall had a great experience and you look at the woman Lainy has become and she’s had a tremendous experience. The coaching staffs have done a great job and the university has done a great job.”

Kendall Pierce said being a student-athlete at Penn State was rewarding on multiple levels.

“Almost daily I think about how much Penn State, and specifically the volleyball program, has given me,” she said in an email interview from Italy earlier this week. “When people hear our entire family are not only Penn Staters by Penn State athletes, they assume it was a family thing and something the kids had no choice about. There never was a moment we felt pressured to go there.

“Sure, we grew up thinking college simply was Penn State, but we also grew up knowing Penn State volleyball was one of the best programs out there and who as a young kid doesn’t want to dream about becoming your best?

“I walked away with an understanding that I had just been a part of something bigger than myself. I think what the Pierce kids are thankful for the most is the understanding and compassion our parents have supported us with. Ask any former player, playing at Penn State is the toughest but most rewarding challenge they will ever face in their young adult life. But the impact each of these young ladies make not only on each other, but also inspiring young generations of girls is what continues to build our program and volleyball around the world. My sister and I are super-blessed to be prime examples of young dreamers inspired by those before us turned into players themselves, who hopefully have inspired some younger generation of girls as well.”

Lainy’s road to Penn State

Lainy had offers to other schools and visited one.

“I remember that trip we all took as a family to see that university,” Kendall said. “Between the two of us, it was only our second other college unofficial visit we had and would ever take to see a campus besides Penn State.”

But Lainy really wanted to go to Penn State. Rose told her should could walk on.

Kendall didn’t take it well.

“And not because the program was too tough for me or that I wanted to leave, but because I couldn’t understand a life where I got to live our shared dream of being a part of the Penn State volleyball program, while the one who really deserved it didn’t get her chance,” Kendall recalled.

“We shared a bedroom all our lives until I left for college. And above our beds, our ceilings were covered in Penn State and USA Volleyball magazine clippings. We had posters, pictures and articles taped up there so every night when we went to sleep we’d go to sleep with our dreams above us right there.

“I remember going into (Rose’s) office and sitting on my former teammate Megan Courtney’s lap crying and blubbering out the entire truth to Coach. I blubbered on and Coach sat and listened. He said, ‘It will all work out for your sister and don’t miss your serve the next time I put you in.’ ”

Rose was right. Lainy walked on at Penn State and eventually earned a scholarship.

“Lainy got better,” Kendall said. “She stayed driven and she became a leader for her team and emerged as the greatest we had ever seen her. She really came into her own. Fast forward to the day we walked out of coach’s office with a new offer on the table.

“We both tried playing it cool but shrieked and did one of those girly giddy dance move things than flawlessly executed our lame Parent Trap handshake as soon as we stepped outside. When we went on that visit, I could have guessed right then and there her career would have been very successful with a lot of playing time, but I knew Lainy truly was meant to be a Penn Stater.”

Lainy agreed.

“I looked at other schools, but in the end nothing compared to Penn State,” she said. “When dad brought Kendall and I to our first Penn State match and then we got into middle school and high school and started going to camps, I fell in love with the girls and the program. All of us found our way to Penn State but I never realized how cool it is that my sister went there and my younger brother is there now.

“We’re all Penn Staters and I’ve never realized how amazing that is.”

The Pierce sisters, very different, but then again…..

Observers say the Pierce sisters are very different, but at the same time very much alike.

“It wasn’t until Lainy’s first year at Penn State that coaches started to realize how different we actually were,” Kendall said. “Sure, we work on the same wave length and can telepathically connect on a scary level, but Lainy is far different from me and I think that is the greatest thing about her.

“We had always been paired as ‘the sisters.’ Regardless of our 1½-year age difference and skill, we always were thought of as the same age, level and skill. That was lucky for me because she was far more advanced than I was.

“I think a part of the coaching staff thought if they brought Lainy on to the squad they would essentially be getting two Kendalls. Man, did they luck out. Instead, they got a fiery, passionate and fiercer player. She always has been my backbone. So growing up with two backbones, that should sum up her guts and her personality pretty well.”

Lainy has been a serving specialist, getting her shot as a freshman when Penn State won the NCAA title.

“Lainy does a good job of reading things well and is really competent in her role,” Robert Pierce said. “She will do whatever Coach expects her to do. She anticipates the direction the game is going and knows when Coach is going to call her in before he does. They call that volleyball IQ, but she reads body language and understands the flow of the game and her teammates.

“She has a good level-headedness about her teammates and the program and that’s something coach has openly said he values quite a bit.”

Rose sees that.

“Lainy is similar to her sister in that she cares about the team and will work at finding a way to help the team,” Rose said. “She’s low-maintenance as far as drama. She’s a good server. She comes in during tough situations and isn’t afraid to serve it tough and impact the outcome.

“I feel good about Lainy. She played as a freshman a little bit (on Penn State’s last title team) and the serving specialist is a tough role to play, especially on some teams where passing is not your strength or you are going in for someone who is relied upon to be a back-row attacker.

“She’s played her role well and has been a great representative of her family and Penn State. She’s an impressive young lady and will have great success in the future as well.”

Lainy said she’s taken some simple advice from Rose to heart over the years.

“Since my freshman year, the one thing coach has made very clear is the role of anybody coming off the bench, especially back-row players, is to come in and have energy and make a difference,” she said.

“That’s what coach looks for from me and it’s what I expect from myself. I want to make a positive impact and make things better and bring some energy and get the girls going. It’s not easy. Freshman year I kept reminding myself to go in and serve and cause some chaos. You don’t always have to get an ace, but maybe you will create a situation where there is a free ball or the other team won’t have all three of their options available.”

Her father relates her role on the team to a scene in the Academy Award-winning movie “The Right Stuff.”

“There is the one scene where Alan Shepard is sitting on top of the rocket and says, ‘Please don’t let me (screw) up.’ And then NASA comes on and he says, ‘Everything is OK.’ You know things like that go through these kids’ heads when they go back there in those situations,” Robert said.

“Being a serving sub or a DS off the bench is very difficult. Lainy has done a very good job through training and her toughness and understands that she’s done it a million times and is in control out there. 

“A lot of that goes back to my brother, Stephen (who coached Lainy at Eden High School where Lainy was part of five New York state-championship teams, the first of those five titles as an eighth-grader), coaching her and teaching her how serving can be a weapon and a force. You don’t always have to get an ace, but try to create situations that let your team have an advantage.

“She’s done a good job of approaching things with the right mentality and with calming her nerves. She knows that things might not work this time, but they will in the future. Coach continues to go to her. When you have the best coach in the country, someone who is a legend, and they find some attribute in you that he feels is going to help his team, that’s pretty cool.”

Lainy lays plenty of praise on her older sister.

“When I found out Kendall committed to Penn State I was happy and I also was a little jealous,” Lainy said. “I was really excited for her to be able to realize that dream. At the same time if Kendall did something, I would learn from her mistakes. She’s been my idol my entire life. I watched her go through the Penn State program. She’s always told me I can do this. She’s been a huge factor not just with Penn State but in my entire life.”

Kendall Pierce, in turn, recites a grade-school story that best sums up Lainy.

“In her third-grade year, my fifth-grade team was playing in the Big East Coast Championships,” she said. “My team was coached by my dad and we made it all the way to the finals. Dad brought up Lainy probably because my mom told him he had to. Mid-match, Lainy marched right up to my dad and yanked on his shirt. ‘Put me in.’ Dad said, short and curt, ‘Not now, Lainy, go sit down.’

“Lainy said, ‘No, dad, Put me in. I’m a player and players play!’ She ended up going in and with her underhand serve actually won us the game. That’s how Lainy always has approached scary and big situations. Even if she didn’t believe in herself 100 percent, she did 95 percent and raked the remaining five without letting anyone know.

“From underhand serving in that big match as a kid as a third-grader to going in to serve for the last couple national-championship points as a freshman, she always has been my idol.”

And now Lainy Pierce has the opportunity to make it NCAA-title bookends for her and the large contingent of Penn State seniors and the two redshirt juniors on the team.

“This is pretty incredible,” said Lainy, who had an ace in Penn State’s sweep of Michigan State on Saturday that propelled the Nittany Lions into the national semifinals. “The thought of being able to go back to the final four is surreal.

“When I was a freshman I was wide-eyed and just went with it. We had incredible senior leaders when I was a freshman (and beat BYU in the final for the championship). Now we’re out there earning it and we’re the seniors and the leaders. That means a lot to all of us. 

“The thought of returning and having the chance to get those bookends is incredible and we’re going to do everything possible to make it happen.”

Penn State Volleyball Legacy Lainy Pierce Writing Her Own Story
BY ETHAN KASALES, onwardstate.com
Wednesday, December 6, 2017

It was a foregone conclusion Lainy Pierce would attend Penn State, but the senior defensive specialist has forged her own path in a family full of Nittany Lions.

Pierce’s parents, Robert and Kiernan, were both student-athletes at Penn State. Lainy and her older sister, Kendall, spent two overlapping years on the volleyball team, winning a national championship together in 2014. Their younger brother, Declan, is a redshirt freshman libero for Mark Pavlik’s Nittany Lions.

When Lainy comes off the bench to serve, she’s easily the team’s most reliable presence at the line, with head coach Russ Rose routinely choosing her to navigate key situations. In Penn State’s 3-1 win over Pitt to reach the Sweet 16, Pierce manufactured three straight points during a huge juncture late in the first set.

Pierce composes herself before a serve versus Nebraska last season.

She heads into Friday’s NCAA quarterfinals against Missouri having connected on a team-high 98.4 percent of her serves this season, only committing errors on two of 127 attempts. Junior Keeton Holcomb and sophomore Emily Sciorra join Pierce as Rose’s two other main defensive specialists.

“We have to try to get as much out of them as we possibly can, because there’s a lot of demands on some of the six rotation players like Simone [Lee] and Ali [Frantti],” Rose said before the start of the tournament. “Part of it is giving those guys a breather.”

But it’s not only about keeping his starters fresh. Rose is a master of knowing when to draw on the strength of his stars and when to call upon his reserves to make a positive impact on the match. Sophomore Kendall White, the lone libero to earn All-Big Ten recognition last week, described what makes Pierce’s serves so difficult to handle earlier this season.

“I think the most underrated server [on the team]is actually Lainy, because it looks like a little bit of a lollipop, but it’ll get you — it just drops on you hard and not many people can pass it well,” White said.

Rather than simply focus on developing his team’s skills on the court, Rose also cares deeply about the special opportunity he has to teach his players lessons that will last a lifetime — well after their volleyball careers come to a close. Pierce followed in her sister’s footsteps as Penn State’s Big Ten sportsmanship award honoree.

“You miss the contributions that people make to the program more than to the game itself,” Rose said. “Lainy, like her older sister, is always in a good mood, always tuned in to what the team needs. If I get sent anything [as far as]requests, I send them to Lainy, the same as I sent them to Kendall, because they understand the importance of the team representing itself in the right way.”

Pierce’s family is volleyball royalty in her hometown of Eden, NY, just a 25-minute drive down Route 5 from Buffalo. Her dad coaches the boys’ team at Eden Junior-Senior High School, while his brother, Stephen, led the girls’ team to a record 14 state titles before retiring in 2016.

“My high school was really successful,” Pierce said. “Kind of like Penn State, we had a really good foundation built upon it. I made varsity in eighth grade and got to learn a lot from those older girls. When I was a captain my senior year, we continued the tradition and won states for the fifth year in a row.”

Pierce played outside hitter for the Raiders before transitioning to defensive specialist at Penn State, enrolling early in the spring of 2014 to get a head start on her academic and athletic career. She’s already earned her degrees in public relations and broadcast journalism and plans to move to either Philadelphia or New York after the season to pursue a career in corporate recruiting.

“My proudest moment as a Penn State volleyball player was serving in a national championship game,” Pierce said of the BYU sweep in Oklahoma City.

Lee, who arrived on campus at the same time as Pierce, spoke glowingly of her teammate’s dedication to her craft.

“She’s so determined. There’s not a day in the gym where she’s not going hard. She’s always encouraging everyone…giving constructive criticism. It’s so helpful.”

With four matches left on Penn State’s road to a record eighth national title, Pierce took some time to reflect on the importance of not letting these next few weeks slip by too fast.

“Just have fun — soak it up,” she said. “My little brother was texting me and I was just giving him some advice. He was saying how practices were getting tough, and I was like, ‘Dude, you’re not going to have this forever! A million people would wish to be in your spot, so enjoy it.’ I’m kind of giving myself that advice too.”

Photo By: Matt Sniegowski

Gleason Announces Upcoming Boys Volleyball Clinics
daemenwildcats.com
Monday, December 4, 2017

AMHERST, N.Y. - Don Gleason, head men's volleyball coach at Daemen College, announced today that he will conduct clinics for middle school and high school boys later this month.

The Middle School Boys Clinic is open to boys in grades 6-8 and it runs for two hours (10 AM - 12 PM) on December 27 and 28 at the Academic and Wellness Center. The High School Boys Clinic is open to boys in grades 9-12 and it runs from 10:30 AM through 4:30 PM on December 29 at Lumsden Gymnasium. Both clinics aims to teach fundamental skills including serving, passing, setting, blocking, hitting and floor defense.

Cost of the clinic for middle schoolers is $75 per participant; for high schoolers the cost is $100 per participant. More details can be found in the clinic flyer. Online registration is also available.

The addition of men's volleyball as the 17th intercollegiate athletics program sponsored by Daemen College was announced earlier this year. The program is receiving a $60,000 grant from the MotorMVB Foundation to aid in its establishment, and the team will begin competition in the spring of 2019.

All Daemen College sports camps and clinics are open to any and all entrants. Each camp may limit registration only by number, age, grade level and/or gender. Further, NCAA rules prohibit representatives of Daemen's athletics interests (a booster) who is not naturally or legally responsible for a prospective student-athlete (grades 9-12) from providing any expenses to attend a camp or clinic. Violations of this could result in loss of NCAA eligibility for the prospective student-athlete. If you have questions regarding this or any other NCAA rule, please contact the Daemen Office of Compliance at (716) 839-8587 or via email to bguerino@daemen.edu.

For a full listing of all Daemen College sports camps and clinics, visit daemen.edu/sportscamps.

STONY BROOK TAKES ON NEBRASKA IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
stonybrookathletics.com
Friday, December 1, 2017

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The Stony Brook volleyball team is set for its first NCAA Tournament appearance as it takes on fifth-seeded Nebraska. The Seawolves are coming off of their first America East Championship in program history, while Nebraska recently made it back-to-back Big Ten titles. 

QUICK HITS

Stony Brook earned its first bid to the NCAA Tournament after claiming its first America East Championship in program history.

McKyla Brooks was named the Most Outstanding Player of the America East Championship, while also being named to the All-Championship Team along with Kiani Kerstetter and LeAnne Sakowicz

The Seawolves finished fourth in the America East regular season standings and became the first four seed to knock off number one since previously doing so in the 2005 championships.

As a team, Stony Brook ranks in the top 30 nationally with 1,979 digs on the season, boasting a 17.21 per-set average.

Sophomore LeAnne Sakowicz ranks 45th in the country with a 10.76 assist-per-set average.

McKyla Brooks, LeAnne Sakowicz, Maria Poole and Kiani Kerstetter earned all-conference honors following regular season play.

The Seawolves more than doubled their win total from a season ago (8-21) and have an above .500 overall record for the first time since 2014.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA

The Huskers are the fifth seed in this year's bracket after claiming a share of the Big Ten title, but earning the league's automatic bid.

Nebraska made it back-to-back conference championships after finishing Big Ten play with a 19-1 record.

The Huskers' only loss came at Wisconsin early in league play, as they dropped just 11 sets to Big Ten opponents this season.

This is the 36th consecutive NCAA appearance for Nebraska, which is currently in the midst of a 13-match win streak.

Kelly Hunter was named Big Ten Setter of the Year, and was joined on the all-conference team by Mikaela Foecke and Annika Albrecht.

Nebraska boasts the 14th best hitting percentage in the country (.282), while holding opponents to just a .153 hitting percentage, good for 13th in the nation.

MAKING HISTORY

The Seawolves made it back-to-back sweeps to secure the first America East Championship in program history.

Unable to get by Albany in two regular season meetings, Stony Brook knocked off the No. 1 seed in straight sets to advance to the title match for the fifth time.

The Seawolves rallied for a repeat performance as it claimed another three-set win, this time over second-seeded Binghamton in the final.

McKyla Brooks sparked the Seawolves as she averaged 5.0 kills and 2.0 blocks per set through the conference post season matches, more than doubling her regular season averages. 

The conference title earned the Seawolves the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking the first Tournament appearance in program history.

Clarence Boys volleyball team holds season awards banquet
Clarence Bee
Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Clarence’s boys volleyball squad officially put the finishing touches on its 2017 season Nov. 15 by holding this year’s team awards banquet.

The Red Devils, who were ranked ninth in the final Western New York Coaches Poll after finishing with a 14-8 record, handed out three major awards: the White Letter (MVP) Award; the Red Devil Player of the Year Award; and the Michael T. Schlabach Memorial Award. The team also recognized this year’s statistical leaders at the event.

Teddy Payne became just the second sophomore to receive the White Letter in program history, joining 1999 graduate — and current Iroquois boys varsity head coach — Mark Schlabach as the only other sophomore to achieve the honor. Payne’s older brother, Henry Payne, a freshman on Penn State University’s men’s team, won the White Letter Award the past two years.

Teddy Payne, who became the first eighth-grader to play varsity volleyball at Clarence, was a team captain this season and is already on the radar of multiple Division I college coaches. Teddy Payne, a repeat ECIC I First Team all-star whose 248 serving points were 10 short of a single-season record that has stood since 1999, also led the teams in points serving and assists. Teddy Payne is also a starting setter on one of the premier national competition teams for the Niagara Frontier Volleyball Club, and has attended multiple invitation-only, national-level USA Volleyball camps.

Senior Alex Maccallini, meanwhile, was dubbed this year’s Player of the Year, which goes to the player who best represents Clarence boys volleyball. Though Maccallini is not a starter, coach Kevin Starr said, “I could always depend on him to do the not-so-little things that some of the other boys tried to avoid, like setting up and taking down the net and making sure the equipment was where it needed to be.”

“Alex was absolutely a model of what we hope a Clarence athlete will be,” Starr said. “He was always enthusiastic when he was on the sidelines, and he made the most of his opportunities when he got the chance to play. His performance in practices as a second-team right-side hitter forced our starters to be at the top of their games during scrimmages. He made us a better team in ways that a stat sheet could never show.”

Senior co-captain Alex Croff, a middle hitter, who led the squad in hitting percentage this season, “was the heart and soul of our team,” Starr said, exhibiting the leadership, sportsmanship and dedication that Michael Schlabach — who died in 1994 following his battle with leukemia — displayed during his time with the program.

“Alex set an example every day of how hard work, dedication, and a team-first attitude can benefit a whole program,” Starr said. “He is going to be the kind of man that Mike would have been.”

Croff was named an ECIC I First Team all-star this year.

Other statistical leaders this season included junior Jackson Wurtz (ECIC I Second Team all-star; save percentage and digs), senior Devin Dzierba (spike attempts and kills), and senior Shawn Trznadel (blocks), an All-WNY Second Team all-star who will be continuing his volleyball career at the Division I level next year at Indiana University– Purdue University Fort Wayne.

CARTER’S COLLEGE CHOICE
Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, November 23, 2017

Maryvale senior girls volleyball team member Julia Carter, front row middle, recently signed her national letter of intent to continue her academic and athletic careers at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beginning in the fall of 2018. A four-year member of the varsity team, Carter helped lead the Lady Flyers to the sectional finals as the team captain in each of the past three years, and has also won numerous honors while on the team. Witnesses to the signing include, clockwise from top left: father Brett Carter, varsity coach Tina Raczynski, grandmother Judy Pierson and mother Jean Carter.

East girls volleyball loses in state final
PATRICK NAGY Sports Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Williamsville East’s quest to win the Class A girls volleyball state championship ended against defending champion Walter Panas of Section I, 15-25, 19-25, 16-25, in Sunday’s final at the Cool Insuring Arena, formerly Glens Falls Civic Center.

It was East’s third straight trip to the state championships but the first time in school history that they reached the title match.

“They have a strong team and a great player [Yvette Burcescu] and she hurt us pretty bad,” East coach Scott Wright said. “They also served tough and our serve receive wasn’t at its best so we weren’t able to get the first shot. We were always playing defense after that. But they kept coming at us. Even when we got good shots through their block, their libero had a big night for them.”

East fell behind early in all three sets. The Lady Flames led 2-1 in the first set and trailed 8-3. Two kills by Ally Jozwiak pulled East to 13-10 but Walter Panas scored the next four points. An ace by Christy Mack cut the lead to 17-12 but the team could not get any closer.

East dug itself a 6-0 hole in set two. Kills from Jozwiak and Rachel Steffan cut the lead to 7-4 before Walter Panas went on a seven-point serving run, extending the lead to

15-5.

East battled back to get within six at 22-16, but

Panas held off the Lady

Flames’ late surge.

The third set was tied at

4-4 but Walter Panas went on a run to take an 11-5 lead.

A kill by Steffan and an ace by Mack cut the lead to 11-7, but Panas gradually pulled away, taking a 17-8 lead.

East went 4-2 in Saturday’s pool play, splitting with Kings Park, 27-25, 12-25 and Walter Panas, 27-25, 22-25, and beating Burnt Hills, 28-26, 25-15.

Steffan and Makayla Greenfield were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Greenfield finished the weekend with 93 assists and 24 digs. Steffan posted 53 kills, 33 digs and six blocks.

Jozwiak added 38 kills and 28 digs. Wright noted the play of Mack, who recorded a team-high 51 digs at libero.

East returns most of the lineup, including Steffan, who finished the season with 536 kills, but graduates two huge pieces of the lineup in Greenfield, the school’s all-time assists leader, and Jozwiak, both four-year starters who went undefeated in league play and helped the Lady Flames win four section titles and three regional titles.

Greenfield finished the season with 1,182 assists, breaking the East single season record of 1,171 she had set her sophomore year. She finished her career with 3,528 assists.

“Makayla is the best setter that I have had through the Williamsville East program,” Wright said. “She’s built herself into maybe the top setter in Western New York. It’s been great to coach her.”

Jozwiak made a big switch from middle hitter, where she started the previous three years, to outside hitter this year, and Wright said she performed “better than I could have imagined.”

Jozwiak had an outstanding senior season with 493 kills, 392 digs, and a team-high 62 aces.

Also graduating is senior Grace Wendell, who won the team’s sportsmanship award at the state championships.

East finished 19-2 overall, including 14-0 in league play.

Overall, Wright said this year’s group was one of his favorite teams.

“We had a lot of roles to fill and people came in and did a great job filling those roles and keeping our team at a level that we have been at,” he said. “I can’t be prouder of the team. I will never look back and feel sad that we were in second place because there are not many teams that get to finish second in the state.”

South grad Dunkleman named Morrisville State’s athlete of the week
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Kim Dunkleman, a Williamsville South graduate and junior for the Morrisville State College women’s volleyball team, was named one the school’s athletes of the week ending Nov. 5.

Dunkleman played a key part in guiding Morrisville State to its first ever North Eastern Athletic Conference Championship title and automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.

Across the three-game tournament, the junior collected a total 72 assists, served up nine aces and a kill, while contributing 30 digs and an assisted block.

She began tournament action with a double-double performance, putting up 26 assists and registering 16 digs, while serving four aces in the 3-0 quarterfinal win over Keuka College.

Morrisville State avenged an early season loss to Wells College in the semifinal round on Saturday, as Dunkleman’s all-around efforts led to the 3-1 match win, sending the Mustangs to the championship final. In the contest, she recorded a kill, while collecting 25 assists, serving four aces and adding six digs to her tallies.

In the fourth set on Sunday in the title game, Dunkleman assisted six straight kills, including the final dagger in set four, as Morrisville State took down seven-time defending champion Gallaudet University 3-1 for the title.

Dunkleman is majoring in massage therapy.

Portville volleyball takes championship step up as it wins state Class C title; Will East, Panama fall
By WILL SPRINGSTEAD, Buffalo News
Sunday, November 19, 2017

Portville won the NYSPHSAA Class C championship at Glens Falls. (Nick Serrata/Special to The News)

GLENS FALLS -- The dominance was the same, but the class was different.

Portville won its first state girls volleyball title in Class C on Sunday at Cool Insuring Arena, defeating Millbrook 3-1 (25-9, 15-25, 25-13, 25-13). The Panthers' previous three state titles came in Class D, the last one in 2015.

After splitting the first two sets, Portville held an 11-10 lead before all-tournament-team selection Sierra Keim made a touch shot that found a hole in Millbrook's defense. That started a run of three points and gave the Panthers necessary confidence the rest of the way.

Portville's serving and net play was outstanding in the win. Class C most valuable player Beth Miller had a large role in both. In the first set, she served for nine consecutive points.

"We spend a lot of time on serving (in practice)," Miller said. "We think it's our best quality as a team. We all have such different things in our serves that are good for each and every point we get. We keep them out of system with our serving."

"We'll serve for like 15 minutes at practice, getting five in a row. If you mess up, restart," added Haley Unverdorben, another all-tournament-team selection.

As for the net play, Millbrook had a height advantage on the Panthers, but that's nothing new or in any way intimidating.

"We know that we're short, so we know we have to get up to get blocks," Keim said. "We do a lot of jump-roping."

Portville committed some uncharacteristic errors in losing the second set, but there was no panic on the Panthers' faces.

"I think it made us more focused and made us work harder," Unverdorben said.

Williamsville East swept

Williamsville East is getting closer, but it's not quite there yet.

After losing in a pool play tiebreaker last year, the Flames reached the final this year, but couldn't deny Walter Panas' defense of its Class A state title.

The Panthers won in straight sets, 25-14, 25-19, 25-16.

Senior Makayla Greenfield and junior Rachel Steffan made the all-tournament team for the Flames, who have just three seniors.

Panama falls short of title defense

Panama ran into a buzz saw Sunday while trying to defend its Class D state title. Bainbridge-Guilford downed the Panthers 3-1, by scores of 25-10, 25-14, 15-25, 25-12.

"They played a great game, very few mistakes," Panama coach Tammy Hosier said of B-G. "Yesterday we had some great blocking. We had some blocking today, but they were getting everything."

Panama trailed 10-9 in the second set before B-G went on a short run, then gradually increased its lead. And while the Panthers won the third set, it was clear they were swimming against the tide. B-G controlled the fourth set.

Hosier said her team didn't play as well as it did in pool play Saturday. There's been some minor adversity for the team to deal with, but she's still happy with how it finished.

"Number two in the state isn't too shabby," she said. "I told the girls, 'Don't let this loss define your volleyball season,' because they've done great."

Eden boys volleyball wins state championship
By Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, November 18, 2017

Eden volleyball’s state championship team. (@NYSPHSAA)

Eden boys volleyball’s final day of competition was grueling and nerve-racking, featuring a pool play tie-breaker and a back-and-forth five-set championship game. Coach Robert Pierce said the hurdles just made the victory even sweeter.

The Raiders left Long Island Division II state champions for the first time in school history.

“We’re playing schools that are not only two, but sometimes three times bigger than us,” Pierce said. “I wasn’t sure Eden was ever going to get there.”

After winning the first set of the final, the Raiders lost two straight, 25-19 and 25-21, to Bellmore JFK. With its back against the wall, Eden rode hot starts in the final two frames en route to a comeback victory. The Raiders won both with room to spare, 25-20 in the fourth and 15-8 in the fifth.

“We were fortunate to catch some momentum in game four,” Pierce said. “Our defense finally started to pick up.”

The match ended with a Drew Hesse spike that a Bellmore JFK defender couldn’t wrangle. The Eden players celebrated as they watched the ball ricochet off his chest and toward the stands.

The Raiders needed a tie-breaker to even get to the final. All three Division II teams, Eden, JFK Bellmore and Burnt Hills, were 2-2 in pool play. Eden advanced since it had the most points, while the other two schools played a set to 25 to see who would meet the Raiders.

Collin Rigley was named the tournament’s most valuable player. He notched 19 kills and three aces in the final. Gavin Musielak (45 assists), Hesse (21 kills, 2 aces) and Tome Filkov (15 kills) were named to the all-tournament team.

In pool play, the Raiders defeated Burnt Hills 25-18 in the first set and lost 25-22 in the second. Against JFK Bellmore they lost the first set 25-22 and won the second 25-21.

This trip was Eden's first to the state final four.

“We started this back on Aug. 20 with a crew of guys (and) we didn’t know what we were going to be,” Pierce said. “All the pieces came into place.”

Portville, Panama and Williamsville East girls volleyball all advance to state finals
By Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, November 18, 2017

Section VI will be represented in the Class A, C and D girls volleyball finals, as all three schools competing in Glens Falls Saturday made it through pool play.

Portville and Panama, the respetive Class C and D representatives, both went undefeated in pool play. Portville won all six sets, besting Pierson-Bridgehamton, Voorheesville and Millbrook. The Panthers will face Millbrook in the final at noon.

Panama defeated Tuxedo, Argyle and Bainbridge-Guilford in its perfect day. Bainbridge-Guilford, which Panama downed 25-17, 25-21, is the Panthers foe for the title game at 2 p.m. Panama is the defending Class D champion.

Williamsville East will face Walter Panas in the Class A final at noon after winning four of its six sets. The Flames split with Walter Panas in pool play, losing the first set 27-25 and winning the second 25-22.

Williamsville East captains leading Lady Flames volleyball to successful year
Jenna Callari, WKBW
Friday, November 17, 2017

Williamsville, N.Y. (WKBW) - You can call them the dynamic trio.

"They are talented and have different qualities that they bring to the team that make us an all-around good team," said head coach Scott Wright.

Ally Jozwiak, Makayla Greenfield and Rachel Steffan are captains of the Williamsville East volleyball team.

The three teammates have played together for years.

"They've been my best friends since I joined as a freshman," Steffan said. "Being captains with them is just the best it could be."

The two seniors and one junior have been leading the Lady Flames all season in various stats.

Two outside hitters and one setter who have been setting an example on the court.

"We've been working to really improve our play together and be able to help improve everyone else to have a successful year," Greenfield said.

And it's been a successful year.

The Lady Flames will compete in the state championship pool play semifinals this weekend. The winner will come out with a state title.

Williamsville East has placed third before but this year feels different.

"It's so important to us," Jozwiak said. "We don't want to lose and we don't want to mess up for each other because we want to be successful."

For Jozwiak and Greenfield, this weekend marks the final time they'll play with their Flames teammates.

It's exciting, sad and bittersweet.

"It's crazy," Greenfield said. "I never expected to be able to go to States for three years in a row and it's just an amazing way to end my career here."

"It's all that's been on my mind," Jozwiak added. "It's all that I've been thinking about. It's crazy because it does end after this and it can either end really good or really bad, and there's no 'there's always next year'."

Which is giving the captains and this team a little extra motivation as they hope to bring home a state title back to Williamsville, not just for the school but for the seniors.

"They're not gonna have another one of these," Steffan added. "We've gone twice before and lost. So this year I think we really want to play to win, not just play to go."

State title quests continue for Section VI volleyball teams
By Corey Desiderio, Buffalo News
Thursday, November 16, 2017

The championship journeys for four volleyball teams from Section VI continue this weekend as they head east to compete in their respective state tournaments.

The Williamsville East, Portville and Panama girls teams play in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament at the Glens Falls Civic Center on Saturday and possibly Sunday, while the Eden boys team plays Saturday at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island.

The Flames advanced to the Class A state semifinals for the third year in a row following a sweep of Section V’s West Irondequoit last Thursday.

All four of the teams that were at states last year are back again in Walter Panas, Kings Park and Burnt Hills. Walter Panas swept Kings Park in the final.

“We’ve been there two years before, we know the teams,” junior captain Rachel Steffan said last week. “We’re going to win.”

Pool play for East begins at 9:30 a.m. against Kings Park.

Portville begins at the same time against Pierson/Bridgehampton. Other schools in the Class C pool include Millbrook and Voorheesville.

The Panthers dethroned eight-time defending state champ Eden in the sectional final before breezing by Le Roy last Friday in the Far West Regionals. They won Class D state titles in 2014 and 2015.

Panama won the Class D championship last season. The Panthers start at about 4 p.m. against Tuxedo and then play state runner-up Argyle and Bainbridge-Guiford, the only newcomer in the pool.

Sunday’s Class A and C finals are at noon, while Class D is at 2 p.m.

Eden is in the state tournament for the first time since the NYSPHSAA implemented a full state format in 2010. The Raiders have multiple intersectional titles during Robert Pierce’s 20-plus years leading the storied program.

The Raiders play Burnt Hills at about 11 a.m. and then Bellmore JFK right after. The top two teams play in the final at 3 p.m.

EA girls volleyball season ends in regionals
East Aurora Bee
Thursday, November 16, 2017

East Aurora’s girls volleyball team moved one step closer to playing for a state title this season after falling in the overall Section VI Class B championship game in 2016.

Unfortunately for the Lady Blue Devils, Section III’s Cazenovia wasn’t interested in letting them advance any closer than Friday’s Far West Regional at Daemen College, as East Aurora had its best season come to an end via 27-25, 13-25, 22-25, 20-25 scores.

“I am beyond proud of the entire team and all of the hard work they did this season,” coach Rebecca Jacobs said. “In the beginning of the preseason, I shared a quote from my alma mater St. Mary’s — ‘Practice like a Champion’ — and I asked for them to commit to this, which they did. Day in and day out, they practiced and played like champions and I think this was perfectly fitting for the type of season we had.”

Cazenovia, which beat Section V’s Wayne in a sub-regional to earn its spot in the Far West Regional, seemed able to find the perfect spot to place the ball early in the first set, jumping out to an 8-4 lead and extending it to 18-12 before Jacobs called timeout to regroup her players. That timeout worked, as the Lady Blue Devils rallied — spurred by Victoria Prusak’s serving — to knot the score at 21-21 before taking a 23-21 lead.

Both teams traded scores before East Aurora took a 26-25 lead — causing Cazenovia coach Brian Ellithorpe to throw his clipboard into the bench of chairs in disgust — before securing the decisive point.

“The first set was back and forth until the final set point, and the girls worked so hard to stay with it,” Jacobs said. “Senior Julia Halsey had some digs in the back row which helped us set up the offense in the front row. Our serving stayed tough and it showed in that first set score. I was extremely proud of how focused the girls were; playing at 9 on a Friday morning is never easy, but they were definitely focused and determined to win that set.”

Cazenovia responded with an equally strong determination to succeed in the second set, turning East Aurora’s 12-9 lead into a 22-13 lead before ultimately securing the win to knot the match at 1-1. The Lady Lakers’ effort carried over into the third set, as they put East Aurora in an early 6-0 hole. East Aurora responded with six straight points of its own to tie the score — causing Ellithorpe to toss his clipboard for a second time — before the Lady Blue Devils managed to take a 19-18 lead.

Both teams traded points back and forth, with the score tied at 22-22 before a long rally went Cazenovia’s way — on the scoreboard and psychologically as well — that helped the Lady Lakers secure the win and take a two sets to one lead.

“The second set was difficult for us,” Jacobs said. “We had just rallied back to win the first set and I think we were still thinking about that game for the second part of the match. I just kept telling the girls after we lost that second set that we just needed to focus on the match ahead of us and leave those two sets behind. Volleyball is a mentally tough sport; ups and downs can get you at the worst time but I think the girls did a good job of rallying back in the third set despite the loss.”

East Aurora’s resiliency was on display again at the start of the fourth set, with the Lady Blue Devils taking an early 8-2 lead. East Aurora also led by 15-10 and 20-19 counts before Morgan Hodinger offered up a string of jump serves that proved problematic for the Lady Blue Devils to help Cazenovia close out the victory.

“Hodinger was a very strong and consistent player for them, probably one of the most consistent serving and hitting players I have seen all season, but that’s what we were expecting at this point of the season,” Jacobs said. “Her jump float serve was almost impossible to stop late in the fourth set. Consistent serve receive is always a priority and in competitive matches like this one, a few errors can make things harder.”

Sophomore setter Olivia Alessi and junior middle hitter Olivia Covington connected well in the front row for East Aurora, recording a combined 14 kills and seven blocks for the match. Halsey and senior outside hitter Maddie McLaughlin each had eight kills for the match, with Halsey also adding four aces.

“Olivia Alessi always plays her heart out on the court and I think this match was another example of her strong game and love of the game,” Jacobs said. “For being a sophomore, Olivia’s court awareness is impressive where ball-handling, open-court shots and tipping are concerned. Unfortunately, Cazenovia’s libero was catching up with Olivia and was stopping her from scoring her usual points in the third and fourth sets.”

East Aurora finished the season 16-1 overall and loses seven seniors to graduation. This year’s senior class is particularly special to Jacobs, who took the program over six years ago and has enjoyed the ride that turning the program around in that time has provided.

“This is a special group of seven girls and I am so thankful for such a positive group of hard-working girls to set an example for the younger players on the team,” Jacobs said of this year’s senior class. “When I first took over the varsity program six years ago, we only won a few matches for the season — but now, for the program to be completely turned around and reaching the regional finals, it says something about these girls who started with me four years ago. They were the turning point of the program and they deserved this winning season.

“After Friday’s match there were of course tears in the locker room from not winning the match, but more so from the closing of this chapter of their lives,” Jacobs continued. “Some of the seniors will be going on to play college volleyball next fall and I am extremely excited for them and the new opportunities they will have. It’s a great coachable moment when you have coached someone for four years and know that they will continue to play this sport with the same passion in college. It’s very rewarding.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Lady Quakers fall in Class AA volleyball finals
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, November 16, 2017

The Orchard Park girls volleyball team came so close to making a sectional final but came up just short, closing out what was a highly successful season. The Lady Quakers lost in the Class AA semifinal’s five sets to Lancaster, in the third meeting between the teams in the season. The team dropped the first set 25-19. They stormed back with 25-21 and 27-25 wins. However, they dropped the final two sets, both 25-21.

“It was a back-and-forth match,” Orchard Park coach Greg Lardo said. “We didn’t play our best. Score-wise, it was pretty close. Lancaster just came in with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and they just played a great match. It was a great atmosphere. It’s been a while since we had a gym like that, and it was like that for the whole month of October. A couple calls here or there and it could have gone the other way. We’re a little disappointed in the result, but at the end of the season, we had a nice run.”

The team finished the season 17-7 overall and 10-2 in league play. The Lady Quakers won a couple of tournaments, including their home tournament. They also defeated Clarence, a Class AA power that hadn’t lost a league game in more than a year.

“We had a lot of big wins,” Lardo said. “We talked off Clarence, which was their first division loss in a long time. It’s one of the few they’ve had in the past few years. They ended up winning the section. We kind of wanted another crack at them. We knew it was going to be tough. We knew it was going to be between us, Clarence and Lancaster. We didn’t take care of the division, so we had a tough road. We had a lot of girls that had good seasons.”

The team will bid farewell to several seniors, including longtime players Liz Chow, Sadie Joba and Amanda Renaldo. The class was instrumental in turning around the program back into the contender it is now.

“We’re graduating a couple of seniors that are going to be missed. But they got our program going in the right direction again and being one of the top programs in the section,” Lardo said. “It’s nice to look back at their time and see how they’ve done. Liz Chow’s been a setter for four years. Sadie Joba has been on the team for four years. Amanda Renaldo, who is our libero, has been on the team for three years. It’s a nice core that we’ve had together for a long time.”

The team had several players earn postseason honors. Chow and Renaldo each ended up on the ECIC Division I team. Kate Hennessy was second team All-ECIC. Joba and Abby Ryan were both first-team All-ECIC I and Ashley Dogal was on the second team. Renadlo won the Maroon Key Award as the team’s MVP. Hannah Rauh was the most improved and Joli Messinger was the Unsung Hero.

“We’re pretty happy with the season,” Lardo said. “We just wanted a little bit more out of it.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

Lady Lancers volleyball wins second straight state title
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Lancaster Bee
Thursday, November 16, 2017

For the second year in a row, the third time in the past four years and the 16th time overall, the St. Mary’s girls volleyball team won the CHSAA Class AA New York State Championship Saturday. They defeated Kellenberg Memorial in the finals, 25-16, 25-20, 25-20. The win came after falling to the same team in pool play earlier in the day.

“We got back to playing our game,” St. Mary’s coach Don Pieczynski said. “We were a little bit tentative early on in pool play. Just from experience we knew it was going to be a marathon and not a sprint, because it’s a long day. You’re looking at seven hours of playing. We might have taken them a little more lightly than we should have the first time.”

The Lancers were led by a number of solid performances. Jillian Vitale had 45 assists in the final match. Four players on the team had double-digit kills: Hann Mulhern (16), Summer Slade (14), Kelly Cleversley (12) and Kelsie Allen (10). Slade also had 16 digs.

“In the finals, we had four of our attackers with double-digit kills, which is amazing,” Pieczynski said. “We hit a high percentage of them in the finals. Jill dished out 45 assists in three sets. That’s 15 assists per set, which is five over the average. It’s really good. We were really clicking on all cylinders.”

The team opened pool play with a 25-15, 25-18 win over Mary Louis Academy. They then fell to Kellenberg 25-20, 25-19. The Lady Lancers bounced back with a 25-12, 25-19 win over Kennedy Catholic. In the semifinals, they topped Mary Louis Academy 25-21, 25-20. The day featured more than seven hours of competition. The difficult tournament schedule that St. Mary’s plays in the regular season certainly helped them to be prepared for this type of day.

“I told the kids that no one plays the schedule that we play,” Pieczynski said. “That gives us a lot of preparedness for the competition. We’ve been there and done that. We should be prepared for the task at hand. That’s what I try to instill in them and remind them through the day. We’ve been here, we’re defending champions, we have to play like defending champions.”

Vitale led the team with 136 assists on the day. Slade had 53 kills, Mulhern had 39 and Cleversley had 31. Jasmine Brundage had 45 digs.

“Throughout the day, it takes a total team effort to get it done,” Pieczynski said. “You can’t just rely on one player getting more swings than she’s accustomed to. You have to spread the ball out and everybody needs to do their job. We played the whole roster throughout the day. Part of our success is the depth of our team. We got the job done.”

Volleyball To Open MAC Tournament Play Thursday Afternoon Against Eastern Michigan
ubbulls.com
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team will begin its push for a Mid-American Conference title tomorrow afternoon when the fifth-seeded Bulls take on #8 Eastern Michigan in the first round of the conference tournament in Oxford, OH.

The Bulls will enter the MAC Tournament with their highest seeding in school history as UB concluded the regular season with an 8-8 conference record, the most MAC wins in a season since joining the conference. Today it was announced that senior Cassie Shado was named to the All-MAC First Team, while Andrea Mitrovic was named to the league's All-Freshmen team. 

UB will be facing an Eastern Michigan squad that the Bulls defeated in straight sets in Ypsilanti back on October 21. However, the Eagles are currently one of the hottest teams in the league as they won their last four matches to find their way into a four-way tie for seventh place tie at 7-9 in conference play. The key win in that run was a five-set victory at Central Michigan last Thursday where the Eagles came back from a 2-0 deficit to stun the Chippewas.

The match is set for 4:30 pm on Thursday and it will air live on ESPN3. The winner of the UB-EMU match will move on to the quarterfinals on Friday where they will meet #4 Ohio at 4:30pm. The Bobcats and Ball State each received a first round bye as they finished in the top four.

The top two teams, Miami and Bowling Green, have earned byes straight to the semifinals, which will take place on Saturday. UB is in the top half of the bracket and would face #1 Miami in the semifinals. The MAC Championship will take place on Sunday. 

For complete MAC Tournament information, visit the Tournament Central page on getsomemaction.com or by clicking here.

East girls volleyball three-peats as regional champs
Lady Flames advance to state championships
PATRICK NAGY Sports Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

After falling short at the New York State Championships the past two years, a team goal for the Williamsville East girls volleyball squad has been to not only get back a third consecutive year but win it all.

The Lady Flames’ goal is still a reality as East, led by senior captains Makayla Greenfield and Ally Jozwiak, and junior captain Rachel Steffan, swept West Irondequoit of Section V, 25-16, 25-21, 25-17, for the team’s third consecutive Class A Far West Regional title Thursday at Daemen College.

“Five times playing in this match and winning the last three is unbelievable,” East coach Scott Wright said.

All three captains were all thrilled to be getting another crack at a state championship.

“To be back is amazing,” Greenfield said. “I think the other years our goal was to get there. This year our goal is 100 percent to win it.”

“It’s been our goal since August,” Steffan said. “It’s been written on the whiteboard.”

“I told the team I’m not losing today,” Jozwiak said. “Playing at states is an amazing feeling.”

Their leadership proved to be the difference against a West Irondequoit that was making its first appearance in a regional game since 2008 and was led by freshman outside hitter Jashawana Luke.

“Irondequoit and us are similar teams but our three captains are juniors and seniors and I think that leadership showed tonight,” Wright said. “The way Makayla, Ally and Rachel played tonight was just outstanding and everybody else filled their role. It was maybe the best three games of volleyball that we put back to back.”

“We weren’t the underdogs this year,” Greenfield said.

East’s experience was evident in the second set. Trailing 10-9, East won the next four points.

With the score tied at 10-10, Greenfield dove for a huge dig that kept a rally alive that ended with freshman Summer Clark and junior Madeline Reid combining for a stuffed block.

Kills from Reid and Jozwiak gave East a lead of 16-13. Irondequoit fought back to win eight of the next 11 points to take the lead 21-19.

The Lady Flames then reeled off six consecutive points behind the serving of Steffan to take the set, 25-21. The run included two kills from Jozwiak, and a key shared block from Clark and Nikki Polokoff.

“We played complete,” Wright said. “Lately we have a game that we usually throw away and today we didn’t allow that to happen in game two. They looked at each other and were very calm in timeouts. Nothing fazes them anymore. They have been through this before.”

“We joke that our second game is always our worst,” Jozwiak said. “We thought that if we won the second game, we would win the match. We knew we couldn’t give up and focused and played with our hearts out to do what we could.”

East was in total control of the third set, scoring the first three points and extending a 14-9 advantage to 17-10, capped off by an ace from Greenfield.

Irondequoit cut the deficit to 17-12 with an ace by Luke but East rolled off five straight points. Jozwiak ended the match with a kill.

East never trailed in the first set. Irondequoit cut the deficit to 17-14 but East rolled off four straight points and went on a 4-2 run to end the set.

Steffan blocked an attack by the Irondequoit setter for the first point of the match. Kills from Greenfield and Steffan pushed the lead to 6-2.

Irondequoit closed within two at 7-5.

The Lady Flames regained the momentum with kills from Clark, Jozwiak and Steffan to extend the lead to 14-7.

Irondequoit closed within three at 17-14, but a Steffan kill stopped their run.

A ace by Greenfield extended the lead to 21-14 and two kills from Jozwiak gave the Lady Flames the set 25-16.

Jozwiak finished with 17 kills, 12 digs and two aces. Steffan finished with 16 kills and 16 digs. Greenfield finished with 33 assists, 13 digs, and three aces.

Other contributors for the Flames included Clark (two kills, four blocks, eight digs), Christy Mack (12 digs), Polokoff (three blocks, two digs), and Reid (two blocks).

“Summer Clark was roofing girls left and right,” Steffan said. “We had our energy. We put it away.”

East faces Kings Park at 9:30 a.m., followed by Burnt Hills and Walter Panas in pool play of the state championships Saturday at the Cool Insuring Arena (formerly Glens Falls Civic Center). The finals start at 10 a.m. Sunday. East finished third last year.

“I keep losing great players and they keep coming up behind them and play confident and fill those roles of the players that were here before them,” Wright said. “I could not be prouder.”

Sweet Home boys volleyball wins first section title in 24 years
Season ends in crossover final
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

The first time Sweet Home won a boys volleyball sectional title was in 1977 at Lackawanna High School.

History repeated itself as the Panthers beat Grand Island, 27-25, 25-27, 22-25, 25-20, 15-7 for the Section VI Division II-A title Nov. 7 at Lackawanna. It was Sweet Home’s first section title in 1993, a span of 24 years.

“In my pre-game speech, I told them history has a tendency to repeat itself,” Sweet Home coach Rich Cicero said. “I knew we had a good chance of winning. We went in with an attitude that we were the stronger team — not by a lot — but we certainly felt like we had a good chance to win.”

Winning the title was the goal all season for the Panthers, who went 0-20 two years ago and lost to Hamburg in last year’s final.

Cicero said after losing the third game, he told his players that “they worked too hard to let the goal from slipping out of his hands.”

Before the fifth game, Cicero told his players that “this is your season” and they opened with a 5-0 lead.

Cicero noted strong blocking by senior Nathaniel Davis, who blocked well and recorded most of his seven kills in the fourth and fifth games. Seniors Kaleb Luton and Alex Stoj each had eight kills.

Sweet Home’s run ended a day later with a 26-24, 16-25, 14-25, 16-25 loss to Division II-B champion Eden in the Section VI Division II crossover match Nov. 8 at Lackawanna.

It was Eden’s 31st Division II title and the Red Raiders’ third championship in the past four seasons.

A combination of strong setting by Sweet Home’s Jon Miller and unforced errors by Eden, jumped the Panthers out to a 10-0 lead. Eden eventually tied the set at 20-20 and 24-24 before Sweet Home won the final two points, capped off by a kill from junior Solomon Shabazz.

“We came out firing,” Cicero said. “Jon Miller has a fantastic jump serve and he was on with it. I thought Eden struggled with it. After they settled down, Eden showed no lead is insurmountable for them, so we had to keep fighting to get the first set.”

“We served and passed our best after their 10-1 lead,” Eden coach Robert Pierce said. “We outscored them like 75-40, so that is what we wanted to do. If we forced them to side out, we would be in good shape. The unforced errors gave them a lead. When you spot a team a 10-1 lead, that is hard to dig out of. They stayed calm.”

“Last year, we were down 2-0 to Hamburg so I told them after the first game, ‘This is nothing; we have been here before and we know how to handle this,’ said Eden’s Collin Rigley, who tallied 10 kills. “And we handled it well tonight.”

Eden never trailed in the second and third sets, building a 10-0 lead in the third set. Sweet Home had trouble handling Drew Hesse’s jump serve as he accounted for most of his eight aces in both sets. Hesse also had 14 kills.

“By the scores, it looked like we got destroyed, but one of their servers has one of the strongest jump serves that we have seen all year,” Cicero said. “We tried to adjust a little bit by backing up and taking some heat, but I think it was too little, too late.”

Sweet Home led only once in the fourth set, 2-1.

Tome Filkov, who Pierce said is “the best middle he has ever coached,” led Eden’s offense with 15 kills.

Dylan Aarum led Sweet Home with eight kills. Luton added four kills and four blocks.

Sweet Home finished with a 16-3 record. Eight seniors graduate: Davis, Stoj, Luton, Jack Hiwiller, Evan Bezak, Jonathan Miller, Derek Pietrzyk and Dominic Genau.

“What a way for the seniors to go out, winning our first section championship in 24 years,” Cicero said. “It’s a goal we have had the last three years. I left them on JV two years ago because I wanted to get them used to winning. I guess the philosophy paid off.”

East grad Mendelsohn earns volleyball honor
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Sam Mendelsohn, a 2015 Williamsville East graduate and sophomore libero for the Geneseo State College women’s volleyball team, was recently named State University of New York Athletic Conference Tri-Defensive Player of the Year.

She was named to the First Team All-SUNYAC team.

It was the second straight season Mendelsohn was named All-SUNYAC after receiving third team honors in 2016.

Mendelsohn finished the fall leading the SUNYAC with 4.82 digs per set, compiling double-digit dig totals in 29 of the 32 appearances she made during the seasons. Her 550 total digs were also the highest mark in the SUNYAC and also marked the sixth-highest single-season total in program history. Finishing two digs short of 1,000 for her career, Mendelsohn’s 998 stand as the 11th-highest total in the Knights’ record book.

Geneseo finished the season with a 23-11 record for its highest win total since 2004. Compiling a 7-2 SUNYAC record, the Knights clinched the third seed and a bid to their second-straight conference tournament.

Advancing to the semifinals for the second year in a row after sweeping the sixth-seeded Red Dragons in its first home playoff match since 1996, Geneseo’s season came to a close after a 3-0 setback to second-seeded Fredonia.

North boys volleyball’s roller-coaster season ends in section final
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Williamsville North’s boys volleyball team endured many highs and lows throughout the 2017 season. Unfortunately, the roller-coaster ride came to an end for the sixth-seeded Spartans against top seed Lockport in the Section VI Division I final, losing 25-27, 17-25, 18-25 Nov. 7 at Lackawanna High School.

It was North’s second appearance in the section final in three years, winning the Division II title in 2015.

“No matter where you lose in the season, it’s going to be a disappointment,” first-year coach Jake Waszak said. “I felt like if we had played the same way that we played against Clarence and Frontier [in the quarterfinals and semifinals] that we definitely would have had a better match against Lockport. Our key players didn’t play the same way as they had in previous matches. You have to fire on all cylinders against teams like that to be successful.

It was a definitely a fitting end to a season where there were ups and downs throughout the season.”

North led 24-23 in the first set but missed a serve that Waszak said “took the wind out of our sails.”

“It was a blow to our self-esteem and it was tough to come back from,” Waszak said. “We fought hard in the next two sets, but after that first set, the writing was on the wall and they started playing better and we played the same.”

Junior Adam Gulick led the Spartans with 15 kills, seven digs and 2.5 blocks.

Senior Joe Battaglia tallied seven kills and seven digs, junior Jon Abaya recorded four kills, senior Justin Konotopskyj had six kills and 11/2 blocks and Mitchell Simon added nine digs.

Junior Matt Wiepert handed out 24 assists to go along with eight digs and one ace.

Despite the loss, Waszak is very proud of what the team accomplished.

“I told my players on the bus ride home that, ‘you won’t see me smiling after a loss very often,’ but it was hard not to,” he said. “There is unlimited potential of what the team could become.”

North finished 6-8 and graduates four seniors: Battaglia (third in kills, 109, second in digs, 214, third in aces, 20) at second outside hitter, middle hitters Konotopskyj and Alex Steinwachs (56 kills), and Colin Peterson at defensive specialist.

The team still returns Gulick, who led the Spartans all season in kills (357), digs (216), blocks (30.5) and aces (43), and Wiepert, who handed out a team-high 653 assists.

Girls volleyball season concludes in regional
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Clarence Bee
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Clarence’s girls volleyball team ran into a tough competitor in Section V’s Victor Thursday in this year’s Class AA Far West Regional at Daemen College, and despite the best efforts of a squad whose roster included a pair of four-time and a pair of three-time sectional champions, the Lady Red Devils saw their season come to an end by 21-25, 25-15, 19-25, 18-25 scores.

“It’s tough, especially knowing that the girls won our league and won our section against all odds and the expectations of everyone else but us,” coach Mike Meyer said. “Anyone other than our team saw us losing seven girls — including Meghan Neelon, who’s now playing at Alabama — and thought this would be the year to beat Clarence. I’m just really proud of how these girls believed in themselves all year and got as far as they did. I just wish we could have last Thursday back because there were definitely stretches where we played well enough to advance to states. Those stretches were pretty fun to watch.”

One of the not-so-fun stretch to watch for the Lady Red Devils was the 6-0 stretch in Victor’s favor to start the match. Once Clarence got over that initial case of nerves, though, it dropped the initial set by just three points. Meyer said his team then “played Clarence volleyball” in taking the second set and led by as much as 15-9 in the third set before a Victor serve caught fire and lifted the Lady Blue Devils to victory.

Clarence tried its hardest throughout the fourth and final set, closing to as close as 16-10, but in the end just didn’t have enough answers on the day for Victor.

“Victor was a very solid team that served really tough, and that was a big advantage for them,” Meyer said. “They’ve got a bunch of girls who can put the ball away and they didn’t give up. We had them on the ropes in the third game but they stuck with what they were doing and were able to fight back for the win. It basically was a match of serving and passing, and the team that served and passed better scored more points. They just did those things a little better than we did.”

Lean Victor had nine kills and five blocks to lead the way for Clarence, while Kennedy Oleszak added six kills and four blocks. Jaide Cummings chipped in with six kills, eight digs and four aces, while Melissa Ratzel (3 blocks) and Jenna Hugenschmidt added three kills each. Lindsey Leipold dished out 17 assists and had five digs for the Lady Red Devils, who lose four seniors — including three starters and both captains — off a squad that finished 20-4 this year.

“I’m just so proud of how hard these girls worked, came together and played like a team all the way to the final point Thursday,” Meyer said. “And, though we’re losing a lot to graduation, we’ve also got a lot of really good girls coming up through our program to where we expect to be in the hunt again as we fight to get better and hopefully be playing in November again.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Western New York 2017 Boys Top 10 Poll - Final Poll
Buffalo News
Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Western New York 2017 Girls Top 10 Poll - Final Poll
Buffalo News
Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Eden boys volleyball heading to state final four for first time
By Aaron Garland, Buffalo News
Sunday, November 12, 2017

ROCHESTER -- Zach Brosnick has a tough job for the Eden boys volleyball team. But he serves the role well.

As the Raiders’ serving specialist, his playing time lasts as long as he is precise on the service line. Brosnick made sure he saw a lot of the court during Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II Far West Regionals at Webster Schroeder in Rochester.

The junior propelled Eden to a big Game Two comeback, serving out the final six points – including two aces – to erase a 23-19 deficit. It was the key to the Raiders’ 25-20, 25-23, 25-17 sweep of Section V’s Spencerport in a rematch of last year’s regional matchup, won by the Rangers.

"You’re asked to do one thing, and if you fail, you’re done," said Robert Pierce, Eden’s longtime coach, about his ace server. "And (Brosnick) comes in and puts them on their heels and before we know it, we win the game.

"If that goes 1-1, then you start to create some doubt and you create some momentum for the opposing team."

Eden’s redemption against Spencerport (19-5) sends it to the state final four for the first time since NYSPHSAA implemented a full state tournament in 2010.

Defending state champion Penfield defeated Lockport, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-23, in the Division I Far West Regionals bout at Webster Schroeder following Eden’s triumph.

Collin Rigley led the Raiders (22-3) with 13 kills to go with five digs and two blocks while Drew Hesse had seven kills and 11 digs. Tome Filkov added 12 kills for Eden.

Then, of course, there was the brilliance of Brosnick, who was especially perfect in this one.

"I come in thinking that this is my time where I can control the game," Brosnick said.

The New York State boys volleyball postseason structure featured a regional state intersectional tournament with teams from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany before the championships expanded in 2010 to involve participation from sections across the entire state.

Eden has multiple intersectional titles during Pierce’s 20-plus years piloting the Raiders. But this is Eden’s first state berth under the current format. With three sectional titles since 2010 and several excellent squads in that span, the proud program finally got over the hump.

"I didn’t know if I’d ever go," Pierce said.

"To do something that’s never been done in Eden history, you don’t get a chance to do that a lot because we have such a storied past," Rigley said.

Eden is set to compete in the state final four Saturday at Suffolk County Community College.

Lockport (17-1) fell in the nightcap to a strong Penfield squad (20-1) in a back-and-forth match.

Zach Schneider (14 kills, 13 digs), Rhees Perry (19 digs), Jesse Donorovich (nine blocks, eight kills and seven digs) and Sean Denniston (10 assists) paced the Lions.

"It’s a great group of guys," Lockport coach Elizabeth Smorol said. "They don’t give up, ever."

While Smorol said the teams were evenly matched, she feels the officiating wasn’t as level. The Lions’ coach said she believes the Patriots were not penalized for using "deep dish" sets, where players hold the ball while setting for longer than normal.

"There is nothing you can do about it because that’s how they play (in Rochester)," Smorol said. "… I just really think it was a little biased.

"You have to play through it the best you can and we just came up a little short."

High School Extra: St. Mary's girls win 16th NY Catholic volleyball title
By Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, November 11, 2017

St. Mary’s of Lancaster avenged its only loss in pool play by sweeping three sets from Kellenberg Memorial of Uniondale in Saturday's championship match of the 16th State Catholic High Schools Athletic Association girls volleyball tournament at St. Anthony’s High in Huntington Station. The Lancers retained the title they won last year when they defeated Kellenberg in four sets for the championship. It was the 16th state Catholic title for St. Mary’s and third in the last four years.

The Lancers triumphed, 25-16, 25-20 and 25-20. In the final set it was a laser shot from the back row by Kelley Cleversley that sealed the win and ended any comeback hopes by the Firebirds. St. Mary’s won four of five matches in the tournament, defeating Mary Louis Academy of Queens and Kennedy Catholic of Somers, 2-0, in pool play and losing to Kellenberg, 25-20 and 25-19. The Lancers then defeated Mary Louis, 25-21 and 25-20, in the semifinals before taking on Kellenberg for the championship.

In overall statistics, Summer Slade had 53 kills for the Lancers and Hannah Mulhern had 39 and Cleversley 31. Jilliam Vitale had 136 assists and Jasmine Brundage 45 digs.

Ranked No. 1 in the Western New York coaches poll all season, St. Mary’s owns a straight set victory over the No. 1 ranked large school Williamsville East.

St. Mary’s of Lancaster avenged its only loss in pool play by sweeping three sets from Kellenberg Memorial of Uniondale in the championship match of the 16th New York State Catholic High Schools Athleticv Association girls volleyball tournament at St. Anthony’s High in Huntington Station. The Lancers retained the title they won last year when they defeated Kellenberg in four sets for the championship. It was the 16th state Catholic title for St. Mary’s and third in the last four years.

The Lancers triiumphed, 25-16, 25-20 and 25-20. In the final set it was a laser shot from the back row by Kelley Cleversley that sealed the win and ended any comeback hopes by the Firebirds. St. Mary’s won four of five matches in the tournament, defeating Mary Louis Academy of Queens and Kennedy Catholic of Somers, 2-0, in pool play and losing to Kellenberg, 25-20 and 25-19. The Lancers then defeated Mary Louis, 25-21 and 25-20 in the semifinals before taking on Kellenberg for the championship.

In overall statistics, Summer Slade had 53 kills for the Lancers and Hannah Mulhern had 39 and Cleversley 31. Jilliam Vitale had 136 kills and Jasmine Brundage 45 digs.

Ranked No. 1 in the Western New York coaches poll all season, St. Mary’s owns a straight set victory over the No. 1 ranked large school Williamsville East.

Portville, Panama girls volleyball win regional titles; East Aurora falls
By Dave Ricci, Buffalo News
Friday, November 10, 2017

It was a great day to be a Panther.

Portville and Panama, which both go by the Panther nickname, officially punched their tickets to states when they captured Far West Regional titles during a girls volleyball tripleheader at Daemen College on Friday.

Both teams will now advance to the NYSPHSAA tournament that will take place in Glens Falls, Nov. 18-19.

For Panama, it was the motto of “We Over Me” that helped the defending Class D state champions secure their second straight regional title as they defeated Section V Charles Finney in four games.

“I think this year (it) was pretty big,” said junior Madalyn Bowen, who had 14 kills and 14 digs.

“We’ve always been unselfish as a team and volleyball is a team sport. So we have to do things for ourselves as a team.”

Panama took game one by a 25-22 score, and Finney answered back with a matching 25-22 victory in the second game.

Natalie Angeletti (14 kills and 11 digs) was another key factor in Panama’s balanced attack, as they took the next two games, 25-15 and 25-14.

Returning all but one girl from last year’s state championship squad, the first state title in school history, the Panthers obviously came in with the goal of repeating. But it has been their one-step-at-a-time mentality that has helped them get to the doorstep of another title.

“This has been our ultimate goal, but we don’t really talk about it. We rarely talk about it because obviously it’s one game at a time,” Panama coach Tammy Hosier said.

“Today I say ‘hey listen, this is the game we can talk.’ This is the game to get us to states and they were determined. It was a little rough there for a few moments, but they pulled it off.”

Hosier had to do some crafty subbing of players during the final set because starting libero Maci Johnson (11 digs) had to exit after game three due to a stomach illness.

Quinn Payne kept the offense humming as she notched 32 assists for Panama.

“They’re a great group of kids,” Hosier said.

“Our motto is ‘We Over Me’ and we keep reinforcing that. When they start to get down or start to fall apart that’s what we keep talking about. The teamwork. Everybody has roles. We have to keep doing that or else we won’t be achieving that next goal.”

In Class C, Portville coach Kelly Unverdorben had been asking her girls when were they going to peak. They’ve responded in a big way this week, as they defeated Section V LeRoy in three straight games.

“It’s funny because I was concerned midseason til the end of the season, oh my team has not peaked yet. And I was getting a little nervous,” Kelly Unverdorben said with a smile.

“The other night when we beat Eden (in the sectional finals) they asked ‘did we peak, coach?’ Yes, you did. They’re playing great right now. I couldn’t ask for anything more out of them.”

Winning by scores of 25-17, 25-23 and 25-9, the Panthers’ victory was so decisive that not only did they win in three, they never trailed at any point during the match.

Setter Haley Unverdorben (29 assists) ran the offense with pinpoint accuracy as she distributed the ball to key hitters like Sierra Keim (11 kills and three aces) and Beth Miller, who had an outstanding all-around game with the 15 kills, eight aces and four blocks.

“It felt really, really, really good!” Haley Unverdorben said of raising the championship plaque.

Winning states in 2015 and 2014, the Portville Panthers have been motivated by the loss to Eden in last season’s Section VI title game.

“We didn’t want that feeling again and we knew that we could do it,” Beth Miller said.

“We had confidence in ourselves. We knew that we could come back and do it.”

In Class B, East Aurora reached the end of the road as they fell in four games to Section III’s Cazenovia.

The Blue Devils got the “W” in a wild 27-25 opening game, but the next three games belonged to the Lakers as they scored wins of 25-13, 25-22 and 25-20. The Blue Devils weren’t overmatched by any means, but there were crucial moments when the score was close in games three and four, and the finesse play of the Lakers by the net made the difference. Their quick soft-touch tip balls over the net found open space on the floor.

“They were burning us on those tips,” East Aurora coach Rebecca Jacobs said.

“So it seems like they had tip after tip. For some reason our girls, we didn’t adjust in time, and that kind of showed in the scores.”

Maddie McLaughlin and Olivia Covington had eight kills each for East Aurora.

Ryleigh Tilison had 12 kills for Cazenovia.

Williamsville East three-peats in girls volleyball regionals; Clarence falls to Victor
By Jonah Bronstein, Buffalo News
Thursday, November 9, 2017

Williamsville East will return to the state semifinals for the third year in a row determined to bring back the one trophy missing from its collection.

“In other years, our goal was to get there,” senior captain Ally Jozwiak said. “This year, our goal is to win it.”

The Flames blazed through West Irondequoit on Thursday night at Daemen College, winning their third straight Class A Far West Regional in straight sets in front of an estimated crowd of 400 that included their Sea of Red student section.

Four-time sectional champions and state semifinalists the past two seasons, Williamsville East was confident heading into the match with a younger team that was lacking in postseason experience.

“When we played Pittsford Sutherland in past years, they’ve always had the upper hand on us, they’ve went to states multiple times, won the state championship before, and we were always kind of timid,” Jozwiak said. "Being a senior, I knew this was my last shot. And I told them, I'm not losing today."

“This was our year,” senior captain Makayla Greenfield said. “We weren’t the underdogs this year.”

The Flames won the opening game 25-16 and rallied late to take the second set 25-21.

“Our second game, we always joke that it’s our worst game,” Jozwiak said. “If we lose a set in a match, it’s always the second game when we crumble. So we just knew we had to put the ball down and really focus and play our hearts out.”

Williamsville East closed out the match with a 25-17 victory in the third game.

“It was maybe the best three games of volleyball we have played back-to-back,” Flames coach Scott Wright said. “We are a very similar team to West Irondequoit, it’s just our three captains are juniors and seniors and I think that leadership really showed.”

According to Wright’s unofficial statistics, Jozwiak and junior captain Rachel Steffan each had “a bushel full” of kills, “in the 20s,” and Greenfield tallied more than 40 assists. Junior libero Christie Mack was “amazing” at serve receive and freshman Summer Clark rose up for several key blocks.

“Summer Clark was roofing girls,” Steffan said. “We played our game, we had our energy the whole time.”

The No. 1 large school in the Western New York coaches poll now sets its sights on the state championship tournament in Glens Falls next weekend.

“We’ve been there two years before, we know the teams,” Steffan said. “We’re going to win.”

Earlier in the evening, Clarence’s postseason run came to a tearful end in the Class AA Far West Regional for the fourth year in a row.

Undefeated Section V champion Victor claimed a four-set victory over the Red Devils, the No. 2-ranked large school in Western New York.

Clarence came back to defeat Lancaster for its fourth straight Section VI Class AA championship here last week and believed it could do so again after Victor won the opening game 25-21.

“I never doubted our team,” said senior co-captain Melissa Ratzel, who had three kills and three blocks. “We have so much fight in us, so after we lose, we just come back and fight even harder.”

The Red Devils dominated the second set in winning 25-15, the most lopsided game score in either match.

In the third game, Clarence held 14-9 and 15-11 leads before Victor rallied back to win 25-19. Victor took the deciding fourth set 25-18.

Senior co-captain Lindsey Leipold had 17 assists and five digs for the Red Devils. Sophomore Leah Victor led Clarence in kills (nine) and blocks (five).

Clarence overcame the loss of seven seniors from last year’s team, including Under Armour All-American setter Meghan Neelon, who is now starting for the University of Alabama.

“I looked at the preseason polls and I listened to what everybody else said and it was, this is the year to beat Clarence,” coach Mike Meyer said. “I had a bunch of new starters, a bunch of JV girls brought up and they came together kind of out of nowhere and surprised everybody."

State playoff preview: St. Mary's of Lancaster girls volleyball
By Corey Desiderio, Buffalo News
Thursday, November 9, 2017

Monsignor Martin Association MVP Summer Slade, far right, leads St. Mary’s of Lancaster
into the state Catholic girls volleyball tournament on Saturday. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

St. Mary’s of Lancaster will bring its 36-5-2 record (including tournaments) to St. Anthony’s High School on Long Island on Saturday looking for its 16th New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association title.

The Lancers will play three downstate league champions, John F. Kennedy, The Ursuline School and Kellenberg Memorial, in a round robin pool play to determine seedings, which will be followed by the semifinals and then the final.

Led by Monsignor Martin Association MVP Summer Slade and first teamers Jillian Vitale, Hannah Mulhern and Kelly Cleversley, St. Mary’s has won two of the last three state championships.

“Currently we are ranked No. 2 in the state by MaxPreps,” Lancers coach Don Pieczynski said. “We will fiercely defend our title and hope to repeat. We are peaking at the right time and hope to make some memories this weekend.”

St. Mary’s girls volleyball wins seventh straight title
Boys team falls to Canisius
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Lancaster Bee
Thursday, November 9, 2017

The St. Mary’s of Lancaster girls volleyball team is once again Monsignor Martin Association champions, but it did not come easy.

On Sacred Heart’s home floor Friday, the Lady Lancers needed four tough sets to beat Sacred Heart, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 25-16, for their seventh straight league title.

“At the midway point of the season, I challenged them to be tougher, and their toughness came through in the clutch,” St. Mary’s coach Don Pieczynski said. “This one was very sweet. It was on their home court. They have a great team.”

“It’s a mazing,” added St. Mary’s senior Summer Slade, the league MVP who finished with 19 kills. “Our team chemistry helped us to our success. We have been practicing for this game for a while. We knew it would be a tough challenge.”

The turning point of the match was midway through the third set. Tied at 15-15, St. Mary’s outscored Sacred Heart, 10-4, to close out the set and give the Lady Lancers a 2-1 edge.

“That was crucial,” Slade said. “It’s always important to make your serves. We kept believing in ourselves that we could do it.”

“We couldn’t pass the ball,” Sharks coach J.T. Ripper said.

Down 8-6 in the fourth set, the Lady Lancers tied the game at 8-8 and eventually went up 17-10.

Junior Hannah Mulhern was great in the front row, tallying 14 kills and four blocks.

“Hannah is our 1A player,” Pieczynski said. “She has played every position in the front row, and I know she is going to come through in the clutch.”

Sophomore libero Jasmine Brundage had 11 digs. Senior setter Jillian Vitale added 40 assists and 15 digs. Kelley Cleversely added 14 kills and nine digs.

Vitale, Mulhern and Cleversely were named First Team Division “A” All-Catholic. Brundage and junior Caroline Zhangi were named Second Team Division “A” All-Catholic.

Micaela Ryan led Sacred Heart with 13 kills, nine blocks and three digs. Lauren Aichinger added 11 kills, six blocks and one ace. Siobhan Ryan added 11 kills, two blocks and an ace.

“They poured their blood, sweat and tears on the court,” Ripper said. “Our goal was to beat them and expectations were high, but they had a lot more firepower and played a cleaner game.”

The Sharks graduate five seniors: Micaela Ryan, Lauren Aichinger, Clare Falkowski, Emma Tierney and Claire Beecher. Ryan and Aichinger were named First Team All-Catholic, and Falkowski and sophomore Siobhan Ryan were named Second Team All-Catholic.

St. Mary’s boys volleyball

The St. Mary’s boys volleyball team was making its first Monsignor Martin Association final since winning it in 1998.

The problem was they were going up against a team that had won every league title since 2000.

The result was a 22-25, 16-25, 17-25 defeat against Canisius in the first half of Friday’s doubleheader at Sacred Heart.

St. Mary’s had a great shot at taking the first set as a kill by Eric Brown gave the Lancers a 22-20 advantage. But the Crusaders closed out the set on a 5-0 run.

The Crusaders were tough in the middle of the second and third sets, extending 15-12 leads in both to 21-15.

“They hung with them and I was proud of how they played the game,” first-year coach Peter Florczak said. “I thought our physical tools were fine, but it was getting past the mental aspect of them winning 18 years in a row. I told them to embrace the loss because you don’t want it to hurt like that again.”

Brown led St. Mary’s (13-4) with 14 kills. Brown is one of five senior starters. Others are Patrick Basil, Blake English, Ben Mazurowski and Christian Szablewski.

“These kids have been playing together for a long time,” Florczak said. “It was up to me to still them in the right way.”

Trevor Gooch led Canisius with 20 kills. Brian Herrmann handed out 32 assists.

Clarence girls volleyball tops Lancaster, claims fourth straight AA championship
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Lancaster Bee
Thursday, November 9, 2017

A wildly-different roster provided the same result for Clarence girls volleyball Thursday, as the Lady Red Devils overcame the loss of seven seniors — including current University of Alabama team member Meghan Neelon — to win their fourth-straight Section VI Class AA championship via their 22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22 victory over rival Lancaster in a closely-contested match.

“As I always say, I am not a champion,” Clarence coach Mike Meyer said. “The girls are the champions. I am so happy for them because of how they played. When they play like that, it’s the result they get. They fought through some adversity this year. We kept going and kept getting better. I’m just so happy for them.”

The Lady Legends came out hot, jumping out to leads of 12-3, 15-4 and 20-9. But Clarence fought back to make things interesting, pushing the score to 24-22. Julia Kurowski came through with a big kill to give Lancaster the first set, but the strong finish gave Clarence some confidence going into the next game.

“It was huge for them to turn around,” Meyer said. “I told them there was nothing to be scared of, because we were probably already going to lose this game. I said, ‘Let’s score some points and make them think.’ And they fought back and came back.

“Lancaster’s tough. We knew they were going to be tough. We’ve been playing them for a long time. At the end of that first game when we were able to make a run, I took the girls aside and said ‘we might not be able to win this game, but we can send a message with how we play the rest of this game.’ They started taking big swings and the momentum turned. They were able to stick with it.”

The Lady Red Devils opened the second set red hot, going up 7-2 before forcing a Lancaster timeout. Lancaster got it as close as 12-11 and then tied it at 15, but Clarence used some strong serves and kills to finish on a 10-4 run. Clarence again started strong in the third set, taking an 8-4 lead. The Lady Legends would not get within three for the rest of the set, as Clarence took a commanding 2-1 lead with the 25-20 win.

A major reason for the turnaround was the play of Kennedy Oleszak, who finished with eight kills and two blocks.

“When Kennedy came to life in the second game, it turned everything around,” Meyer said. “She was a huge difference maker. She got those kills and, man, they rallied around her.”

The fourth and final set was close throughout, as the teams went back and forth. There were more than a dozen ties and 11 lead changes. No team led by more than one until Lancaster took a 15-13 lead. Clarence finally took the lead for good late in the set, 21-20. The game was as close as 23-22, before Lancaster hit the ball into the net twice to close the match, clinching yet another title for Clarence.

“All the teams in Division I are all really good,” Meyer said. “Teams aren’t just going to fold in Division I. They’re going to play and they’re going to fight. You have to play really well if you want to win. It took us playing our best to just edge that team out.”

Senior captain Lindsey Leipold had 27 assists, while fellow captain Melissa Ratzel encouraged the team to stay positive when it fell behind early.

“Losing seven seniors and one of our really big important players was rough,” Leipold said. “But it was a team effort. It was unbelievable. I just told the girls to stay composed. Me and Melissa told the girls to just do what we know how to do and we’ll be fine. It’s just like practice.”

Jaide Cummings finished with 12 kills and eight digs, while Ratzel had six kills and four blocks. Both are four-time sectional champions.

“Jaide has been here since eighth grade,” Meyer said. “Melissa has been here since ninth grade. Melissa and Jaide are four-time champions and that’s pretty good. Part of our program is we bring girls up. They get to see this so that when they step on the court, they’ve done it before.”

The team will have an opportunity to continue their playoff run Thursday at Daemen College when they take on Victor in the Far West Regional.

“You never know when you come out onto the court how a team is going to play,” Leipold said. “In the playoffs, it’s anyone’s ball game.”

Meanwhile, Lancaster finished the season as the sectional runner-up for the second year in a row. However, the Lady Legends had a much better showing than last year when they were swept. Kurowski had 13 kills. Katie Becht had 15 digs. Meg Vona had seven kills and four digs.

“We were in a couple of our rotations that we just couldn’t get out of,” Lancaster coach Becky Edwards said. “We started making the mistakes. In the first half of that first set, we were sitting back and they were making serving errors and hitting errors. They turned it around on us and our back three rotation.”

The Lady Legends will part ways with eight seniors after the season. The hard-fought fourth set showed off how badly the girls wanted their high school careers to continue.

“There are eight seniors on our team,” Edwards said. “That’s pretty unheard of in the sport of volleyball. These were unlike any other seniors that I’ve coached. They’ve been with me since a lot of them were nine, 10, 11 years old. It’s hard for them right now. They’re pretty emotional, which is expected.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

Lady Blue Devils repeat as B-1 volleyball champs
Win over Alden in ‘B’ crossover secures first trip to FWR since ’07
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, East Aurora Bee
Thursday, November 9, 2017

East Aurora’s girls volleyball team used the lessons it learned in last year’s Section VI Class B crossover final with Alden to make sure it wouldn’t leave the gym disappointed for a second consecutive season, as the Lady Blue Devils claimed their first overall Class B title since 2007 Monday when they defeated the Lady Bulldogs by 25-18, 25-18, 25-22 marks.

“I think our girls knew what to expect going into this game this year,” coach Rebecca Jacobs said. “I am extremely proud of the whole team and the program. The girls are 100-percent committed every day and I think our hard work is showing. We are so excited to be moving on to the Far West Regionals for the first time in a while.”

Film study prior to the match allowed the Lady Blue Devils to focus on stopping Alden’s offense by way of serving with an aggressive edge, which East Aurora did to the tune of double-digit aces for the match. Olivia Alessi had five of those aces for the victors, as well as five kills and 15 assists. Maddie McLaughlin, meanwhile, added seven kills and a block.

“Alden is a really good team and have some really strong hitters, but Olivia and Maddie connected well in the front row and gave Alden a tough time with our offense,” Jacobs said. “We did a nice job with our serving, which helped us hit our goals for the match.”

East Aurora earned its rematch with Alden after advancing past Maryvale, by 25-22, 25-20, 25-16 marks, in a rematch of last season’s Class B-1 final on Thursday. Having already defeated the Lady Flyers twice this season, Jacobs and her club knew victory was anything but a foregone conclusion. Once again, though, Alessi and McLaughlin had a solid connection going in the front row, which led to a decent amount of the team’s points on the day.

“I am so proud of our team and how focused they were coming into the final against Maryvale,” Jacobs said. “To win another B-1 championship with the program two years in a row is something special, and the girls worked extremely hard throughout the entire season to get to this point.

“Maryvale is a good team, but our girls were focused and worked hard from start to finish, which I think that really showed throughout the match,” Jacobs continued. “Our team goals were to serve receive well, run our offense, and stop their outside and middle from scoring major points. When it was close, Julia Halsey and Olivia Covington had some amazing digs in the back row which helped us stop their offense and play our game.”

The Lady Blue Devils earned their first of two rematches at the expense of crosstown rival Iroquois on Oct. 30, as they defeated the Lady Chiefs in the semifinal round by 25-15, 20-25, 25-15, 25-15 scores. Jacobs called Covington’s blocking the key to East Aurora’s victory, as it helped to slow down Iroquois’ middle hitters.

“This was an important and meaningful match for our seniors because it was their last ‘home’ game of the season,” Jacobs said. “I think the team worked extra hard to make it a special last game for those seniors, their families and fans. The stands were packed and it made for a great home game atmosphere.

“Olivia was able to catch Iroquois early and get blocks at crucial points in the match for us, and Julia did a great job on the outside too, connecting with Olivia Alessi and finding the court — which led her to eight kills for the match,” Jacobs continued. “Julia also had a strong serving match with four aces, which stopped Iroquois from running their middles a whole lot.”

East Aurora’s playoff run began on Oct. 27 with a tough 18-25, 25-21, 18-25, 22-25, 25-18 victory over Olean in the quarterfinal round. East Aurora’s serve-receive passing helped Alessi run the Lady Blue Devils’ offense, which proved to be invaluable against Olean’s somewhat stingy defense.

“Olean was a very competitive team to play early on in the playoffs but our girls really wanted to win this match,” Jacobs said. “Fortunately for us, Maddie came out strong in this match and really showed her hitting strength on the outside.”

East Aurora (16-0 overall) will take the next step towards a spot in the state tournament at 9 a.m. Friday when it faces Section V’s Wayne in the Class B Far West Regional at Daemen College.

“We’re all looking forward to this Friday’s match, which is going to be a great experience for our girls,” Jacobs said. “Every team making regionals is really good, so it will be a competitive weekend for us and I think we will respond well to the competition.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Boys volleyball team surprises with solid season
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, November 9, 2017

Not much was expected of this year’s Orchard Park boys volleyball team. The Quakers brought back just two players from the 2016 team while Ricky Albano took over for departing coach Matt Lexnar. But the team had a solid season in league play, finishing second in ECIC I. It was quite a season, considering the number of freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup.

“If you would have asked the majority of coaches in the area, where is Orchard Park going to be with coach Lex and coach Stefani gone,” Albano said, “most coaches had us picked for one or two total wins. Any time you’re going to finish second in the division in what Orchard Park considers a down year talent wise, I think we overachieved. It was a good season for us to gain some experience. At any point in time, we started anywhere from three or four sophomores and a freshman. It’s a growing experience for our guys. The guys have to know what it takes to get to the next level.”

The team’s regular-season record earned them the fourth seed in Division I for the Section VI playoffs. They took on fifth-seed Niagara Falls and beat them in three sets. The team played the game they played all season and came away with a victory.

“We’ve been playing hard,” Albano said. “We’ve been trying to compete. We kind of went in there with the mentality that it’s going to be do-or-die time. The guys went out there and they executed. The scores were a good indication that we went out there and executed what we had to execute.”

The win moved the team onto the semifinals, where the Quakers had to take on Lockport, which was the top seed. The Lions are the top team in the area and are loaded with seniors. The Quakers went in with a game plan and they played hard. But the talent of Lockport and youth of Orchard Park decided the match.

“We had a really good game plan going into the match,” Albano said. “We had five guys jump-serving, which is something that most teams in the area don’t have. Even the Lockport team has two guys jump-serving. Our approach was to try to get them out of system as much as possible. We had opportunities in the first two games to take a big commanding lead, and just lack of experience and youth just were not on our side on that one.”

Although the season ended before the team would have preferred, the future is bright for Orchard Park. The team loses just two seniors – Ben Shoop and Matt Donohue. The JV team was dominant all year. The program appears to be in good shape going forward.

“Don’t get me wrong, we lost two big players in Shoop and Donohue,” Albano said. “Our JV coach was the Coach of the Year in the Western New York area. The JV team went like 30-0 in divisional play. They didn’t drop a set all year. We have a lot of good things going for us. We have a nice group of young players to build around. I think the future is kind of bright for Orchard Park.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

EA girls volleyball tops Maryvale in B-2 title rematch
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, November 9, 2017

For the second year in a row, East Aurora’s girls volleyball team prevented Maryvale from having the storybook ending to its season that the Lady Flyers were hoping for after the Lady Blue Devils posted a 25-21, 25-20, 25-16 victory over them in the Section VI Class B-1 final at Daemen College on Nov. 1.

Maryvale, which reached the championship match for the third consecutive season, was hoping to get another crack at East Aurora after suffering its only losses of the year at the Lady Blue Devils’ hands. Coach Tina Raczynski noted that Maryvale “played great, played strong and gave it all that we had,” but conceded that “unfortunately, our youth and inexperience playing in a big game caught up to us.”

“The hardest thing about this loss was knowing that we were going to lose our two seniors, Julia Carter and Morgan Michalski, to graduation,” Raczynski said. “I think more tears were shed over that thought than losing the game. “Over the last three years we have become such a close-knit family, not only during the season but during the offseason as well, and Julia and Morgan were a big reason for that.”

Carter had 21 kills, two blocks and three digs in her final match in a Maryvale uniform, while Michalski had 17 assists, six digs and two kills in her final high school match. Brianna Schrlief chipped in with three kills and three digs for Maryvale, which had lost to the same Lady Blue Devils in Oct. 20’s regular-season finale by 25-16, 14-25, 15-25, 21-25 scores.

That regular-season finale setback meant that the Lady Flyers’ two-year stint as regular season divisional champions came to an end, even though Maryvale played with the intensity and skill early on that was necessary to contend for the victory. In the end, East Aurora just had a little bit more on the day than Maryvale.

“That match with East Aurora to close out the regular season was one we knew we had to win if we wanted to have a shot at sharing the divisional title, and even though we ultimately lost, we were still happy with our play and the success we had during the regular season,” Raczynski said. “We knew we had to be on top of our offense and our defense to have a chance, and we certainly were, for the most part. We came out really strong and just dominated play in the first half, but it just wasn’t enough that day.”

Carter had 28 kills, 10 assists and three digs to lead Maryvale’s efforts, while Michalski added seven kills, 27 assists and seven digs. Keke Ubaydah chipped in with nine digs and two aces, Amiah George had nine digs, and Christie McGee-Ross had three blocks and 16 digs.

Maryvale didn’t dwell on its setback in the regular-season finale for long, however, but instead got to work by posting a 25-12, 25-14, 25-21 win over Depew in its quarterfinal round playoff opener on Oct. 27. The Lady Flyers wasted little time putting away their former ECIC III rival — Depew had dropped down to Division IV this season — in what was their first and only meeting with the Lady Wildcats this year.

Carter had 13 kills and eight digs to lead the charge for Maryvale, while Ubaydah added 10 digs. Michalski had 15 assists, five digs and two aces for the Lady Flyers, who earned their spot in the championship match by taking down Lew-Port by 25-23, 25-10, 25-11 scores in the semifinal round on Oct. 30.

It had been even longer since Maryvale had seen Lew-Port on the court, which left the Lady Flyers unsure of what they’d see from the Lady Lancers. Raczynski admits that Maryvale was “a little lackadaisical” to start the match, which allowed Lew-Port to make the first set competitive, but “once we pulled it together we just dominated the play.”

Carter had 27 kills and 10 assists to lead the way for Maryvale, while Michalski had 29 assists and seven kills. Aj’ah George had four aces and four digs for the Lady Flyers, who finished the season 17-3 overall to improve to 51-7 over the last three years.

“Considering all that we achieved this year and the last three years all said, I really don’t feel that we have anything to hang our heads about,” Raczynski said. “I’m very proud of this program and the girls who have gone through it the last three years. We have four alumni currently playing in college, one playing at the college club level, and both of our seniors this year are going on to play in college, with Julia going to the University of Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Morgan currently being recruited by Geneseo. I’m very proud ... we turned this program around and that in itself is a great accomplishment not only for me as a coach but for these girls, too.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Starpoint ends Flyers’ run in boys volleyball semifinals
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, November 9, 2017

Starpoint proved to be a worthy challenge for Maryvale’s boys volleyball program when the two schools met for a fourth time this season in the Section VI Division II-B semifinals at Lackawanna Saturday. The Spartans used what they learned in the previous three meetings to pull out a 25-19, 25-15, 22-25, 22-25, 4-15 victory that eliminated the Flyers from contention.

The Flyers, who swept Starpoint in league play and also beat the Spartans to win the Grand Island Tournament, had a lead in game three but a couple of missed serves and errors on attacks ultimately cost Maryvale the game and gave Starpoint the opening it needed. Game four started off slow as well, as the Flyers fell into a quick 7-1 hole. Maryvale battled back and held a 19-15 lead, but once again some untimely errors proved to be fatal.

Coach Jon Bednasz called the fifth game “easily our worst game of the season,” as the Flyers had little left in dropping the lopsided decisive set.

“We had chances to close Starpoint out in games three and four but were unable to close the door on them, and it ultimately ended up costing us the match,” Bednasz said. “It was a tough loss for sure.”

Jordan Nosal led the way for Maryvale with 31 kills, six blocks and four aces, while Zach Amato added 14 kills, two blocks and an ace. Tom Frain chipped in with 19 kills and three blocks for the Flyers, who advanced to the semifinal round after defeating Amherst in straight sets in the quarterfinal round three days earlier by 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 scores.

The top-seeded Flyers came out of the gates quickly, jumping out to a 7-1 lead on Amherst in what was their first match in a week’s time. JV call-up Ryan Zawadzki, Nate Zawadzki’s brother, was inserted into the lineup to play defense but eventually was set for a back-row kill by his brother. Ryan Zawadzki, one of the JV team’s setters, returned the favor a couple of points later.

“We played with energy and purpose against Amherst,” Bednasz said. “Like most of the teams we played, Amherst did not have a defensive answer to Jordan — and our defense was frustrating them too. And it’s special when two brothers can be on the court together and even more special when they can set each other.”

Nate Zawadzki finished the match with 27 assists, while Deante Mecca had 11 digs. Amato chipped in with six kills, two aces and a block, while Nosal had 14 kills and five aces. Mark Bailey chipped in with three kills and four blocks for Maryvale, which finished the season 19-4 overall and 11-1 in division.

“The sectional loss to Starpoint was a hard loss to handle because it turned out to be the end of our season, but it was still a great season,” Bednasz said. “I think the 2017 team will go down as one of the best teams in Maryvale history. I talk a lot with Jordan LeViness, our assistant coach who played on the 2007 team which was the last Maryvale team to win a share of the division title with Eden, about who would win between the 2007 team that was inducted into Maryvale’s Wall of Fame in 2015 and the 2017 team, and we both believe the 2017 team was better.”

The Flyers will officially put the finishing touches on the 2017 season Sunday when they hold their annual team awards banquet. Nosal is one of six players from Western New York who will be nominated for the New York State Section VI American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Year award. Voting will take place next week.

Bednasz, meanwhile, was nominated and finished second in New York State Section VI AVCA Coach of the Year voting. He will also be inducted into the Western New York Boys Volleyball Hall of Fame tonight at the coaches and officials banquet at Ilio DiPaolo’s under the player/coach/official role.

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Eden adds to trophy case with boys volleyball title
By Nick Wojton, Buffalo News
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

The Eden Raiders boys volleyball team added some more hardware to an already large trophy case on Thursday as they took a 24-26, 25-16, 25-14, 25-16 win over Sweet Home in the Section VI Division II crossover match on Wednesday at Lackawanna High School.

Eden’s win earned the Raiders their 31st Division II title and the third in the last four seasons. Leading the way for the Raiders was Tome Filkov with 15 kills. Also making contributions were Drew Hesse (14 kills, 9 aces) and Collin Rigley (10 kills).

Sweet Home’s Dylan Aarum led the Panthers with eight kills while Kaleb Luton added four.

Despite the final score, things were not smooth sailing for Eden early. The Panthers raced to a 10-0 lead with Aarum notching two kills in that streak. Down early, Eden responded and chipped away, eventually tying the set at 18.

But late in the set Sweet Home regrouped and outscored Eden, 8-6, for a 26-24 set win, punctuated with a Luton spike off a Jon Miller set.

“I was proud of my team for staying mentally strong and pulling out that victory,” Sweet Home coach Rich Cicero said.

Early in the second set, the two teams played to an early 3-3 battle before Eden gradually pulled away with a nine-point victory, 25-16. Eden coach Robert Pierce said he believed his team built enough confidence in the first set, despite losing, to carry the Raiders through the rest of the match.

“The lead that we spotted them, and once you put that into perspective, you realize you’re starting to cook. You could see how we jumped out in the second set,” Pierce said.

Rigley added another factor into the reason for Eden’s turnaround: experience.

“Last year we were down 2-0 to Hamburg right here. That’s what I told the guys after the first set. ‘This is nothing guys, we’ve been here before and we know how to handle it.’ And we handled it pretty well,” Rigley said.

In the third set, Eden returned the favor to Sweet Home, putting up its own 10-0 spot en route to a 25-14 win. During that rally, Hesse held all the serving duties for the Raiders, notching two aces and scoring on another four service points.

The final set saw Eden put the exclamation point on its victory, taking another nine-point set win, 25-16. Eden advanced to play the Section V winner, Spencerport in the Far West Regionals in Webster on Saturday.

While coming up short, Cicero said Sweet Home, which went winless two years ago after keeping its current varsity team on JV in order for the group to grow, has plenty to be proud of.

The Panthers won their first sectional title since 1993 over Grand Island in order to advance to Wednesday’s game.

As far as the Raiders, their attention turns to revenge.

Last year, Spencerport knocked Eden out of the state playoffs in the regional's. It will be the first time the two have faced off since.

“We’ve been looking forward to the chance,” Rigley said. “We’ve been itching to get another shot.”

Boys Section VI Playoff Brackets
Section VI
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

2017 Section VI Boys A Playoff Brackets

2017 Section VI Boys B Playoff Brackets

Girls Section VI Playoff Brackets
Section VI
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

2017 Section VI Girls AA Playoff Brackets

2017 Section VI Girls A Playoff Brackets

2017 Section VI Girls B Playoff Brackets

2017 Section VI Girls C Playoff Brackets

2017 Section VI Girls D Playoff Brackets

East girls volleyball wins fourth straight section title
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Another year, another sectional title for Williamsville East’s girls volleyball team.

The Lady Flames won their fourth consecutive section title after beating Niagara Wheatfield, 25-23, 19-25, 25-12, 25-18 in Thursday’s Class A final at Daemen College. East has appeared in the past five section finals.

“Niagara-Wheatfield put us to the test,” East coach Scott Wright said. “Their defense was the best we faced all year. It took us a long time to break it down and figure it out. We settled down after the second game.”

East entered the match as the No. 1 seed and top-ranked team in the Western New York coaches’ poll. Niagara Wheatfield was the No. 2 seed and ranked seventh in the coaches poll. The win improved the Lady Flames’ overall record to 18-2.

East was led by its three captains. Makayla Greenfield’s all-around game was on full display as she recorded 46 assists and a team-high 15 digs. Rachel Steffan finished with an impressive 32 kills, hitting .339 for the match. Allison Jozwiak contributed 12 kills, 13 digs and a team-high 14 aces. Other contributors for the Lady Flames included Christy Mack (14 digs, one ace), Madeline Reid (four blocks), and Summer Clark (two kills, six digs).

In set one, a serving run from Mack put East in front 5-1. Niagara-Wheatfield went on a run of its own to take a 16-11 lead. Two kills from Steffan cut the lead to 17-15. The Lady Flames trailed 21-19, but won the next five points, including a kill from Steffan, and a kill and an ace from Jozwiak. A kill from Steffan gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-23.

In set two, Niagara-Wheatfield took control early, building a 9-5 lead. A block from Reid, a Reid/Clark shared block, a kill from Jozwiak, and two kills from Steffan tied the score at 10-10. Niagara Wheatfield responded by winning four of the next five points to take a 15-11 lead. The Lady Flames would get no closer than three points and lost the set, 25-19.

With the momentum in Niagara Wheatfield’s favor, set three would be crucial, with the winner taking control of the match. With East ahead 8-7, the Lady Flames won the next nine points, including three consecutive aces from Jozwiak, and three kills from Steffan. Kills from Jozwiak and Steffan extended the lead to 21-11, and the Lady Flames would go on to win the set, 25-12.

In set four, East started flat and Niagara-Wheatfield took a 6-1 lead. Trailing 8-4, the Lady Flames won the next 10 points behind a Steffan serving run.

Niagara-Wheatfield battled back to close within two at 17-15. A block from Reid and a kill from Steffan pushed the lead back to four. Four kills from Steffan extended the lead to 24-17, and her final kill of the match gave the Lady Flames the title, 25-18.

The win advances East to the Class A Far West Regional, where they will face Section V Irondequoit at 8 p.m. Thursday at Daemen College. The winner advances to the state finals Nov. 18-19 in Glens Falls.

East reached the section final for the fifth consecutive year after beating cross-town rival Williamsville South, 25-19, 25-22, 25-15, in the semifinals at home Oct. 30.

“They gave us a lot of trouble,” Wright said. “We had to play well to win.”

East received strong performances from Jozwiak (21 kills, 20 digs), Steffan (17 kills, 18 digs), and Greenfield (37 assists, 10 digs).

Greenfield reached another major milestone, recording her 1,000th assist for the season. She has recorded 1,000 assists in each of her three seasons as the starting setter for East. Her career assist total is 3,356.

In set one, East got off to a slow start and trailed 6-2. A five-point serving run from Mack put the Lady Flames up 8-6.

South battled back to tack a 13-11 lead but East regained the momentum, taking a 17-14 lead behind kills from Steffan, Jozwiak and Reid. South won the next three points to make the score 17-17.

Three kills from Steffan and one from Jozwiak gave the Lady Flames the next four points and a 21-17 lead, and the Lady Flames went on to take the set, 25-19.

In set two, the teams traded points early. With the score tied 7-7, Jozwiak recorded four kills to give East the 12-8 lead.

South responded by winning the next four points to tie the score at 12-12. The two teams again traded points and South took a 19-18 lead. The Lady Flames responded by winning the next five points. South cut the lead to 23-22, but Jozwiak’s two kills gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-22.

South coach Tom Sproull said his team should have won the second set.

“We forced them to call both of their timeouts and we made a couple nice passes but we had some unforced errors,” Sproull said. “It was there for the taking.”

In set three, East led 6-5 when Greenfield went on a nine-point serving run to give them a comfortable 15-5 lead. The run included four kills from Steffan and two kills from Jozwiak.

A shared block from Reid and Summer Clark extended the lead to 18-9.

A final kill from Jozwiak gave the Flames the set, 25-15.

Megan Muelhbauer led South’s offense with nine kills. Maddie Popielski added six kills and Amari DeBerry added five kills.

Sproull thought his team played well overall but said his team did not do a good enough job putting up a block, tallying only four as a team.

South finished 13-7 and only graduates two seniors — Grace Stahl and Naomi De- Berry.

(Reporter Patrick J. Nagy contributed to the article.)

Sweet Home boys volleyball returns to section final
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

After losing to Hamburg in last year’s Section VI Division II-A final, the goal for the Sweet Home boys volleyball team was to get back to the title game and win it.

The third-seeded Panthers (16-3) are halfway there after beating second seed North Tonawanda, 25-23, 25-19, 25-18 in a rematch of last year’s semifinals Saturday at Lackawanna High School.

Sweet Home’s opponent in the Division II-A final Tuesday at Lackawanna was Grand Island, who upset Hamburg in the semifinals. The winner plays in the overall final against Eden or Starpoint at 6 p.m., Wednesday at Lackawanna.

“It’s something we have been working an entire year for,” Sweet Home coach Rich Cicero said. “Since we lost last year, we are trying to win it all.”

Sweet Home missed nine serves in the first set against North Tonawanda and did not pull away until the end of the set.

Dylan Aarum led the offense with 10 kills and three aces. Cicero said Nate Davis (five kills) and Solomon Shabazz (seven kills) made smart plays at middle hitter. Setter Jon Miller handed out 28 assists.

Sweet Home opened the postseason with a 25-11, 25-12, 13-25, 25-20 home win over sixth seed Williamsville South in the quarterfinals Nov. 1.

“We played our game in the first two games,” Cicero said. “Our block was strong and we put a lot of balls back on the side. In the third game, their kids were swinging hard and hitting through our block. I don’t know why we struggled so bad with it. We got back on track in the fourth game.”

South coach Thom Knab said his team started out lethargic and was not moving or talking as much as they needed to. He said his team “woke up” in the third game and controlled play but they did not have enough firepower in the fourth game.

Outside hitter Kaleb Luton led Sweet Home’s offense with 10 kills. Cicero said Jack Hiwiller and Evan Bezak both played good defense. Aarum tallied eight kills and three aces. Alex Stoj posted five kills.

Dan Proch led South with nine kills and three blocks. Evan Oliver added six kills. Le Cao added five kills.

All three are seniors, as is senior middle hitter Roman Pryce, who finished the season with the highest hitting percentage at 44 percent and finished with 73 kills. Pryce also tallied a team-high 60 blocks. Proch tallied a team-high 171 kills.

Oliver was successful on 41 percent of his hits and Nico Zanelotti had a team-high 39 assist percentage that led to kills.

South finished 6-6 in ECIC II and 9-11 overall.

Sacred Heart girls volleyball loses in league final
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Sacred Heart fell short in its bid to become Monsignor Martin Association champion but it was not due to a lack of effort.

On the Sharks’ home floor Friday, St. Mary’s of Lancaster needed four tough sets to beat Sacred Heart, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 25-16, for its seventh straight league title.

“They poured their blood, sweat and tears on the court,” Sacred Heart coach J.T. Ripper said. “Our goal was to beat them and expectations were high, but they had a lot more firepower and played a cleaner game.”

“At the midway point of the season, I challenged them to be tougher and their toughness came through in the clutch,” St. Mary’s coach Don Pieczynski said. “This one was very sweet. It was on their home court. They have a great team.”

“It’s amazing,” added St. Mary’s senior Summer Slade, the league MVP who finished with 19 kills. “Our team chemistry helped us to our success. We have been practicing for this game for a while. We knew it would be a tough challenge.”

The turning point of the match was midway through the third set. Tied at 15-15, St. Mary’s outscored Sacred Heart, 10-4, to close out the set and give the Lady Lancers a 2-1 edge.

“That was crucial,” Slade said. “It’s always important to make your serves. We kept believing in ourselves that we could do it.”

“We couldn’t pass the ball,” Ripper said.

Down 8-6 in the fourth set, the Lady Lancers tied the game at 8-8 and eventually went up 17-10.

Junior Hannah Mulhern was great in the front row, tallying 14 kills and four blocks.

“Hannah is our 1A player,” Pieczynski said. “She has played every position in the front row and I know she is going to come through in the clutch.”

Sophomore libero Jasmine Brundage had 11 digs. Senior setter Jillian Vitale added 40 assists and 15 digs. Kelley Cleversley added 14 kills and nine digs.

Vitale, Mulhern and Cleversley were named First Team Division “A” All-Catholic. Brundage and junior Caroline Zhangi were named Second Team Division “A” All-Catholic.

Micaela Ryan led the Sacred Heart offense with 13 kills, nine blocks and three digs.

Lauren Aichinger (11 kills, six blocks, one ace, two digs); Siobhan Ryan (11 kills, two blocks, one ace); and Emma Tierney (two kills) also contributed to the offense.

Clare Falkowski handed out 30 assists, and Taylor Jakubik and Gabriella Berardi had one assist each.

Claire Beecher led the defense with 19 serve receives and seven digs.

Berardi (11 serve receives, six digs); Hannah Tudor (nine serve receives, six digs); Siobhan Ryan (seven digs, two serve receives); Falkowski (three digs; ace); and Jakubik (two digs, ace) also contributed to the defense.

The Sharks reached the finals after beating Mount St. Mary 25-18, 25-22, 25-12 in the semifinals at home Nov. 1.

Back-to-back kills by Aichinger, assisted by Falkowski, gave the team set point in the first set.

Both teams traded points in the second set, but Micaela Ryan had a kill to keep the team in the lead, 18-16.

Several points later, Aichinger had a kill at 20-18, and a kill by Siobhan Ryan made it 22-19.

Another kill by Aichinger, assisted by Falkowski, gave Sacred Heart the set point.

In the third set, Mt. St. Mary’s closed the score to 7-6, but Tierney and Aichinger had a double block to make it 8-6.

Berardi had an ace to give Sacred Heart a 10-7 lead. Jakubik had a great save early in the rally to give Siobhan Ryan the chance to get a backrow kill, assisted by Falkowski, to put Sacred Heart ahead 12-7.

Micaela Ryan had a block and then a kill to give Sacred Heart a 15-8 lead.

Siobhan Ryan had another kill to the lead to 17-10. A double block by Aichinger and Siobhan Ryan, followed by a kill by Siobhan Ryan and then a kill by Aichinger, both assisted by Falkowski, put the Sharks up 22-12.

Tierney and Aichinger had a double block, followed by Siobhan Ryan kill, assisted by Beecher, and an Aichinger block to end the match.

Siobhan Ryan led the offense with 12 kills and three aces. She also had one dig and one serve receive. Also contributing on offense were Aichinger (12 kills), Micaela Ryan (seven kills; also one dig), and Tierney (two kills; also two digs).

Beecher led the team defense with eight digs and seven serve receives; also one ace. Also contributing on defense were (four digs; four serve receives), Berardi (five serve receives; three digs; also one ace), Jakubik (six digs), and Falkowski (five digs).

Sacred Heart finished 14-3 overall. The Sharks graduate five senior starters: Micaela Ryan (middle hitter/blocker), Aichinger (middle hitter/blocker), Falkowski (setter), Tierney (right side) and Beecher (libero).

Ryan and Aichinger were named First Team Division A All-Catholic, and Falkowski and Siobhan Ryan were named Second Team Division A All-Catholic.

North girls volleyball loses in five to Clarence
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Williamsville North’s girls volleyball team won the first two sets of its Section VI Class AA semifinal road match with Clarence Oct. 30 but could not hold on, losing in five sets, 25-20, 25-23, 14-25, 12-25, 15-25.

North trailed 15-13 in the fifth set but missed a serve and allowed six straight points and trailed 22-16.

“It was frustrating,” North coach Keith Hopkins said. “We changed our attitude of going after them to ‘let’s push the ball over and see if they will make a mistake.’ We were disappointed.”

Allie Macon and Maia Reed each tallied seven kills. Bri Brown added 20 digs and served well, and Maddie Farber contributed 17 digs.

North lost both regular-season meetings to Clarence.

The Lady Spartans opened their playoff run with a 28-26, 25-22, 25-19 road win over Frontier in the quarterfinals Friday.

Macon tallied six kills and 17 digs, Reed had seven kills and Abby Vincent handed out 13 assists.

North finished 18-12-2, a seven-game improvement. The entire starting lineup will return.

North boys volleyball reaches section final
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Two years ago, Williamsville North, as an 18th seed, shocked the Western New York boys volleyball universe when they upset top seed Grand Island for the Section VI Division II title.

Two years later, the Spartans, now a six seed, looked to continue their Cinderella run when they faced top seed Lockport for the Division I title Tuesday at Lackawanna High School. The winner faces a team from Rochester in the Far West Regionals at 3 p.m. Saturday at Webster-Schroeder High School.

North reached the finals after beating two ECIC I foes that they lost to twice during the regular season, third seed Clarence, 22-25, 25-22, 9-25, 27-25, 15-9, in the quarterfinals Nov. 1 and second seed Frontier, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23, in the semifinals Friday at Lackawanna High School.

North coach Jake Waszak said the amount of preparation that went into the Clarence match was immense.

“We had four to five practices worth of preparing just specifically for that team,” he said. “They have a couple servers with float serves that are better than anything I have seen in my career, playing and coaching. We spent even more time working on our defense and extending rallies over the net, and when you do that, it gets the other team frustrated and then they start to make mistakes and make hitting errors. We had an attitude that nothing was going to hit the floor and we had to make the other team work hard for every single point that they got. The way they responded to that was nothing short of incredible.”

Adam Gulick led the Spartans’ offense with 26 kills, 25 digs and two blocks. Also contributing to the win were Joe Battaglia (seven kills, 14 digs, one ace); Jon Abaya (five kills, three digs); Justin Konotopskyj (five kills, four blocks); Eoin Burns (two aces); Alex Steinwachs (three kills); Jackson Lieber (12 digs); Mitchell Simon (12 digs); Ben Malicki (two digs); and Matthew Wiepert (38 assists, 2½ blocks, nine digs).

Steinwachs had a monster game at middle hitter against Frontier, tallying 10 kills and 3½ blocks.

“He was really good,” Waszak said. “Not only did he put up good stats, he got the kills and blocks at a time in the match when we needed it the most. It really lit a spark for us throughout the match.”

Wiepert handed out 52 assists to go along with three kills and nine digs. Gulick again led the offense with 20 kills to go with 12 digs, three blocks and three aces. He also provided a strong service game, which made Frontier question where they were supposed to set the ball and made North’s job defending much easier.

“We were able to get a lot more digs in transition and kills on free balls more consistently,” Waszak said.

Battaglia (nine kills, 15 digs); Abaya (12 kills, four digs, 2½ blocks); Konotopskyj (four kills, block); Simon (14 digs); and Lieber (three assists, one dig) also contributed to the victory.

East falls in quarters
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Williamsville East’s boys volleyball team had an early exit in the Section VI Tournament, falling to Grand Island, 9-25, 28-26, 22-25, 26-24, 13-15, in the Division II-A quarterfinals Nov. 1.

East coach Chris Conrad said Grand Island is a scrappy team and had a phenomenal block on the outside, which neutralized senior outside hitters Drew Elliott and Troy Stancampiano.

After a disappointing first set, Conrad made some changes in the second set, inserting junior Ethan Swierski at outside hitter and junior Ryan Parks at middle hitter, and it paid off as they established a presence in the middle with senior Jason Berkun, who tallied 12 kills and two blocks. Parks added five kills and two blocks. Elliott was held to two kills and two blocks. Senior Alex Wisniewski added eight digs.

“I thought they played well,” Conrad said. “To take that match to five games is a testament to their work ethic and their talent all-around. I was happy to see that they could adapt multiple times in the match to different scenarios. I think they left everything on the court.”

Grand Island got up early in the fifth game and led 14-9.

East finished 9-3 in ECIC II and 9-8 overall. The Flames graduated seven seniors, including six starters: Elliott, a three-year starter, Wisniewski, Troy and Bryce Stancampiano and Stuart Purkiss. Dawson King is a reserve player. Conrad still has some young talent, such as Swierski and Parks.

Clarence girls volleyball tops Lancaster, claims fourth straight AA championship
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI, Reporter, Clarence Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

A wildly-different roster provided the same result for Clarence girls volleyball Thursday, as the Lady Red Devils overcame the loss of seven seniors — including current University of Alabama team member Meghan Neelon — to win their fourth-straight Section VI Class AA championship via their 22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22 victory over rival Lancaster in a closely contested match.

“As I always say, I am not a champion,” Clarence coach Mike Meyer said. “The girls are the champions. I am so happy for them because of how they played. When they play like that, it’s the result they get. They fought through some adversity this year. We kept going and kept getting better. I’m just so happy for them.”

The Lady Legends came out hot, jumping out to leads of 12-3, 15-4 and 20-9. But Clarence fought back to make things interesting, pushing the score to 24-22. Julia Kurowski came through with a big kill to give Lancaster the first set, but the strong finish gave Clarence some confidence going into the next game.

“It was huge for them to turn around,” Meyer said. “I told them there was nothing to be scared of, because we were probably already going to lose this game. I said, ‘Let’s score some points and make them think.’ And they fought back and came back.

“Lancaster’s tough. We knew they were going to be tough. We’ve been playing them for a long time. At the end of that first game when we were able to make a run, I took the girls aside and said ‘we might not be able to win this game, but we can send a message with how we play the rest of this game.’ They started taking big swings and the momentum turned. They were able to stick with it.”

The Lady Red Devils opened the second set red hot, going up 7-2 before forcing a Lancaster timeout. Lancaster got it as close as 12-11 and then tied it at 15, but Clarence used some strong serves and kills to finish on a 10-4 run. Clarence again started strong in the third set, taking an 8-4 lead. The Lady Legends would not get within three for the rest of the set, as Clarence took a commanding 2-1 lead with the 25-20 win.

A major reason for the turnaround was the play of Kennedy Oleszak, who finished with eight kills and two blocks.

“When Kennedy came to life in the second game, it turned everything around,” Meyer said. “She was a huge difference maker. She got those kills and, man, they rallied around her.”

The fourth and final set was close throughout, as the teams went back and forth. There were more than a dozen ties and 11 lead changes. No team led by more than one until Lancaster took a 15-13 lead. Clarence finally took the lead for good late in the set, 21-20. The game was as close as 23-22, before Lancaster hit the ball into the net twice to close the match, clinching yet another title for Clarence.

“All the teams in Division I are all really good,” Meyer said. “Teams aren’t just going to fold in Division I. They’re going to play and they’re going to fight. You have to play really well if you want to win. It took us playing our best to just edge that team out.”

Senior captain Lindsey Leipold had 27 assists, while fellow captain Melissa Ratzel encouraged the team to stay positive when it fell behind early.

“Losing seven seniors and one of our really big important players was rough,” Leipold said. “But it was a team effort. It was unbelievable. I just told the girls to stay composed. Me and Melissa told the girls to just do what we know how to do and we’ll be fine. It’s just like practice.”

Jaide Cummings finished with 12 kills and eight digs, while Ratzel had six kills and four blocks. Both are four-time sectional champions.

“Jaide has been here since eighth grade,” Meyer said. “Melissa has been here since ninth grade. Melissa and Jaide are four-time champions and that’s pretty good. Part of our program is we bring girls up. They get to see this so that when they step on the court, they’ve done it before.”

“You never know when you come out onto the court how a team is going to play,” Leipold said. “In the playoffs, it’s anyone’s ball game.”

Meanwhile, Lancaster finished the season as the sectional runner-up for the second year in a row. However, the Lady Legends had a much better showing than last year when they were swept. Kurowski had 13 kills. Katie Becht had 15 digs. Meg Vona had seven kills and four digs.

“We were in a couple of our rotations that we just couldn’t get out of,” Lancaster coach Becky Edwards said. “We started making the mistakes. In the first half of that first set, we were sitting back and they were making serving errors and hitting errors. They turned it around on us and our back three rotation.”

The Lady Legends will part ways with eight seniors after the season. The hard-fought fourth set showed off how badly the girls wanted their high school careers to continue.

“There are eight seniors on our team,” Edwards said. “That’s pretty unheard of in the sport of volleyball. These were unlike any other seniors that I’ve coached. They’ve been with me since a lot of them were nine, 10, 11 years old. It’s hard for them right now. They’re pretty emotional, which is expected.”

Clarence reached the sectional finals after taking down Williamsville North in Oct. 30’s semifinal round by 20-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-12, 25-15 scores. After slugging it out with North in the first two sets, Meyer noted that he didn’t talk about anything the Lady Red Devils were doing on the court but instead reminded them of the program values that have been in place since day one, and how if they stuck to them they could come back and win.

That pep talk worked — the Lady Red Devils responded to Meyer’s talk with a “we’ve got this” look, he said — as Clarence, which hadn’t trailed by a 2-0 count all season, buckled down and got to work after switching sides on the court.

“North is a team that has been getting better all year, and they came in ready to play which is part of the reason why the first two games were as tight as they were,” Meyer said. “But, out girls never lost their confidence but instead hung in there and stuck with our style of play. They showed a lot of resilience in those third through fifth games, and I was very proud of them for it. I think some teams might’ve looked around for an excuse to lose trailing 2-0, but instead they worked to find a way to win. It was pretty cool to see.”

Cummings had 10 kills, four blocks, six aces and two digs to pace Clarence, while Leah Victor added nine kills and three blocks. Ratzel chipped in with six kills and eight blocks, while Oleszak had five kills and seven blocks. Jenna Hugenschmidt added six kills and three aces, while Leipold contributed 18 assists, three aces and a block for the Lady Red Devils, who will now face Section V’s Victor at 6 p.m. Thursday at Daemen College in this year’s Far West Regional.

The winner will move on to the state tournament, which is being held this year on Saturday, Nov. 18, and Sunday, Nov. 19, at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

“We’ve never played Victor in the seven years I’ve been here, but I assume if you win Section V you’re pretty good,” Meyer said. “We don’t do a lot of scouting of other teams or much team-specific prep work because we believe that if we stick to Clarence volleyball, we really can play with anybody. We just need a full team effort.”

(Reporter Jason Nadolinski contributed to this article.)

NT boys volleyball season ends in II-A semis
by JASON NADOLINSKI, Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, November 8, 2017

North Tonawanda’s boys volleyball team was unable to fulfill its season-long quest of avenging its semifinal-round exit from the 2016 postseason, as the second-seeded Lumberjacks were eliminated from the Section VI Division II-A bracket by third-seeded Sweet Home in Saturday’s semifinals at Lackawanna High School.

The Lumberjacks, who were defeated by 25-22, 25-19, 25-18 scores, got out to a strong start against the Panthers, with coach Luke Hodgson noting that North Tonawanda “controlled 80 percent of the opening set.” The Lumberjacks were clean at the net and didn’t make many errors of any kind, but as the first set progressed, Hodgson said that “I think we became a little too comfortable” and “we were relying on them to make errors a bit too much.”

“We expect certain things from certain schools, and with Sweet Home — a team we did not see at all this year — we were confident their serving would be tough and that they have a good setter,” Hodgson said. “I think we got a little nervous and it took a little while to calm down and readjust, but by the time we did, we were almost too far removed from what we needed to do.

“It was probably one of the harder losses I’ve had to endure with the team because the boys put so much time into this season,” Hodgson continued. “They wanted to go back to the semifinals so badly. It would’ve been perfect to win and get a chance to play for the title, but Sweet Home was definitely the better team that night.”

Trevor Book led the way with six kills for North Tonawanda, which reached the semifinals after taking down seventh-seeded Niagara Wheatfield by 25-11, 25-15, 25-16 scores in the quarterfinal round three days earlier.

The Lumberjacks were once again focused mentally right out of the gate, which once again led to clean play at the net and overall consistent play all over the court. Book finished the night with 10 kills, while Austin Spatorico chipped in with six kills and 11 digs.

“I think the fact that we were the second seed once again allowed the boys to be totally focused and far more comfortable out on the court against Wheatfield,” Hodgson said. “The match pretty much went how we wanted it to go. We responded any time they challenged us and just did everything we were supposed to do. It left us confident and looking forward to our return to the semifinals.”

The Lumberjacks, who finished the season 12-6 overall, lose five seniors to graduation, all of whom started and were significant contributors to the team’s success.

“This team was just a really good example of what working together as a team can do,” Hodgson said. “They had strengths as individuals, but together they were able to overcome just about every setback they faced. They leaned on each other and picked each other up. They all just worked together for the common good, which was great to see.”

The Lumberjacks plan to officially close the book on their 2017 season when they hold their annual team awards banquet on Nov. 15.

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Lockport wins D-I boys volleyball title; Old friends at Eden, Sweet Home to meet in D-II final
By Jonah Bronstein, Buffalo News
Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Sweet Home’s Kaleb Luton and Nathaniel Davis, right, block the ball hit
by Grand Island’s Thomas Shemik. (Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)

Robert Pierce was rooting for a Sweet Home victory on Tuesday night. He doesn’t want to see them win again, however.

“I’m thrilled for them,” Pierce, the Eden coach, said of Sweet Home and coach Rich Cicero, his former club volleyball and Penn State University teammate. “He’s one of my best friends, a great guy. He’s really worked hard and those kids are responding to him.”

Defending champion Eden will meet resurgent Sweet Home for the overall Division II championship at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the same floor where they won sectional titles in front of a rotating crowd of about 300 people on Tuesday at Lackawanna.

In the Division I final, Lockport, the No. 1 large school in the Western New York coaches poll all season, overcame a slow start to sweep Williamsville North and advance to the Far West Regionals on Saturday at Webster Schroeder in Rochester.

The sixth-seeded Spartans had already upset Clarence and Frontier during sectionals. On Tuesday, they held a 20-13 lead in the opening game before Lockport came back to win 27-25.

“Will North came out swinging,” Lockport coach Elizabeth Smorol said. “They knew they had nothing to lose, they already upset two teams and they came to upset us.”

Lockport settled in to take the second set 25-17 and the deciding game 25-18.

“We really persevered, played as a team and got the win,” said senior setter Marc Bixby, who had 16 assists, eight digs and six kills.

Zachary Schneider led the Lions with 17 kills and 10 digs. Tivon White had seven kills and Jesse Donorovich recorded six kills and five digs. Sean Denniston added 14 assists, six digs and three aces.

After Schneider spiked the final point, Denniston and Smorol hugged each other tight amid the chaotic on-court celebration.

“I’ve been coaching him since he was eight years old,” Smorol said. “Having him here and winning a sectional title with my son meant the world to me.”

“We’re family but really the whole team is family,” Denniston said. “She’s taught me how to play volleyball starting basically when I could walk, so this moment for us was huge.”

Playing in the gym where Sweet Home won its first sectional title 40 years ago, the Panthers clawed back to defeat Grand Island in an intense five-set match to win the Division II-A championship.

“I talked to the boys before the game and told them that history repeats itself,” said Cicero, who won sectional titles as a Sweet Home player in 1982-83 and in his 18th season as coach. “We put a lot of hard work in this season and they had to go out there and take it. Nothing in this world is ever given to you.”

Each of the Sweet Home players dyed his hair golden blonde before the start of sectionals and they now have golden plaque to add to their trophy case for the first time since 1993.

“I can’t even get it through my head yet that we are champions,” senior captain Evan Bezak said.

“Freaking fantastic,” added Jonathan Miller, one of Sweet Home’s other senior captains, along with Dominic Genau and Dylan Aarum. “It feels like a dream come true.”

Sweet Home endured an 0-20 season two years ago while this group honed its game on the junior varsity squad. The Panthers reached the II-A final last year before losing to Hamburg and made another leap this season.

Sweet Home came from behind to win the first set 27-25 and Grand Island won the second by an identical score. The Vikings took the lead in the match with a 25-22 win in the third game and the Panthers evened it with a 25-20 win in the fourth.

The deciding set was the only one in which either team led by more than five points and Sweet Home clinched the championship on Aarum’s over-the-shoulder flip shot that won the game 15-7.

Alexander Stoj and Kaleb Luton each had eight kills to lead Sweet Home and Nathan Davis rose up for most of his seven kills in the deciding games. Solomon Shabazz had five blocks.

Eden won its second straight B-II title and 31st sectional championship with sound serving and pinpoint passing.

“We passed and we served, that’s the most important thing,” said Drew Hesse, who had 15 kills and nine aces.

The Raiders broke open a close first set with a 13-2 run to win 25-13 and took the second and third sets by the same score, 25-20.

“We’ve been working for this all year and what a way to get it,” said Collin Rigley, who had 14 kills. “Everyone is clicking on all cylinders and we got contributions from everyone. We’ve worked so hard as a team this year and that’s how we wanted to win this one.”

Western New York 2017 Boys Top 10 Poll - 11/7/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Western New York 2017 Girls Top 10 Poll - 11/7/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Portville, East Aurora advance to Far West Regionals in girls volleyball
By Jonah Bronstein, Buffalo News
Monday, November 6, 2017

The sting of losing sectional championship matches last year propelled Portville and East Aurora to title conquests on Monday night.

Portville ended Eden’s dynasty with a straight-set victory in the Class C crossover and East Aurora swept Alden for the Class B crown before an estimated crowd of 350 at Daemen College.

The two teams return to Daemen on Friday for Far West Regional matches. East Aurora (16-0) will meet Wayne at 9 a.m. and Portville (18-2) will play Caledonia-Mumford at 11 a.m.

Portville won consecutive Class D state championships before moving up last year and losing a four-set match with Eden in the C title game.

In the rematch, Portville played with more enthusiasm than the defending champions, celebrating the first point as triumphantly as the last, and took the opening set, 25-21.

“We knew we had to bring a lot of emotion to get through a match like this against them. They’ve been championship forever,” Portville coach Kelly Unverdorben said. “You have to get that first set. We did not get it last year. I didn’t tell them that, but I was thinking in the back of my mind, we’ve got to get that first set because if we don’t, it was going to burst our bubble a lot.”

The Panthers rode the momentum into the second game and won, 25-18. They sang along to “Sweet Caroline” in the huddle before the third set. After opening an early 10-2 lead, the Panthers held off the Raiders’ rally to win the deciding game, 25-21.

“We didn’t want anyone else to beat them but us,” said Sydney Colligan, who had 21 digs, eight aces and four kills, including the winning point. “It gave us a lot of strength and endurance to work hard during practice and come here knowing we could beat them.”

Beth Miller led the Portville attack with 15 kills and four blocks. Haley Unverdorben had 31 assists, Sierra Keim recorded 12 kills and 19 digs, Brooke Decker had five kills and four blocks and Ericka Carlson had 14 digs.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Miller said. “We knew that they were a really good team and we would have to fight really hard. We came in knowing what we wanted to do and we pulled through. I’m super proud of my team.”

East Aurora avenged its loss in last year’s Class B final and defeated Alden to advance to the Far West Regionals for the first time since 2008.

The Blue Devils won the first set, 25-18, and rallied to take the second, 25-18, after the Bulldogs (15-3) built an early 13-12 lead. Alden was ahead 11-9 in the third set before East Aurora went on a 9-2 run and won, 25-22.

“They had some strong serves and strong hitters but once we settled down and played our game we were able to take advantage of some of the weaknesses we saw,” said senior outside hitter Maddie McLaughlin, who had seven kills and a block. “We came out and we played, maybe not our best, but worthy of our program and I’m proud of how we played.”

The victory was especially meaningful for McLaughlin, who was unable to play the past two seasons while dealing with Lyme disease.

“This is literally a dream come true for me to come back and be able to play the teams they played last year and be able to go farther than they did last year with this group of girls,” McLaughlin said. “There was a long time I didn’t think I was going to be playing sports again and I am beyond grateful just to be a part of this team and have the capability to play volleyball.”

The Blue Devils have now set a championship standard for their program, coach Rebecca Jacobs said.

“It’s a reflection of the girls and the team and their commitment to volleyball and wanting to play and come to practice,” said Jacobs, who won three state championships with St. Mary’s and went to the NCAA tournament twice with Niagara University. “It says something to the underclassmen coming up. It’s kind of set in stone now that we have this winning program and we’ll work hard during the season and the offseason to stay here.”

Sophomore setter Olivia Alessi led East Aurora with 15 assists, five kills and five aces. She got the final kill with a powerful swing from the left side.

“She’s one of those players that will do whatever she can to score a point for the team,” Jacobs said. “Tonight was really a showcase of what she can do for the program. We are lucky she is at East Aurora for the next couple years.”

Shelby Kersten had 10 kills and two blocks for Alden. Sophomore Emma Wlostowski tallied five kills and three aces.

High School Extra: North upsets No. 2 seed Frontier
Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, November 4, 2017

Williamsville North, which posted a losing record in ECIC I (3-7) during the regular season, scored a major upset Friday in the Section VI Division I boys volleyball semifinals at Lackawanna High.

The Spartans of coach Jacob Waszak upset No. 2 seed and ECIC I champion Frontier , 3-1, to advance to the championship game on Tuesday against Lockport at Lackawanna.

Adam Gulick led the upstart Spartans with 20 kills, 12 digs and two aces. Joe Battaglia had nine kills and 15 digs.

“It was nice to see all of the hard work coming to fruition at the right time in the season,” Waszak said. “These boys have developed their understanding of the game and have bought into the new brand of Williamsville North volleyball. Tonight’s win is a testament to the hard work that we’ve been putting in all season, even though the results of our seasonal record didn’t show it.

“Against Frontier, Alex Steinwachs played the best match of his career. Not only did he perform statistically well, he was able to fire his team up at the right moments with timely blocks and kills – including the final kill to win the match.

“Adam Gulick was a force on the outside and from the service line. He has matured greatly this season and has taken on a greater role in serve receive, blocking, and defense. Matt Wiepert’s consistency from the setting position made it difficult for the other team to block effectively – there were many isolated hitters which makes their job much easier.”

Frontier defeated North twice during the ECIC I regular season. The first time, the Falcons needed five sets in their match on Sept. 9. Frontier swept the Spartans convincingly in their second meeting on Oct. 4. That was more than a month ago, however, and the North team obviously improved since then.

Lockport is an imposing obstacle, though.

The No. 1 ranked team in Western New York, moved on to the championship round with a threeset sweep over Orchard Park . The Lions won, 25-21. 25-22 and 25-11.

“It’s the first time we played in a week and a half. We were a little rusty at the start and Orchard Park was playing well,” said Lockport coach Liz Smorol.

The Lions dominated the third set, sparked by some strong defensive play. “Once we cleaned up our blocking a little bit, we started playing better,” Smorol said.

“Tivon White had four good blocks in a row in Game Three.” Smoral said.

Sean Denniston and Jesse Donorovich also had three blocks each for the Lions.

Lockport spread its attack around with setter Mark Bixby coming through with 18 assists along with four aces, three kills and four digs. Denniston had 11 assists, nine digs and three kills.

Panama girls repeat in volleyball

No. 5 seed Panama , the defending State Public Schools girls volleyball Class D champion, won a second straight Section VI title Friday, with a 3-0 sweep of Maple Grove at Brocton.

Coach Tammy Hosier’s Panthers had to survive a 31-29 opening set before moving on to defeat the No. 2 seeded Red Dragons.

Panama defeated Argyle of Section II in 2016 to win its first state championship. The state intersectional tournament will be Nov. 18-19 in Glens Falls.

High School Extra: Panthers to face GI
By Milt Northrop, Buffalo News
Saturday, November 4, 2017

Sweet Home's boys volleyball team, which lost to Hamburg in the Division II-A championship match a year ago and twice in the ECIC II regular season, won't have to be concerned about the Bulldogs this time. Instead, the Panthers will face Grand Island in Tuesday's II championship match at Lackawanna.

The Panthers triumphed in straight sets over North Tonawanda to advance in sectional play while fifth-seeded Grand Island upset No. 1 Hamburg in straight sets.

Junior Dylan Arum led Sweet Home with 11 kills while senior setter Jon Miller had 37 assists.

"North Tonawanda was a really scrappy team, they got the ball back over the net, but kills were the difference," Panthers coach Richard Cicero. "Solomon Shabazz and Nate Davis did a great job in the middle."

"Best we played so far this year," said Grand Island coach Bill Schultz after the Vikings’ victory.

Kyle Podgorny led Grand Island with seven kills while Jack Glose came up with seven digs.

Starpoint came back from two sets down, to defeat Maryvale, 3-2, in a II-B semifinal. Campbell Schoenfeld had 31 kills and Owen Jauch 54 assists for the Spartans who took charge in the final set, 15-4.

Defending Division II champion Eden moved onto the II-B final by sweeping Cheektowaga as Tome Folkov (12 kills) and Collin Rigley (10 kills) led the attack.

Canisius boys, St. Mary's girls capture Monsignor Martin Association volleyball titles
By By Dave Ricci, Buffalo News
Friday, November 3, 2017

Troy Gooch of Canisius kills the ball and Christian Szablewski, left, and Austin
Walsh of St. Mary’s block the shot. (Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)

Three years ago Troy Gooch watched his older brother, Trevor Gooch, get hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates during a victory celebration.

This time it was Troy's turn.

Troy Gooch had 20 kills as Canisius bested St. Mary's of Lancaster three sets to none to claim the program's 18th consecutive Monsignor Martin Athletic Association volleyball playoff title. It was part of a championship double header that was played at Sacred Heart Academy Friday night.

"It means a lot," Gooch said. "It's a great tradition for the school. Seeing my brother up there gave me goosebumps and it made me want to work as hard as I could so I could be up there (my senior year) and lead this team. It's a great bunch of guys."

The Crusaders won by scores of 25-22, 25-16 and 25-17 to close out the season at 22-8.

"I think it says a lot about this group," Canisius coach Tom Weslo said. "They're certainly aware of it. And it kind of becomes part of the season focus every year. And that's what's great about high school sports. Every year you get new guys playing, contributing and trying to carve out they're own part of the legacy. "

The Lancers, who were trying to win their first playoff title since 1998, threw a legit scare into the Crusaders in the first set. But Canisius experience enabled them to weather the storm.

Canisius setter Brian Herrmann (32 assists) flawlessly ran the offense.

It was better news for St. Mary's in the girls title game as the Lady Lancers topped upstart Sacred Heart three games to one to win their seventh playoff title in a row. Final scores were 25-23, 24-26, 25-19 and 25-16.

"It's amazing. This group of girls is so close," said St.Mary's Summer Slade, who was named league MVP. "Honestly, our team chemistry has really helped with our success. Coming back from that set that we lost really boosted our confidence and it feels so great to win."

Slade delivered a series of game changing serves in the crucial third set that helped the Lancers gain control.

The Lancers had more controlled touches on ball and better communication on the floor as they answered coach Don Pieczynski's season-long challenge to play tougher.

The front row play of Hannah Mulhern, who had 14 kills and four blocks, was also key to the Lancers win on the Sharks home court.

"I could put (Hannah) anywhere and I know she's gonna come through," Pieczynski said.

Jillian Vitale had 40 assists for St .Mary's.

Clarence, Williamsville East girls volleyball keep title runs going
By Dave Ricci, Buffalo News
Thursday, November 2, 2017

Clarence celebrates the match-winning point against Lancaster in the Section VI Class AA final at Daemen
College. The Red Devils won in four sets to advance to the Far West Regionals. (Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)

It was a classic Border War battle. When the dust settled it was the top-seeded Red Devils that were champions. Again.

Lindsey Leipold had 27 assists as Clarence beat No. 2 Lancaster, three games to one, to claim the Section VI Class AA championship as part of a girls volleyball double header that was played at Daemen College, Thursday night.

The nightcap saw top-seed Williamsville East beat No. 2 Niagara Wheatfield, three games to one, in the Class A championship game.

Clarence and Will East now advance to the Far West Regionals that will be played at Daemen College next Thursday, at 6 p.m. (AA) and 8 p.m. (A).

Falling in game one, 25-22, the Red Devils stormed back to take the next three sets 25-19, 25-20 and 25-22 to claim their fourth straight sectional title.

“Unbelievable. Literally an unbelievable experience,” Clarence’s Lindsey Leipold said.

“After losing seven seniors it’s just amazing to show that we could come back and do this.”

Down 2-0 in their semifinal match against Williamsville North, the Red Devils knew they had the ability to comeback.

But Clarence head coach Michael Meyer didn’t want his team to wait until the second game to gain control. He told them start turning the tide in game one.

“At the end of that first game when we were able to make a run I said listen, we may not win this game, but we can send a message with how we play the rest of the game,” Meyer said.

“We started taking big swings and the momentum turned. Then they were able to stick with it.”

The play of Kennedy Oleszak (eight kills) was key in Clarence taking control of the game.

Game four was a furious back and forth contest that was tied 11 different times.

The Legends graduate eight seniors including Julia Kurowski who had 13 kills.

“These were unlike any other seniors that I’ve coached,” Lancaster coach Becky Edwards said.

Led by Ally Jozwiak and Rachel Steffan, who had 18 kills each, the Flames won their fourth straight sectional title as they look for a third consecutive trip to states.

Will East advanced by scores of 25-23, 19-25, 25-12 and 25-22.

“This was a game that was separating us from where we want to be and that’s states again,” said Jozwiak, who had three aces in game three.

Makayla Greenfield had 42 assists for Will East.

Callista Zayatz had seven kills for the NFL champion Falcons.

Eden, Portville advance to Class C girls volleyball championship
By Jonah Bronstein, Buffalo News
Thursday, November 2, 2017

Portville will take another swing at trying to end Eden’s run of dominance.

The two teams will meet in the Section VI Class C girls volleyball championship rematch on Monday night at Daemen College following their respective sectional title defenses on Thursday night at Brocton.

Portville (18-3) swept Cassadaga Valley in the C-2 final after Eden (18-1) won its 19th straight sectional title and 22nd in the last 23 years with a four-set victory over Akron in the C-1 final.

It was the first one, however, for new coach Hailee Herc, a former Raiders star who took over the program after the state’s all-time winningest coach, Stephen Pierce, retired following last season.

“This one was kind of an expectation for us,” Herc said. “It’s moving forward and getting the next steps that I’m more concerned about.”

Eden has won eight straight state championships and has reached the state semifinals in each of the last 18 seasons. Still, another sectional plaque is something worth celebrating, senior captain Sam Logan said.

“It’s a big accomplishment for us and a big win for our school,” said Logan, who led the Raiders with 16 kills and 18 assists.

Eden won the opening game 25-18 before Akron fought back to take the second set 25-16.

“We took that second game and it really pumped us up,” Akron coach Brenda Sundown said. “We lost our energy in the third and fourth and we definitely could have beat them if we had kept our energy up. We just made too many errors.”

This was the third year in a row the Tigers (17-1) lost to Eden in the C-1 final. It was the second straight year they came into the match undefeated.

“It’s a tough road to run into them every single time,” Sundown said. “But we have four of our six starters coming back and beating them in that set is definitely something we can grow from.”

The Raiders regrouped to win the third set 25-10 and went for the kill in the fourth set, establishing a 10-1 lead before winning, 25-7.

“It really got in our head that we need to play better,” Logan said. “It pushed us to play to our full potential.”

Katlyn Schmitz had 20 assists for Eden and Emma Suftin recorded 23 digs. Herc also singled out the strong play of freshman Eve Musielak during this postseason run.

Darion Jonathan (11 kills) and Helena Hill (six kills, three aces) led the Tigers’ attack. Senior captain Sharrah Jonathan had six kills.

In the C-2 final rematch, Portville (18-2) wore warmup shirts that read “nobody trains for second place” on the back and backed up their slogan with a fourth straight sectional title. The Panthers pulled out a back-and-forth first set 25-22 before taking the second game 25-17 and dominating the third, 25-7.

“We tend to do that,” Portville coach Kelly Unverdorben said. “We walk on the court and we forget where we are at some times. We got it together by set two and they brought their game. I was happy with them and proud of the way they played tonight.”

Beth Miller led the Panthers with 18 kills and four blocks. Haley Unverdorben had 16 assists and seven aces. Sierra Keim recorded 10 kills and Ericka Carlson and Brooke Decker each had 12 digs.

For Cassadaga Valley (18-3), Maranda Perez tallied seven digs, three kills, two blocks and two aces, Jenna Caskey had six aces and three kills, and Savanna Nickerson notched 10 assists.

Portville won consecutive Class D championships before moving up to Class C in 2016. The Panthers were the only team to take a set from Eden in last year’s sectionals.

“We’re going to do what we do and if we come out with it, great, and if we don’t, we don’t,” Unverdorben said. “We are just going to play the best volleyball we can play.”

High School Extra: St. Mary's, Canisius advance to Monsignor Martin volleyball finals
Staff, Buffalo News
Thursday, November 2, 2017

The St. Mary’s of Lancaster girls volleyball team will get a shot at its seventh straight Monsignor Martin Association title after a three-game sweep of Nichols in the semifinals played at Sacred Heart.

Summer Slade (12 kills) and Jillian Vitale (27 assists) led the way for the Lancers, who will play the Sharks for the second year in a row in Friday’s 7 p.m. final back at Sacred Heart.

“We were just working on our pace and our rhythm for Friday,” St. Mary’s coach Don Pieczynski said. “They got the homecourt advantage so we’re gearing up for that match.”

The Sharks beat Mount St. Mary in three sets in the other semifinal behind Clare Falkowski’s 22 assists and Lauren Aichinger’s 12 kills and 7 blocks.

Canisius will be looking for its 18th straight boys title in the first game of the doubleheader at 5 p.m. after it swept by St. Francis in the semifinals. Troy Gooch had 16 kills and five aces, while Matt Donnelly added 10 kills and a pair of aces.

The Crusaders play St. Mary’s, which swept St. Joe’s in the semis.

Vikings win five-set thriller

Grand Island breezed by Williamsville East in the first set of the Section VI Division II-A boys volleyball quarterfinals on Wednesday, 25-9, but the score was not indicative of how the rest of the match played out.

The Vikings only outscored the Flames by one point over the remaining four sets, but that’s all they needed. Grand Island won two of the next four sets (26-28, 25-22, 24-26, 15-13) to advance to Saturday’s semifinals at Lackawanna.

“The key is we served very well,” Vikings coach Bill Schultz said. “Our defense was solid. We picked up pretty much every ball.”

A big part of that was junior libero Dylan Russo, who had 32 digs. Kyle Podgorny added 12 kills offensively.

“He’s one of our captains,” Schultz said of Russo, “so we rely on him to control the back row.”

Elsewhere in Division II-A, Sweet Home beat Williamsville South in four sets (25-11, 25-12, 13-25, 25-20) to advance to the semis.

Sweet Home’s hitting and blocking were strong the first two sets but lacked in a third set dominated by the Billies.

“They were blasting the ball through our blocks and we couldn’t mount an attack because we couldn’t pass the ball to the setter,” Sweet Home coach Rich Cicero said.

The Panthers were more aggressive with their serving to close out the last set. Dylan Aarum led the way with eight kills and three aces, while Alex Stoj added five kills.

JV volleyball team goes undefeated, wins league
Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Orchard Park boys JV volleyball team accomplished several milestones this season.

The team finished their season with a league record of 10-0, earning a division championship. The Quakers placed ahead of Clarence, Frontier, Lancaster, West Seneca West and Williamsville North. The team didn’t drop a single set against league opponents and finished with an overall record of 26-1, winning 68 of the 73 sets that they played.

The team was also crowned champions of both tournaments it entered this year, which included knocking off Canisius in the semifinals of the Orchard Park Tournament en route to the tournament championship.

“The team capitalized on great team chemistry, gritty play, effective practice and year-round playing experience through the many volleyball clubs in the area,” coach Scott Schreiner said.

Members of the team included Peter Balisteri, Connor Bowman, Tom Connors, Nate Golding, Jake Janus, Greg Jubulis, Nate Lippett, Joe Nicometo, Ian Rauh, Jacob Schrantz, Bryce Schreiner, Eric Stuhr, Riley Winnert and Kyle Zelasko.

Maryvale boys volleyball defeats Eden, claims share of ECIC III title
Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, November 2, 2017

Maryvale’s boys volleyball team defeated perennial ECIC III powerhouse Eden for the first time in divisional play in a decade when it handed the Raiders a 25-20, 23-25, 19-25, 25-21 15-8 setback on Oct. 23.

The Senior Night win allowed the Flyers to finish league play with an 11-1 record and share the regular season title with the Raiders. It was Maryvale’s first time as divisional co-champions since 2007, back during coach Jon Bednasz’ first run with the club.

Bednasz also played for Maryvale in 1992, the last time the Flyers won the division outright.

The bleachers were full with parents, alumni, and the student body, including a very loud Maryvale girls team,” Bednasz said. “John Zolty, the coach of the 1992 team, was there to support us too, which was great. It was just a great Senior Night for Zach Amato, Mark Bailey, Deante Mecca, Jordan Nosal and Nate Zawadzki.”

Maryvale took the first set and set the tone for the match, gaining confidence all the while that it could not only play with the second ranked team in Western New York, but win. Both teams continued to battle hard in the second set, but ultimately a missed serve and an untimely hitting error broke a 23-23 tie and let Eden knot the score at 1-1.

After Eden took a 2-1 lead in the third set, Maryvale came back out with emotion and energy to persevere and send the game into a decisive fifth set. The race to 15 points was on at that point, leading to what Bednasz described as a “very intense” setting with “a lot of pressure on both sides to come out fast.”

Maryvale chose to receive serve and get the first swing, and Nosal responded by putting the ball down to give the Flyers the 1-0 lead. He then served the next nine points for Maryvale to push the Flyers out to an almost unimaginable 10-0 lead.

“Jordan’s serve was putting pressure on Eden, but we blocked and played great defense in that stretch, too,” Bednasz said. “Our offense is centered around Jordan, but in the win over Eden, we got contributions from everyone. Tom [Frain] hit well on the outside, Mark and Kyle [Kosmack] hit and blocked well in the middle, and Zach had a couple of key blocks and kills too. Deante was all over the court on defense as our libero and, of course, Nate kept Eden on their heels by moving the ball around to different hitters.”

Nosal finished the match with 35 kills and seven aces, while Mecca had 15 digs. Frain had 18 kills and Zawadzki had 59 assists for the top-seeded Flyers, who kicked off postseason play Wednesday against Amherst. Information about that match was not available at press time, however.

The winner will advance to play either Lake Shore or Starpoint in Saturday’s semifinal round at Lackawanna.

“The Eden match was a great match and a great environment in the gym, and was the culmination of a great nine days of volleyball for Maryvale that also saw us reach the finals of the Williamsville South Tournament, sweep seventh-ranked large school Orchard Park and repeat as Grand Island Tournament champions,” Bednasz said. “Now, the big key will be keeping our momentum going. From here on out, it’s win or go home. We have to not have an emotional letdown from the Eden match. We need to stay focused, pay attention to details and keep working hard to improve.”

Alden, East Aurora to meet for Class B girls volleyball championship
By Jonah Bronstein, Buffalo News
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The top seeds held serve to set up a rematch in the Section VI Class B girls volleyball title game.

Defending Class B champion Alden defeated Medina in four sets to win the B-2 final after East Aurora swept ECIC III rival Maryvale to win its second straight Class B-1 title on Wednesday night at Daemen College.

East Aurora (15-0), No. 5 small school in the Western New York coaches poll, will meet No. 8 Alden (12-2) in the Class B crossover championship at Daemen at 6 p.m. Monday. Alden won last year’s championship game matchup in five sets.

The Blue Hens believe they will be better prepared for their rematch with Alden.

“Offensively and defensively, we are better and the team chemistry is better,” said senior captain Julia Halsey. “We need to mentally prepare ourselves better and realize this is a big game that we need to study for.”

In a rematch of last year’s B-1 final, East Aurora earned its third win of the season over Maryvale (17-3), the No. 6 team in the coaches poll.

“It’s really a great feeling that we accomplished what we did,” said Halsey, who had seven kills. “It’s overwhelming.”

Maddie McLaughlin recorded her 13th kill for the winning point in the final set and added three blocks to lead the Blue Hens.

Sophomore setter Olivia Alessi had 26 assists and five kills for Alden. Olivia Covington had six kills and four service aces. Halsey added seven kills.

“Olivia Alessi really connected well with both of our outsides and our middles for really the entire match, which made it smooth for us,” Jacobs said.

East Aurora got better as the match wore on, winning the first set, 25-22, rallying late in the second set to win, 25-20, and taking the third set, 25-16.

The Blue Hens brought back every player but one from last year’s team and welcomed back McLaughlin, who missed the past two seasons due to illness.

“She’s one of the best outsides in Western New York,” Jacobs said. “It’s great to see her in her senior year come back and play like she did when she was a freshman. It’s really amazing as a coach to see her dedication and her focus and her willingness to come back and collaborate with the team that was already built and she fit in really well this year.”

Alden stayed at the top of its game after graduating six players from last year’s championship team.

“This year feels more special because we weren’t expecting to go this far,” said sophomore captain Emma Wlostowski, who scored the final point in the fourth set against Medina.

Alden won the first set, 25-13, but Medina battled back to win the second, 25-20. Alden controlled the third set to win, 25-15, but had to regroup from an early 12-7 deficit to win the deciding set, 25-20.

“Our entire team worked together as a group and everyone stepped out of their comfort zone and brought their game up another level,” senior captain Shelby Kersten said.

Kersten and Wlostowski stepped up to ensure graduation losses didn’t lead to a down year for Alden, coach Jeff Steinel said.

“Our two outside hitters really carried the team,” Steinel said. “The two of them, it’s lights out when they are on fire.”

Medina (14-5) was playing in its first sectional title game in 22 years.

Sports briefs
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Williamsville South’s boys volleyball team finished 6-6 in ECIC Division II with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-15 road win over East Aurora Oct. 24. Dan Proch tallied nine kills.

The Billies closed out the week with a 25-7, 25-8, 25-9 home win over Kenmore East in the Section VI Class A-1 prequarterfinals Friday. Proch and Roman Price both tallied seven kills and two blocks each.

South (9-10) plays a quarterfinal match at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Sweet Home.

South grad Dunkleman reaches milestone with Morrisville State women’s volleyball
by SAM BROUWERE Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Williamsville South graduate Kim Dunkleman became the first women’s volleyball player in Morrisville State College history to record 1,000 career assists, reaching the milestone against Hamilton Sept. 23.

“It really is unbelievable,” Dunkleman said. “It’s something that I know that I couldn’t have done without the help of all my coaches and teammates.”

Dunkleman, a junior setter, has 1,259 career assists with 355 of them coming this season. She also has 118 career service aces and is nine away from the career record of 127. Breaking that record is also obtainable for her as she still has another season remaining.

Dunkleman is also a team captain. According to head coach Fred Wallace, one of the responsibilities of being a team captain is that the program is in their hands.

Kim Dunkleman

“Kim is a captain,” Wallace said. “With our program, the outgoing captain from the year before recommends who the captain should be next season. Our captain last season, Courtney LaVere, felt that Kim embodied the traits needed to be a captain. She has a happy attitude and a very high skill level. She also knows the right time of when to be serious and when to have fun.”

Besides having a strong work ethic and being a leader on the team, Wallace explained that Dunkleman is incredibly humble and that’s what makes her such a valuable asset to the Mustangs’ team.

In addition to being an outstanding athlete, Dunkleman is a dean’s list honoree and a human performance and health promotion major.

The 2015 South graduate was a three-year player who helped the Lady Billies win the Class B state championship in 2014.

“My seasons on JV helped me gain knowledge of the sport because I didn’t really have a lot of experience before that,” Dunkleman said. “By being on the varsity team for three years, I was really able to mold into the volleyball player that I currently am today.”

For this season, she would like to help the team win a conference championship. The team is set up to do that this season via a 8-1 conference record and an overall record of 21-6, and that success is largely courtesy of Dunkleman’s strong play.

Her goal for the remainder of her college career is to simply increase her volleyball skill level and be a good teammate, something that she has done each season that she’s been with the Mustangs.

South girls volleyball upsets Hamburg in quarters
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Williamsville South’s girls volleyball team picked up its most significant postseason win, since winning the Class B state title in 2014, with a 25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 25-15 Class A quarterfinal road win over Hamburg Friday.

“We lost to them pretty handily in their game the last time we faced them,” South coach Tom Sproull said. “The difference was the kids’ mindset. They went into the gym thinking that every ball is ours. We expected to play our best match of the season and we did. A couple of the girls were exhausted after the match.”

Sproull played a rotational defense to combat Hamburg’s outside hitters on tips, and played a perimeter defense against Hamburg’s other players.

“The last time we played them, they tipped and rolled a lot of balls over the net,” Sproull said. “We were not reading the play. A couple of times we got hurt, but overall, we were more mentally tough.”

South’s offense was evenly distributed, led by Amari De- Berry (14 kills), Megan Muelhbauer (13 kills, five aces) and Madison Popielski (12 kills). South also was successful on 93 percent of its serves.

Gabby Presutti led the defense with 16 digs.

The Lady Billies beat North Tonawanda twice at home last week, winning a non-league match, 25-6, 25-10, 25-14, Oct. 23; and 25-5, 25-9, 25-14, in the prequarterfinals Friday.

Muelhbauer had 18 kills in the Oct. 23 meeting.

Muelhbauer and Amari De- Berry led the way in the playoff match with 10 kills each. Naomi DeBerry and Popielski each had four kills and CC Brooks and Hannah Abramowitz each added three kills.

In the playoff match, Sproull said the team was fired up, focused and did not have many unforced errors.

South (13-6) traveled to Williamsville East for the Class A semifinals Monday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

North boys volleyball loses regular-season finale
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Williamsville North’s boys volleyball team could not complete a season sweep of Orchard Park, losing 20-25, 23-25, 23-25, in its regular-season finale Oct. 23.

“We did not practice for three days, so we came into the match really cold,” North coach Jake Waszak said. “We were not prepared physically or mentally in the first set. I thought we outplayed them in the second and third sets. They got a few runs of five and six points at bad times. We led 23-17 in the third set and we lost 25-23. It was a little bit of heartbreaker because that was one of the teams that we should be competitive with, and I don’t think the result really showed that.”

Adam Gulick led the Spartans with 15 kills, three aces and four blocks. Joe Battaglia (11 digs, two aces); Matt Wiepert (25 assists, three aces); Jon Abaya (five kills, block); Alex Steinwachs (four kills, three digs, two blocks); and Mitchell Simon (nine digs) also contributed.

North finished 3-7 in ECIC Division I and 5-7 overall.

North travels to Clarence for a Section VI Class A quarterfinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday. North lost both regular-season meetings in three straight.

“I’m hoping we can go in there and show them what we are capable of doing, and give them our best shot,” Waszak said.

East boys volleyball loses bid for division crown
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Williamsville East’s boys volleyball team came up short in its bid to repeat as ECIC Division II regular-season champions, losing to Hamburg, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 18-25, Oct. 23.

A win would have placed them tied for the division lead with Hamburg and Sweet Home. East finished 9-3, third overall in the division due to losing twice to Sweet Home.

East won the first regular-season meeting in five games.

In the rematch, Flames coach Chris Conrad said his team came out with intensity, led by senior outside hitters Drew Elliott (nine kills, two blocks) and Troy Stancampiano (three kills, block) and senior right-side Bryce Stancampiano (three kills, block), but they never established a middle attack.

“We moved the ball around well in the first game and tried to do it late in game four but came up short,” Conrad said.

Conrad also said his team gave Hamburg too many free balls over the net in the second and third games.

Elliott finished the match with 22 kills and 11 blocks.

“I think he played a phenomenal game, was reading the block and taking smart hits,” Conrad said.

Senior libero Alex Wisniewski added 18 digs. Bryce Stancampiano added four digs.

East was coming off losing to Starpoint in the semifinals of the Grand Island Tournament Oct. 21. Elliott was named to the all-tournament team.

East went undefeated in its first pool play, beating Niagara Falls, Kenmore West and West Seneca East, and in another pool, split games with Maryvale and beat West Seneca West.

“Our backup players were playing well,” Conrad said. “Outside hitter Ryan Parks had a lot of good touches and passes. He played with determination with people in his rotation, like Ethan Swierski.”

The senior class has meant a lot to Conrad, as he has coached Elliott, Wisniewski and the Stancampiano brothers for four years.

Other notable players are senior middle hitter/back-row player Jason Berkun and junior middle hitter/front-row player Dylan Moorehouse.

East, 9-8 overall, hosts Grand Island in the Section VI Class A quarterfinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1.

“The way we pull out wins is we pull them out together and play to the best of our ability,” Conrad said. “There are going to be bigger guys, but we have all-around volleyball players and great passers and setters. Everybody is capable of hitting. If we can spread the ball around and maintain an offensive attack, I think the section is wide open.”

Amherst boys volleyball wins playoff opener
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Amherst’s boys volleyball team avenged a five-set loss to East Aurora in last year’s Section VI Division II-B prequarterfinals with a 25-11, 25-17, 25-10 home win in Friday’s prequarterfinal meeting.

“Last year, we lost in five sets in their gym and we left with a sour feeling,” Amherst coach Paul Wlosinski said. “This year we have obtained revenge, by beating them twice during the regular season and in the playoffs at home. I could tell there was much joy and excitement for our returning players. Overall in the match, we earned 26 kills and 18 aces. It was by far, the best match we played all season and I’m proud of what they’ve accomplished.”

Marcus Hall led the offense with eight kills. Others contributing to the win were Sam Greco (eight aces, 10 digs); DaVon France (four kills, three aces); Andrew Johnson (four kills); Aidan Keyes (three kills); Ben Nagy (three kills); and Jackson Tan (20 assists).

Amherst, the eighth-seed, travels to top seed Maryvale at 6 p.m. Wednesday for a quarterfinal match.

“Our players are not fazed by any team that we have competed against,” Wlosinski said. “They have had a great mentality going in and have been very relaxed. I love knowing that they will play their best without me even asking, because they play for each other, as a team.”

Sweet Home loses heartbreaker in prequarters
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Sweet Home girls volleyball team gave everything it had against Kenmore East in the Section VI Class A prequarterfinals Oct. 25.

The Lady Panthers lost in five games, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 26-24, 24-26.

Sweet Home headed into the playoff match without starting middle hitter Brittany Banks, who suffered a severe ankle sprain in a non-league match against Clarence two days earlier.

“We played with a brand-new lineup that we had never used all season,” Sweet Home coach Breean Martin said. “The fact that we took them to a fifth game within two points was great. You could not make it any closer. They played their hearts out and did the best they could.”

Christie Ackendorf, typically the team’s starting outside hitter, was moved to middle hitter and shined, tallying 18 kills, 13 blocks, eight digs and two aces.

Colette Booth (three kills) and Kathryn Ellsworth (eight digs) stepped in and shared time at outside hitter.

“I thought they did the best they could, especially for being in a big match where they did not get a ton of touches prior to the match,” Martin said.

Outside hitter Taylor Gould supplied eight kills, 13 digs and three aces.

Outside hitter Dana Edholm added six kills, two aces and 10 digs. Seventh-grade setter Lauren Hubert tallied 19 assists and 14 digs. Anna Stang, the team’s other setter, handed out 17 assists.

Madison Gerber chipped in 16 digs and three aces.

Tessa Sutherland added three kills and six blocks in the middle.

Sweet Home finished 6-6 in ECIC Division II and 7-9 overall. Seven seniors graduate, including Ackendorf and Sutherland, who were both brought up to varsity as freshmen, and Gould, a three-year player.

East girls volleyball reaches semifinals
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Williamsville East’s girls volleyball team advanced to the Section VI Class A semifinals after beating West Seneca East 25-6, 25-15, 25-14, in the prequarterfinals Oct. 25 and Kenmore East, 25-14, 25-14, 25-11, in the quarterfinals Friday.

East hosted Williamsville South in the semifinals Monday but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

The Lady Flames were led against West Seneca East by Allison Jozwiak (15 kills, seven aces, six digs); Rachel Steffan (12 kills, eight digs, two aces); Makayla Greenfield (33 assists, seven digs, three kills); Nikki Polokoff (two kills, three blocks, three digs, three aces); Madeline Reid (three kills), Summer Clark (three kills, three digs); and Christy Mack (six digs, one kill, one ace).

In set one, two kills from Steffan and an ace from Mack gave Williamsville East a 7-3 lead. A five-point serving run from Steffan put the Lady Flames ahead 12-4. A seven point serving run from Polokoff, which included three aces, extended the lead to 20-5. The Lady Flames won the set, 25-6.

In set two, two kills by Steffan, and a Greenfield/ Polokoff block gave Williamsville East a 4-1 lead. A six-point serving run from Steffan put Williamsville East ahead 13-4. Kills from Greenfield, Steffan and Jozwiak extended the lead to 20-8. Kills from Mack and Polokoff closed out the set, 25-15.

In set three, three Jozwiak aces gave the Lady Flames a 4-0 lead. West Seneca East fought back to take an 11-7 lead.

Trailing 14-11, Jozwiak took control. Her kill cut the lead to 14-12, then she closed out the match on a 13-point serving run, which included three aces and four kills from Steffan.

Jozwiak continued her strong play for the Lady Flames with 22 kills and five digs against Kenmore East. Steffan added 16 kills and 11 digs.

Greenfield did an outstanding job finding her hitters, dishing out 35 assists to go along with seven digs, four aces and two kills. The Lady Flames hit .459 for the match.

Other contributors included Polokoff (10 digs, one block); Reid (two blocks, one kill); Skyllar Cicero (six digs, one ace); and Madison Smith (five digs, one ace).

In the first set, the two teams traded points early with no team gaining more than a two-point advantage. A five-point serving run from Polokoff gave Williamsville East a 12-6 lead. A five-point serving run by Smith extended the lead to 19-9. Consecutive kills from Jozwiak and Steffan gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-14.

In set two, the two teams played even at the start. With the score tied at 10-10, Williamsville East won seven of the next eight points, including five kills by Steffan. Three consecutive kills from Jozwiak extended the lead to 21-13. An ace from Smith and a kill from Jozwiak gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-14.

In set three, the Lady Flames found their rhythm early, taking a 7-2 lead. A nine-point serving run by Greenfield extended the lead to 16-3. The run included three aces and two kills from Steffan. Four kills from Jozwiak pushed the lead to 23-9 and a kill from Steffan gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-11.

East closed out the regular season 12-0 in league play and 14-2 overall with a 25-10, 25-18, 25-14 non-league home win over Williamsville North.

Prior to the match, there was a pregame ceremony honoring seniors Greenfield, Jozwiak and Gracie Wendall.

East was led Jozwiak (18 kills, 11 digs, five aces); Greenfield (34 assists, five digs, three aces); and Steffan (15 kills, five digs, two aces).

In set one, East started strong taking a 7-0 on a Jozwiak serving run. Kills from Jozwiak and Reid extended the lead to 14-5. Another serving run from Jozwiak put the Lady Flames up 21-8. A kill from Greenfield closed out the set 25-10.

In set two, Jozwiak continued to dominate from the serving line, registering three consecutive aces to give East a 4-0 lead.

North won four of the next six points to tie the set 6-6. Kills from Steffan and Jozwiak put East back up 10-6.

North fought back to tie the score 12-12. A five-point serving run from Greenfield extended the Lady Flames’ lead to 23-15. A kill and an ace from Steffan gave East the set 25-18.

In set three, Williamsville North started strong, taking a 3-1 lead. Kills from Jozwiak and Steffan gave East their first lead 4-3.

Kills from Reid and Jozwiak gave East a 10-7 lead. A Steffan/Nikki Polokoff block and two kills from Jozwiak extended the Lady Flames’ lead to 16-10. East went on to win nine of the last 13 points to take the final set, 25-14.

Clarence Boys volleyball wins two of regular season’s final three
Clarence Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Clarence’s boys volleyball team closed out its regular season in solid form, taking down both West Seneca West and Williamsville East to win two of its three matches.

Only Canisius (20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 21-25) spoiled the week for the Red Devils, as Clarence was able to complete the regular season with a 14-7 overall record that included a 7-3 mark that was good for second place in the ECIC I standings.

Clarence coach Kevin Starr wasn’t that upset with the loss to Canisius, however, as the Crusaders served as a challenging test for the Red Devils heading into postseason play. Devin Dzierba had 11 kills to guide Clarence’s efforts on the day, while Teddy Payne had nine kills and 21 assists. Shawn Trznadel chipped in with 12 kills, 16 assists and four blocks.

“We knew going in that Canisius was going to be tough to beat,” Starr said. “They’re the second-ranked team in Western New York and most teams can’t hang with them the way that we did in this match. They do everything well, and we played very solid defensively for most of the night. Any time we block and dig well, we have a chance to beat anyone.

“The best thing after this match was that the guys weren’t satisfied that we were able to stay close to them. They felt that with a little more of a push, we would have been able to win the match. That’s a great attitude to have heading into sectionals, where each match is going to be a battle,” Starr continued.

Clarence opened its week with a 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23 win over West Seneca West on Oct. 23. West, which had been banged up for most of the season, had all of its players back and gave the Red Devils all that they could handle. Trznadel had 15 kills, Dzierba had 14 kills and Payne had 31 assists for Clarence, while libero Jackson Wurtz chipped in with 22 digs.

“We didn’t adjust well enough to their middle attack; it’s a little unconventional and it gave us some trouble, but we did a good job offensively, which was enough to pull off the win,” Starr said. “Jackson’s solid defense and passing led to lots of offensive opportunities for us.”

Clarence then took out Williamsville East by 25-12, 25-21, 25-21 marks in its Senior Night match on Oct. 25. All five of the Red Devils’ seniors played the first set and dominated a very strong East team. Alex Maccallini had six kills on the night, and he and his twin Nick each had a big block as well. Middle hitter Alex Croff had six kills, while Dzierba had 11 kills. Trznadel had 20 assists and three blocks, while Payne added 17 assists and served seven aces.

“Every got some pretty significant court time, which is great because they all work hard in practice,” Starr said. “The starters would be the first to admit that the guys on the bench push them to be better every day. Our ‘team first’ attitude was never more evident than it was in this match.”

The Red Devils will host Williamsville North at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, in the first round of the playoffs. The winner moves on to face the winner of the Frontier Lancaster quarterfinal in Friday’s semifinal round.

“We’ve beaten North twice this season, but they stuck with us for most of both matches,” Starr said. “They have a very solid outside hitter; no team can stop him, but we’ve been able to slow him down and minimize the damage. If we bring our ‘A’ game, we’re going to be very tough to beat.”

Ken East volleyball falls to Will South
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Kenmore East boys’ volleyball season came to an end Friday with a 3-0 loss to Williamsville South in the quarterfinal round of the Class A playoffs. It was a difficult year for the Bulldogs, who finished 0-12 in league play and 1-15 overall.

Longtime coach Gary Tocke returned to coach the team after the program was without a coach until deep into summer.

At the very least, however, the team was able to have a season. And that’s no small consolation to a team that featured seven seniors.

“I came back because they didn’t have anybody,” Tocke said. “It was getting close to the season and they didn’t have a coach. We didn’t have a JV coach this year because we just never found one. After the eighth week, I said I would just do it myself. For the sake of the seniors, I am very happy that we were able to have a team and very happy they were able to play. They’ve been involved in the program since before I came back. They were seven kids who really wanted to play and have a team and they did that. They’re a very nice group of young men. At times we had opportunities to get a few more wins, but we just weren’t able to do it.”

It is still unclear whether Tocke, who was an interim this season, will return for the 2018 season. He’s a veteran of 78 high school sports seasons, but was retired until just a few months ago. Regardless, he knows the team will need to go through a rebuilding period. The varsity team will only have four guys back next season. Players from JV will obviously fill the holes from there. Tocke’s status is beyond veteran at this point. He actually started the program back in the 1960s. But this year, he was just focused on the group of guys he had in front of him.

“We need to rebuild a little bit for the future,” Tocke said. “The kids that played and that are returning are good in certain positions, but there are certain positions you need to play well. We don’t play as well at setter as some of the teams I had in the past. But I didn’t want to think about the past too much. The only thing I was concerned with was 2017.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

South serves up pair of losses to Lady ’Jacks volleyball
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Tough serving by Williamsville South in the first set of both North Tonawanda’s regular-season finale and Class A prequarterfinal spelled doom for the Lady Lumberjacks, as they dropped both matches — played in just a three-day span — to close out 2017 with a 6-12 overall record.

The fifth-seeded Lady Billies’ early serving prevented 12th-seeded North Tonawanda from getting out of a certain rotation in both Oct. 23’s 25-6, 26-10, 25-14 setback in the final match of the regular season, and in its 25-5, 25-19, 25-14 loss in the first round of the playoffs two days later. Both mistakes on serve receive and other miscues in the opening sets of each match let South get out to early insurmountable leads with play that let the Lady Billies set the tone for each contest.

“They just had two servers who really got to us and kept us from getting out of those rotations,” coach Jessica Anderson said. “Our passing did get better as each match went on and we made some adjustments with our rotations that kept a specific rotation from getting lined up against that one specific server again. Plus, we stopped making as many mistakes from a hitting standpoint as the matches progressed too, which helped us to gain some confidence as each match progressed.”

Anderson also believes that her team was able to benefit from having the chance to practice the day before the playoff clash, which is something the Lady Lumberjacks’ busy schedule leading up to the regular-season finale prevented them from doing in that instance.

“We had a good practice the day before our playoff match, which helped,” Anderson said. “We were able to work on some things that helped us to be more competitive in the playoff match. And in terms, of the playoff match, Lindsey Piotrowski’s passing was great; she was passing very well out of serve receive. She was very calm and relaxed, and if it wasn’t for her it would’ve been a very different story, even in second and third sets. She kept her composure, which allowed us to stay in the match.”

In the playoff match, Sara Dolan had five kills, two aces and six digs, while Chase Steingasser added three kills and three digs. Piotrowski finished with two kills and five digs, while Laney Wieclaw had seven digs. Bailey Crampton dished out 12 assists. In the regular-season finale, Wieclaw (6 digs), Dolan (5 digs), Steingasser and Natalie Prims each had two kills. Crampton had two aces, four digs and 10 assists, while Jasmine Moran added six digs.

North Tonawanda (4-9 overall) loses nine seniors off its squad to graduation, but after the JV team had what Anderson called “a very solid year,” the hope is that some offseason work — several team members play at the club level during the offseason, and there are other options available for team members as well — will help the Lady Lumberjacks be ready to compete again come the 2018 season.

“I’m just hoping to try and get more kids involved with the sport during the offseason,” Anderson said. “We run an open gym twice a week in the summer plus do intramurals in the spring just so that the girls are staying active in the sport during the offseason. Playing as much as possible all year round is a big key to success in our sport.”

For the season, Steingasser led the team in aces (61) and blocks (45; 31 solo), and also had 91 kills and 46 digs. Dolan led the team in kills (128), and also had 37 aces and 176 digs. Crampton led the team with 343 assists, and also had 33 aces and 84 digs, while Piotrowski led the team in digs (177), and also had 61 kills. Wieclaw finished with 70 kills, 36 aces and 129 digs, while Yllka Sopi contributed 62 kills, 11 aces, 32 digs and 30 blocks (23 solo).

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Sweet Home girls volleyball loses heartbreaker in prequarters
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Sweet Home girls volleyball team gave everything it had against Kenmore East in the Section VI Class A prequarterfinals Oct. 25.

The Lady Panthers lost in five games, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 26-24, 24-26.

Sweet Home headed into the playoff match without starting middle hitter Brittany Banks, who suffered a severe ankle sprain in a non-league match against Clarence two days earlier.

“We played with a brand-new lineup that we had never used all season,” Sweet Home coach Breean Martin said. “The fact that we took them to a fifth game within two points was great. You could not make it any closer. They played their hearts out and did the best they could.”

Christie Ackendorf, typically the team’s starting out- side hitter, was moved to middle hitter and shined, tallying 18 kills, 13 blocks, eight digs and two aces.

Colette Booth (three kills) and Kathryn Ellsworth (eight digs) stepped in and shared time at outside hitter.

“I thought they did the best they could, especially for being in a big match where they did not get a ton of touches prior to the match,” Martin said.

Outside hitter Taylor Gould supplied eight kills, 13 digs and three aces.

Outside hitter Dana Edholm added six kills, two aces and 10 digs. Seventh grade setter Lauren Hubert tallied 19 assists and 14 digs. Anna Stang, the team’s other setter, handed out 17 assists.

Madison Gerber chipped in 16 digs and three aces.

Tessa Sutherland added three kills and six blocks in the middle.

Sweet Home finished 6-6 in ECIC Division II and 7-9 overall. Seven seniors graduate, including Ackendorf and Sutherland, who were both brought up to varsity as freshmen, and Gould, a three-year player.

email: pnagy@beenews.com

Errors, late injury prove costly during Tonawanda girls volleyball playoff loss
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Tonawanda’s third-seeded girls volleyball team wasn’t able to play as well in Friday’s Section VI Class B-2 quarterfinal as it did during its match to a third-place finish in the ECIC IV regular season standings, which left the Lady Warriors looking in on the remainder of the playoffs after they dropped a 25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 17-25, 15-25 decision to sixth-seeded Newfane.

“This team did great things and I could not be more proud of this team and all that they accomplished this year, which is why it makes it so tough to have this season come to an end,” coach Renee Smith said. “My girls gave it their all against Newfane, not only physically but mentally as well. They gave their whole heart, and that is when it hurts the most, when you can look back and see that you gave everything you had but in the end it just wasn’t enough.”

Allysa Prytula had four kills and three aces for the team, while Kristen Toth had four aces and 15 assists. Maria Garbo contributed 19 digs for the Lady Warriors, who saw their starting outside hitter go down with an ankle injury at a crucial point in the fifth set — which proved to be too much for Tonawanda to overcome.

“We just couldn’t keep it up after the injury,” Smith said. “Newfane was a good matchup for us, but in the end our team made too many errors. We didn’t see our high number of aces and kills that we have seen in past games, and lost points that we shouldn’t have to. They served very effectively in the sets that we lost as well, which put us out of system.

“My seniors couldn’t have given me more, so they will leave this program knowing that they played at a 10 for their season, even up to the last point,” Smith continued. “It was a good game and many girls left all they had on the floor that night. That is all I can ask for as a coach. This is going to be a very hard team to replace, but nothing is impossible and I have the utmost confidence in my players for next year.”

The Lady Warriors, who finished 8-7 overall, graduate right-side hitter/setter Delanie Grosskopf, right-side hitter Jaclyn Haynes and Garbo off this year’s squad. Garbo, the starting libero for the last five years, is particularly “going to be a big loss for our program,” Smith noted.

“Maria is one of the best in our area, and the team is going to have to get used to the void and the non-presence of someone who has been running our court for so long,” Smith said. “Jaclyn had her best season this year and actually shocked me with the statistics she put up. Coming into this season I knew Jaclyn was a great player, but an even better leader. I was pretty confident that she would be the starting right side, but I knew that she had some good competition for her spot. From day one she proved that it was her spot and stepped up her game play tremendously. She did amazing this season and she is going to be a hard loss for us next year too.”

For the season, Garbo led the team with 61 kills and 297 digs to go along with her 43 aces. Toth led the team with 68 aces and 273 assists to go along with her 97 digs, nine blocks and 30 kills, while Prytula led the team with 14 blocks to go along with her 36 digs, 37 aces and 54 kills.

“The girls need to know that this is the best season finish we could have achieved and they need to hold their heads high even though playoffs did not go our way,” Smith said. “These girls are talented, and I am excited to start with our new team in the offseason after we take a little break. We wish the best of luck to this year’s seniors, though, and we will miss them a lot.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Thunder volleyball prepares for semifinal date with Sacred Heart
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Mount St. Mary volleyball is preparing for a major challenge Wednesday. The Thunder will take on Sacred Heart on the road in the semifinal round of the Monsignor Martin playoffs at 4:30. They split with the Sharks in the regular season, winning the first matchup in straight sets and losing the second one the same way. The match could come down to how well the Mount St. Mary defense plays, with Micaela Ryan looming for Sacred Heart.

“The one big thing is going to be defense,” Mount St. Mary Coach Brittany Schukraft said. “That’s going to be huge for us. Micaela Ryan is really good in the middle for them. We split in the regular season with them. We were able to play some great defense against her and get some blocks. That was a huge contributor to our success. We’ll have to get some digs off of that too. Then obviously serving well too. That’s what it’s going to come down to.”

The team got past Cardinal O’Hara in the quarterfinal round. They swept, winning 25-12, 25-14, 27-25. Daniella Gugino had three aces and nine kills. Lily Mueller had five aces and eight kills.

“We passed very well,” Schukraft said. “We were in system probably 90 percent of the time, which really helped with offense. We were able to get the ball to our power hitters. They were able to get the kills. Passing was huge for us.”

The team finished up the regular season with a 14-6 record. Experience has been a strong point for the Thunder, who have a strong collation of seniors and juniors. That could be a major advantage going into the semifinal round and potentially further.

“I think we have a lot of seniors on our team that have brought experience,” Schukraft said. “Some of them have been on the varsity team for years. I have some juniors that have been on the team since freshman year. I think them being able to come into this situation with two playing three, we have the same record as them for the year.”

Schukraft feels the team is well-prepared for the match. They’re focused on the serving aspect of the game, and passing well.

“I think they’re overly prepared right now,” Schukraft said. “We’ve had a great week of practice. We’ve had some scrimmages. They’ve been doing things well. All the things we’ve been focusing on have been coming together. Two of things we’ve been focused on that could give us a major advantage have been being able to serve and to serve-receive and pass well. Those have been two things we’ve really focused on. I have a libero that has accepted a lot of balls in the back court for us and when she’s on, we’re able to get our hitters going. We have some phenomenal hitters in the front. I think we’re exactly where we want to be coming into the playoffs.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

Western New York 2017 Boys Top 10 Poll - 10/31/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Western New York 2017 Girls Top 10 Poll - 10/31/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

High School Extra: Maryvale gets rematch with East Aurora
By Staff, Buffalo News
Monday, October 30, 2017

No. 2 seed Maryvale, which lost to East Aurora in last year's Section Class B-1 girls volleyball championship match, will get another crack at the Blue Devils for the B-1 championship on Wednesday night at Daemen College.

Senior Julia Carter had 27 kills and 10 assists and senior Morgan Michalski had 29 assists and seven kills for the Flyers in a 25-23, 25-10, 25-11 victory over visiting Lew-Port.

Maryvale fell behind in the opening set but soon took charge.

"We were a little lackadaisical and then we started pulling together," said Maryvale coach Tina Raczynski, whose Flyers (17-2) have lost only to East Aurora this season. It's the third straight trip to the Class B girls final for Maryvale, which is on a run of excellence.

Two years ago, Maryvale went undefeated before losing to Iroquois to in the Class B championships. Carter is the only starter still around from that team. Four Flyers starters are back from last year's team, however.

Maryvale's record for the last three seasons is 54-6.

High School Extra: Dockery leads Vikings
By Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, October 28, 2017

Nichols and Mount St. Mary swept their respective opponents on Saturday in the Monsignor Martin girls volleyball quarterfinals to advance to this Wednesday’s semifinals at Sacred Heart.

The Vikings beat Nardin by close set scores of 25-23, 25-23 and 25-18. Amani Dockery led the way with 10 kills and three aces, while Rachel Robillard contributed with six kills.

The Tunder beat Cardinal O’Hara by set scores of 25-12, 25-14 and 27-25. Daniella Gugino had nine kills and three aces, while Lillian Mueller added eight kills and five.

Maryland volleyball’s Samantha Burgio benefits from expanded role
By Eric Myers WMUCSports
Friday, October 27, 2017

Head coach Steve Aird believes he already has one of the best liberos in the conference in junior Kelsey Wicinski, who ranks third in the Big Ten with 4.78 digs per set.

But in an effort to have another libero ready to step in when Wicinski’s eligibility is exhausted, Aird brought in a player from New York, who he believes has the intangibles to sustain Maryland’s proficiency at the libero position for years to come.

Freshman Samantha Burgio, who received accolades for her play in high school and club volleyball, is the heir apparent to the libero position for Maryland. The former 2016 Under Armour Honorable Mention All-American is playing an expanded role sooner than expected due an injury to Wicinski, who is “day-to-day with an upper-body injury,” per Aird.

During the early stages of the season, Burgio earned playing time as a defensive specialist that occasionally rotated in during sets. Without Wicinski, who has been sidelined the last four games dating back to an Oct. 13 match against Northwestern, Burgio is the new defensive leader on the court at the libero position.

Burgio became more comfortable with the transition to the college game after her decision to graduate from high school early and come to Maryland last spring. After opting to forgo her chance to play another season of club volleyball, where she would have played as an outside hitter, she came to College Park to focus on her future as a defensive player in college. With this decision, she was able to get a feel for the pace and physicality of the college game, while gaining cohesion with her new team.

“[In the spring], I was shocked at how much faster the game was,” Burgio said. “[Another benefit of arriving early was], as the girls got to know me, and we got this relationship, we have this relationship on the court where we all want to play well together.”

As the player who will succeed her, Wicinski has played an instrumental role in mentoring Burgio. Wicinski has helped Burgio in her passing, technique and feet when she’s fielding balls during practice and games. The junior libero also instills confidence into the freshman by reminding her to always be ready for her opportunity, and keeping her head up after receiving errors.

Another person responsible for Burgio’s technique and mindset on the court is assistant coach Kristin Carpenter. The first-year assistant on Maryland’s staff won two national championships as a setter and defensive specialist during her college career. During stoppages in play, Burgio can often be seen discussing the game with Carpenter.

Carpenter is one of the coaches who also helps to position the libero on the court, which is an adjustment from what Burgio was used to in high school, when she relied on her skill.

“She’s always helping me and she’s always in my ear,” Burgio said. “Having her is just so comforting, especially because she was in the role and she’s been through the Big Ten.”

While Burgio is still growing into her role, and the duration of her stint at libero this season is undecided — it will be dictated by Wicinski’s health — people in the program see her potential. The first year player already possesses some of the essential attributes of somebody who can compete at this high level of volleyball. Combine that with her desire to be the best player she can be, and therein lies the lofty beliefs about her future.

“Just how she carries herself everyday, and in practice. In the spring, sometimes she’d be here for two hours after practice,” sophomore Gia Milana said. “Yeah, she has the athletic capability and she’s fast, but [the desire] to go from a good to a great player is what she has. [She has] the intangibles: she has the work ethic, she has the drive, she has the attitude, she’s always excited for practice.”

For Burgio, it’s not just the different colored jersey that liberos wear that makes her stand out on the court. It’s also the energy and work ethic she brings to the team. Since she arrived on campus in the spring, teammates and coaches have noticed her work ethic, commitment, and energy during practice and games.

“[She’s handled the expanded role] the same way she handles probably everything in her life, she just attacks it,” Aird said. “If anything, we’ve got to get her to be a little bit more clam at times and trust her skills. But the fact that she’s got a little pitbull in her, I don’t mind… I’d rather that than having to coach somebody that doesn’t care.”

High School Extra: East Aurora girls volleyball tested
By Staff, Buffalo News
Friday, October 27, 2017

Blue Devils tested

No. 1 East Aurora pulled out a five-set win in the Class B-1 girls volleyball quarterfinals over No. 9 Olean. Set scores were 25-18, 21-25, 25-18, 22-15 and 25-18.

One of the difficult aspects of the postseason in high school sports is going into a game blind, without any sort of scouting report of an uncommon opponent. That had an impact on the game Friday.

“It was a great match, a great atmosphere,” East Aurora coach Rebecca Jacobs said. “I was talking to the Olean coach before the game, and they come from a really strong division in the Southern Tier. They play Portville and other top schools. They play a lot faster than some of the teams we play here.”

Julia Halsey played a big part in the win with 13 kills and three aces.

“She did a great job on the outside controlling the offense,” Jacobs said.

The Blue Devils host a familiar face in No. 4 Iroquois on Monday.

“We beat them twice already this year but they have some strong hitters so that’s going to be our focus over the weekend and into Monday,” Jacobs said.

The Chiefs swept Cheektowaga by set scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-23. Raven Kirsch had 10 kills and Rachel Donner 24 assists for the winners.

Seeding upsets

Among the upsets in terms of seedings during Friday’s girls volleyball quarterfinal action inculdes No. 6 Kenmore West beating No. 3 Grand Island in five sets in Class A (24-26, 25-20, 25-12, 15-25, 25-13).

Abby Borkowski led the Blue Devils with 13 kills and 14 digs, while Erin Mitchell had 10 kills and 9 digs. Sarah Denman added 10 kills of her own as well.

Also in Class A, No. 5 Williamsville South went on the road and picked up a four-set win at No. 4 Hamburg (25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 25-15). Amari DeBerry had 14 kills, Megan Muehlbauer 13 kills and Madison Popielski 12 kills for the Billies.

No. 5 Williamsville North swept No. 4 Lockport in Class AA by set scores of 28-26, 25-22 and 25-19. Allie Macon led the Spartans with six kills, 17 digs and six aces. Maia Reed contributed six kills, three blocks and two aces in the winning effort.

In Class C-1, No. 6 Roy-Hart swept No. 3 Olmsted behind the strong play of Aspen Moore (12 kills) and Olivia Vorholver (six kills).

In Class D, No. 6 North Collins beat No. 3 Cattaraugus/Little Valley in four sets and No. 5 Panama swept No. 4 Forestville.

The Eagles were led by the duo of Morgan Mathis (12 kills, two aces) and Deanne Wilson (16 kills, one ace).

Portville milestone

Senior setter Haley Unverdorben reached 2,000 assists for her career as No. 2 Portville swept No. 7 Silver Creek in the Class C-2 girls volleyball quarterfinals by set scores of 25-18, 25-8 and 25-9.

The Panthers host No. 3 Chautauqua Lake in the semifinals on Monday. The Thunderbirds swept Allegany-Limestone behind Olivia Anderson’s 10 kills, five digs and three aces.

On the other side of the C-2 bracket, top-seeded Cassadaga Valley swept Holland. The Cougars were led by Savanna Nickerson (18 assists, six aces) and Jenna Caskey (nine kills).

No. 4 Cleveland Hill beat Tapestry in four sets. Susie Horton led the Eagles with 12 aces and five kills.

St. Mary’s, Canisius volleyball triumph
Buffalo News
Thursday, October 26, 2017

The rivalry between perennial girls volleyball powers St. Mary’s of Lancaster and Eden has produced its fair share of close contests over the past few years, but the Raiders were no match for the Lancers this time around.

Jillian Vitale (34 assists) and Summer Slade (11 kills) helped St. Mary’s sweep Eden by set scores of 25-16, 25-6 and 25-15. Shae Antoncilli (eight digs), Emily Pijacki (six digs) and Kelsey Allen (five kills) also aided in the winning effort.

In boys volleyball, Canisius topped Clarence in four sets to pick up a nonleague win. Set scores were 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 and 25-21. Troy Gooch had 19 kills and three blocks for the Crusaders, who improved to 20-7.

Prep Talk Male Athlete of the Week: Brandon Dunz, Frontier boys volleyball
By Corey Desiderio, Buffalo News
Thursday, October 26, 2017

Frontier’s Brandon Dunz is our Prep Talk Male Athlete of the Week. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

A loss to Orchard Park was just the wake-up call that Brandon Dunz and the rest of the Frontier boys volleyball team needed.

The Falcons immediately rebounded with a sweep of West Seneca West and finished the week with a three-set win over Canisius to capture the title of the Hamburg Tournament on Saturday.

Match point in the best-of-three final was decided on a kill by Dunz, who took home MVP honors in leading Frontier to 10 set wins and only one set loss.

For Dunz's performance, he has been named our Prep Talk Male Athlete of the Week

Year: Junior.

Position: Outside hitter.

Number: 16.

Height: 6-foot-7.

Twitter: @BDunz716.

Coach Bill Faust on Dunz: "Brandon, above all, is a great kid. He works very hard in the classroom and on the volleyball court. His attitude, ability and work ethic have earned him respect from his teammates and coaches alike. I'm really happy for Brandon taking home an MVP trophy (Hamburg Tournament) as validation of the effort he has put in to learning his new position of outside hitter. This year, he has taken his game to another level and now just proved he can lead a team to a hard-fought victory. And if I didn't mention it yet, he's 6-7 and only a junior!"

Brandon Dunz was named the MVP of the Hamburg Tournament last Saturday. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

How has your season gone so far?: Our record is 10-5 overall and 7-2 in the league (entering Monday). I'm averaging 4.5 kills per set and my hitting percentage is .432 percent. (A hitting percentage in volleyball is similar to baseball. Anything above .300 is considered great.)

Highlight of athletic career so far: Getting selected to the USA Volleyball High Performance A1 training program and camp this past summer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and competing against other countries and the nation's best competition.

Favorite thing about my sport: That it never stops. After any given play the ball is coming right back to you. Also, the bond and friendship teammates develop because the game is so dependent on each other to succeed.

Favorite teammate: Brian Norsen because of the energy and intensity he brings to the court.

Toughest opponent: Orchard Park. They are a very good blocking and jump serving team.

WNY Athlete I looked up to: Zach Gerken. His attitude, he was never content. He always pushed me and other teammates to be their best.

Pro/college athlete I admire now: Lebron James because of the work he puts in to make sure his body is in the best physical condition to compete. He brings intensity to every competition.

Favorite school subject: Science.

What’s ahead (athletics and/or academics): I'm looking to have a strong finish to this high school season, playing competitive club volleyball and eventually playing college volleyball. As for academics, I'm still undecided.

Prep Talk Female Athlete of the Week: Margaret Seider, Hamburg girls volleyball
By Corey Desiderio, Buffalo News
Thursday, October 26, 2017

Hamburg’s Margaret Seider is our Prep Talk Female Athlete of the Week. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

The Hamburg girls volleyball team has been ranked near the top of the Western New York coaches poll all season. A big part of that success has been the play of Margaret Seider.

Seider's seven blocks and six kills were enough to give her MVP of the Southtowns Invitational Friday night, when she helped lead the Bulldogs past Orchard Park in the final. It was Hamburg's second tournament title in as many weeks, as it upset Williamsville East at the North Tonawanda Tournament.

On top of MVP honors, Seider is also our Prep Talk Female Athlete of the Week.

Year: Senior.

Position: Middle and right side hitter.

Number: 11.

Height: 5-foot-11.

Coach John Crangle on Seider: "Meg is a physical presence both offensively, as we've been able to line her up all across the net, and defensively, as hitters are altering their approach because of her. In the past few weeks, it is clearly evident how she can just take over a game with big blocks and timely kills that spark momentum. These plays are loud and vivid, and the team feeds off of it. Additionally, it opens up the court for us to spread our offense, which has led to a well balanced attack. I've personally seen Meg work diligently these past couple off seasons during club ball to better all aspects of her game. Her focus and attention to detail only gets stronger. She is well respected by her teammates as she truly leads by example. Our program defines itself on not what we do but how we do it, and Meg personifies that."

Meg Seider was named MVP of the Southtowns Invitational last Friday. (Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News)

How has your season gone so far?: Our overall record is 14-5 (entering Monday) and we have been ranked in the top of Western New York all year. I lead the team in blocks and am second on the team in kills.

Highlight of athletic career so far: I was named second team All-ECIC last year in addition to the Southtowns Invitational MVP.

Favorite thing about my sport: It's a team sport. There's so much that goes into one point that it's complex and strategic. In a sport like this, it's important to be close to your teammates on and off the court. If you don't communicate well off the court you can't do it on the court.

Favorite teammate: I love my entire team and I enjoy playing with each one of them. I've been playing with the four other seniors since modified and throughout club season. The bond between the five of us is stronger than any other teammates I have ever had.

Toughest opponent: Myself. I get frustrated if I can't block opposing hitters. It always comes back to me and whether I can figure out how to overcome it.

Pro/college athlete I admire now: Kerri Walsh Jennings. I admire how much she loves the sport and everyone always thinks it's going to be her last year but she just never stops.

Favorite school subject: AP Math. It's difficult but I enjoy the challenge it offers.

What’s ahead (athletics and/or academics): I definitely would like to play volleyball at the next level and am exploring all options for next year.

Lady Chiefs enter volleyball playoffs seeking to regain positive momentum
East Aurora Bee
Thursday, October 26, 2017

Iroquois’ girls volleyball team will open postseason play at 6 p.m. Friday looking to get back on the winning side of the ledger after dropping its final two matches of the regular season.

The fourth-seeded Lady Chiefs, who finished the regular season 9-6 overall and 7-5 against divisional foes, will take on fifth-seeded Cheektowaga — a team Iroquois split the regular-season series with — for the right to advance to the upcoming semifinal round against an opponent not yet determined. They hope to recapture the winning formula last on display against Pioneer on Oct. 16 after dropping matches to Sacred Heart (8-25, 25-23, 23-25, 18-25) on Friday and crosstown rival East Aurora (25-23, 22-25, 21-25, 18-25) on Oct. 17.

Though no other information was available at press time for the Sacred Heart match, Iroquois’ effort against East Aurora was paced by Raven Kirsch’s eight kills. Laina Caparaso added seven kills, while Sarah Wittek chipped in with four kills and five blocks. Maddy Hoeflich served up six aces, while Julia Peinkofer put up three blocks. Rachel Donner dished out 22 assists and served up a pair of aces herself.

Against Pioneer the night before, Peinkofer had 10 kills to lead Iroquois, while Kirsch added six kills and seven aces. Wittek finished with six kills, as well, for the Lady Chiefs.

“Julia and Sarah continue to play well in the middle,” coach Mark Dubel said. “We have the advantage of having two tall and talented middles, so we have that position as a consistent strong point throughout our rotation. They both have solid overall blocking and hitting skills, but they’re also different players, so it makes them both tough to defend.”

Volleyball team ready for postseason run
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, October 26, 2017

The Orchard Park girls volleyball team is feeling pretty good heading into postseason play. The team had a strong second half of the season, finishing second in ECIC I with a 10-2 record and garnering the second seed in the Class AA playoffs. The Lady Quakers will take on Jamestown Friday in the quarterfinal round.

The team lost to Clarence and Lancaster the first time around, but beat both in the second meetings in home matches. The team had a goal of grabbing the second seed, as that allows them to play two home playoff games and then play the final at a neutral site.

“The second time around we beat both Clarence and Lancaster,” Orchard Park coach Greg Lardo said. “We were at home. That was important for us to do that, just to make sure that was kind of fresh in our minds going into the playoffs. We wanted to be able to play at home for the first two rounds of the playoffs. The final is at a neutral site. That was our goal after we dropped our second league match to Clarence. We knew that we were going to have them both at our place. We had some really great crowds; we had another great crowd against Eden for our senior night. We’ve been playing really well there.”

The team seemed to fare well after playing a team once and seeing how they played. That allowed the Lady Quakers to make adjustments and be more prepared for the opponent. The Lady Quakers also made some big plays at the end of matches to get some wins.

“The first time around, you don’t really know who you’re playing against,” Lardo said. “We kind of game-planned more the last two times. We stuck to our strategy and increased the percentages that we thought would be successful. We knew where to stand on defense. We knew where we wanted to run our offense. I think being at home was a big boost for us. Once we beat Lancaster, we had to play a five-game match against Williamsville North. We were down 20-17 and had to come back in the fifth set. We were just making big plays at the end. I tell the girls the game doesn’t start until you hit 20, and it’s a big-play sport at the end.”

The team closed out the season Saturday in the Hamburg Tournament. They played well, making it all the way to the finals before falling to Hamburg in the finals.

“We did a different kind of lineup,” Lardo said. “We went to the tournament and finished in the finals, which is always successful. It was a long night; we didn’t get done until about 10 p.m. They played a lot of volleyball.”

Now that the team has turned its attention to the playoffs, the Lady Quakers are confident they can go far in the postseason. They have beaten everyone in AA at some point this year. They won’t have to play a road match. They are fully capable of winning the sectional title.

“We beat everybody in AA. I don’t think there are any expected losses,” Lardo said. “Sometimes you come into a season as a five seed and you know you probably won’t beat the top seed. But we’ve played everyone tight that we lost to this year. Our goal is to not lose any more this year. We hope being at home in the first two rounds is beneficial, and we can kind of keep this hot streak going that we finished the regular season with.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

CHAMPS
Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, October 26, 2017

The Canisius High School JV volleyball team won the 2017 WNY JV volleyball championships held at the BNCC in West Seneca Saturday. The Crusaders defeated Lancaster, North Tonawanda and Iroquois in pool play as well as Hamburg in the semifinals. In the quarterfinals the Crusaders beat a tough Clarence team in three games before going into the finals against West Seneca West. The Crusaders beat West Seneca West 25-19 and 25-16 to clinch the championship. Orchard Park residents on the team include Owen Kavanaugh, Jackson Mann, David Miller, Zander Seifert, Ethan Weislo and Noah Weislo. Other members of the team include Connor Booth, Eric Geisler, Steve Czarnecki, Ryan Dunn, Dan Edick, Henry MacDonald, EJ McDermid, Will Pieroni and John Scioli. The team is coached by Andy Helwig and Nick Renkas.

VOLLEYBALLERS
Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, October 26, 2017

The Orchard Park girls JV volleyball team won the Gold Championship bracket in the Niagara Frontier JV Girls Invitational Tournament Oct. 14. The girls were seeded second coming out of pool play and went on to beat Williamsville North, St. Mary's and Clarence in the finals. Top row, left to right: coach Kelly Sacilowski, Maura Bleech, Summer Harris, Jen Luchowski, Hannah Ramsey, Molly Ryan, Mara Keats, Olivia Nellis, Aurora MacDonald and coach Connie Caputo. Bottom row, left to right: Jessica Roman, Melanie Mingle, Grace Taggart, Sara Lucas and Sarah Stuhr.

Maryvale boys volleyball defends Grand Island Tourney title
Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 26, 2017

Maryvale’s boys volleyball team emerged from Saturday’s Grand Island Tournament as champions for the second consecutive season, topping Starpoint by 23-25, 25-20, 15-13 marks in the title game after dispatching the hosts by 25-18, 23-25, 15-10 scores in the semifinals.

“The team really pulled together through the adversity (after losing game one to Starpoint) to get a big win and tournament championship,” Tournament MVP Jordan Nosal relayed through coach Jon Bednasz.

Nosal collected 51 total kills between the semifinals and finals, while All-Tournament Team member Nate Zawadzki added 71 assists and five blocks in those two matches. Kyle Kosmack had seven blocks and 13 kills for the day. Tom Frain — despite fighting the effects of a cold all day — finished the tournament with 34 kills, five blocks and seven aces.

“Tournaments are great to challenge your team,” coach Jon Bednasz said. “We have settled on our lineup, so playing 12 or more games in a single day allows us to get plenty of practice at hammering out the details. When the season started, I think we were winning based on our talent and athletic ability; now I think we are winning as a team.”

The Flyers completed pool play 6-0 on the day, sweeping Niagara Wheatfield, Williamsville South and Grand Island. Maryvale went on to top Williamsville East (25-13) and West Seneca West (25-16) in the next round to earn its spot in the semifinals.

“Teams were scheming to try and stop Jordan all day, which leaves Tom open — and he’s been taking advantage of his chances,” Bednasz said. “Tom’s serving has improved and he is picking teams apart with well-placed serves. And as part of the solidifying of our lineup, Zach Amato moved from middle blocker to opposite with the emergence of Mark Bailey as a middle blocker. It took Zach some time to adjust, but he is a great athlete and is getting better every time he steps on the court.”

“These wins are building great chemistry,” Zawadzki relayed through Bednasz. “Everyone knows what we want to do on this team and that is to win volleyball games.”

Maryvale prepared for the Grand Island Tournament by taking down Orchard Park by 25-20, 25-16, 25-21 scores on Oct. 18. The Flyers opened the match in a 5-0 hole but bounced back quickly to find their rhythm in time to take the first set. Maryvale’s offense continued to fire on all cylinders in the second set and its block came up big on multiple occasions, which put the Flyers in prime position to pull off the sweep.

“This was the perfect non-league game for us, going up against another good team that was playing well — so well that they beat Clarence in five games the night before,” Bednasz said. “Deante Mecca, as our libero, has been passing extremely well lately and leading our team in digs the last three matches, with 19 against Lake Shore, nine against Iroquois and 22 against Orchard Park. Deante’s job as our libero is to pass and play great defense, and he’s doing a heck of a job.”

Maryvale was primed to do well against Orchard Park after reaching the final of Williamsville South’s tournament on Oct. 15. In that tournament, the Flyers — who downed the hosts by 25-12, 25-22 marks in the semifinals — were ultimately upended by defending tournament champion Cicero-North Syracuse in the title bout by 22-25,25-22,15-17 scores.

Maryvale started off pool play 3-0 with wins over Williamsville East, Cheektowaga and St. Mary’s. The Flyers then played C-NS and, despite jumping out a quick lead like they wanted to, got complacent and let C-NS back into the game, leading to a 25-22 defeat. Maryvale allowed the C-NS setback to linger when it faced Williamsville South in what would be a 25-23 defeat, leaving the Flyers needing a win against Williamsville North to ensure a spot in the semifinals.

The North match was a tight one with several lead changes, and with Maryvale ahead by a 26-25 count Nosal blocked North’s best hitter for the game-winning point.

“Tournaments are great because you get to see different teams and you have to learn to make adjustments on the fly, and the South Tournament in particular was a great chance for us to see a bunch of different teams,” Bednasz said. “Playing each of the six teams in the tournament in a single game doesn’t give you time to come back if you have a slow start. We’ve come out slow in a handful of our matches this season, so I thought this tournament would force us to come out quicker in our matches.”

Nosal and Zawadzki were each selected to the All-Tournament Team for the second year in a row. Nosal finished the day with 69 kills, 17 blocks and 13 aces, while Zawadzki had 71 assists and 11 blocks for the day.

Prior to the South Tournament, Maryvale upped its divisional record by posting victories over both Lake Shore and Iroquois on Oct. 11 and 13, respectively. It was during these matches that Bailey established himself as a starter. Bailey finished with four kills and three blocks against Lake Shore, and added seven kills against Iroquois.

“Marks adds some size and athleticism to our lineup,” Bednasz said. “Mark and Nate are getting more comfortable with one another on the offense and Mark’s block at the net is helping our defense too.”

Maryvale (11-1 ECIC III) returned to action Monday against Eden (11-1), but information about that contest — outside of the fact that Maryvale earned a share of the regular-season title with its 25-20, 23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-8 victory — was not available at press time. Information was also not available before The Bee went to press about Wednesday’s regular-season finale with West Seneca West, or with regard to the Flyers’ seeding for the playoffs.

“A coach’s goal is to have your team peak at the end of the season, and I think we have found the best lineup to do that,” Bednasz said. “We are playing as a team with a single focus. We have learned to play with a lead and how to come back from being down. Everyone knows their job.”

North records victories; South finishes 9-3 in ECIC II
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Williamsville North’s girls volleyball team played three days in a row and was successful in all of its matches, downing Jamestown, 26-24, 25-15, 25-9, at home Oct. 16; and winning non-league road matches against Sweet Home, 25-13, 16-25, 25-15, 25-17, Oct. 17, and Grand Island, 16-25, 28-26, 17-25, 25-17, 25-22, Oct. 18.

“The girls played well, other than our serve receive,” North coach Keith Hopkins said. “We were attacking well and playing good defense.”

Maia Reed tallied six kills and Maddie Farber added 14 digs against Jamestown.

Reed, Allie Macon and Abby Vincent each recorded eight kills, and Mila Blanco handed out 19 assists against Sweet Home.

Britney Banks (six kills, four blocks) and Kathryn Ellsworth (15 digs) paced Sweet Home. Sweet Home also celebrated the team’s seven seniors.

“We fell short but played decent,” Sweet Home coach Breean Martin said.

By the time North played Grand Island, Hopkins said his team’s defense helped the team persevere for the win.

“It was a nice victory,” Hopkins said. “Grand Island wore down throughout the match.”

Macon led the Lady Spartans against Grand Island with 11 kills and 22 digs. Reed had eight kills, Vincent supplied six kills and 18 assists, and Farber posted 17 digs.

North (16-10-2, 6-5) hosted Lancaster in a league match Monday and traveled to Williamsville East for a non-league match Tuesday, but information about the games was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

They travel to Lancaster for a Section VI Class AA quarterfinal at 6 p.m. Friday.

Sweet Home

Sweet Home closed out ECIC II play with a 25-17. 25-23, 25-10 road win over Amherst Oct. 16.

Christie Ackendorf led Sweet Home with 15 kills, eight digs and four blocks. Taylor Gould added eight kills, six digs and three aces.

Sweet Home traveled to Clarence Monday for a non-league match but information about it was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

They travel to Kenmore East for a Section VI Class A prequarterfinal match at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Williamsville South

The Lady Billies won their only match last week, beating Starpoint, 19-25, 25-6, 25-16, 25-15, Friday to finish 9-3 in ECIC Division II.

“It was Starpoint’s senior night and they came out flying,” South coach Tom Sproull said. “But our kids responded.”

Sproull was pleased with the team’s distribution of the offense.

Maddie Popielski led the Lady Billies with eight kills. Megan Muehlbauer and CC Brooks each added seven kills, and Amari DeBerry had five kills.

Haley Marchewka added three aces and Muehlbauer had two aces.

Marchewka and Riley Domin handed out 51 and 37 assists, respectively.

South faced North Tonawanda Monday in a non-league match, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

South also hosts NT in the Section VI Class A prequarterfinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Sweet Home boys volleyball loses in five
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Sweet Home boys volleyball team’s bid to earn a piece of the ECIC Division II title took a big hit when they lost in five sets to Hamburg, 19-25, 25-27, 25-23, 25-19, 7-15, Oct. 17.

The only way Sweet Home could get a piece of the title would be if Williamsville East beat Hamburg Monday, resulting in a three-way tie, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

“We made a lot of mistakes in the first and second games, and missed a lot serves,” Sweet Hone coach Rich Cicero said. “We never got into a rhythm. In the second game, we missed six serves and played some balls going out of bounds. We rallied back in the next two games, but I think we ran out of gas. I’m not disappointed in how we played. I think missed serves and errors cost us.”

Cicero noted the play of outside hitter Kaleb Luton, middle hitter Solomon Shabazz and setter Jon Miller.

Sweet Home hosted St. Mary’s of Lancaster Tuesday in its senior game, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

North boys volleyball loses in five to Lancaster
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Williamsville North’s inconsistency on the volleyball court reared its ugly head in the Spartans’ 25-10, 22-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-8 home loss against Lancaster on Oct. 17.

“It was a perfect microcosm to explain the entirety of our year,” North coach Jake Waszak said. “We have ups and downs, and it was shown in the little tiny example of that one match. Even in the individual sets, you could see the highs and lows, especially our defense. We were consistently out of position when the other team was getting kills, which is 10 percent position and 90 percent attitude.”

Adam Gulick led the Spartans with 16 kills, 16 digs, five aces and four blocks.

Joe Battaglia added 10 kills, 15 digs and four aces. Jon Abaya (10 kills), Alex Steinwachs (four kills, blocks), Jackson Lieber (two aces, five digs) and Matt Wiepert (40 assists, 10 digs) also contributed.

North closed out its week with a 25-11, 25-18, 21-25, 25-17 non-league home win over Niagara-Wheatfield Oct. 18.

It was the Spartans’ senior night, and the team’s four seniors, outside hitters Colin Peterson (five kills, 11 digs, ace) and Battaglia (11 kills, 15 digs), and middle hitters Justin Konotopskyj (three kills, three digs, two blocks) and Steinwachs (four kills, four digs, three blocks), all contributed.

“Colin shined on senior night,” Waszak said. “It was really cool to watch. He played well.”

North (5-6, 3-6) traveled to Orchard Park Monday for the team’s regular-season final, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

East girls volleyball beats Lancaster in five-set thriller
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

In a battle of Western New York girls volleyball heavyweights, Williamsville East traveled to Lancaster Friday and won in five sets, 25-14, 23-25, 25-14, 23-25, 25-23.

East entered the match ranked first in large schools in the latest Western New York coaches poll. Lancaster is currently ranked fourth. The win improved East’s overall record to 13-2.

“It was highly emotional as it was their senior night and we came out really strong,” East coach Scott Wright said. “Everyone was really focused. It was a perfect match to get us ready for the playoffs.”

East was led by Makayla Greenfield (season-high 56 assists), Rachel Steffan (26 kills, 29 digs) and Allison Jozwiak (24 kills, 15 digs).

Other contributors for the Lady Flames included Christy Mack (26 digs), Summer Clark (five kills, 22 digs), Madeline Reid (three kills, five blocks) and Nikki Polokoff (three kills, three blocks).

East started strong and took a 7-1 lead in set one. A kill by Jozwiak, followed by an ace from Polokoff, pushed the lead to 11-6.

Three kills by Jozwiak and a Greenfield/ Reid block extended the lead to 17-8. Three kills from Steffan gave East a 21-10 lead. A kill by Jozwiak gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-14.

East started strong in the second set, taking an 8-1 lead. A kill by Steffan extended the lead to 11-4.

The Lady Flames held an 18-11 lead but Lancaster fought back to cut the lead to 21-20. A Greenfield/Reid block gave East a 22-20 lead. Lancaster won the next four points to take a 24-22 lead. A kill by Steffan cut the lead to one, but Lancaster won the next point and take the set, 25-23.

In set three, a five-point serving run by Jozwiak gave East a 5-0 lead. Lancaster came back to close within two at 10-8. Kills from Jozwiak and Reid extended the lead to 13-9. Three kills from Steffan extended the lead to 18-11. East won the set, 25-14.

In set four, the teams traded points with no one taking more than a two-point lead. With the score tied at 20-20, Lancaster went on a mini-run to take a 24-20 lead. East saved three set points before dropping the set 25-23.

In the fifth and deciding set, Lancaster took the early 7-5 lead. Two kills by Jozwiak tied the score at 7-7.

Trailing 11-9, East responded by winning the next three points and taking a 12-11 lead 12-11 on an ace from Mack.

With the score tied at 14-14, East won the next three points, including kills from Jozwiak and Steffan. Lancaster closed to within one at 18-17, but East responded by winning the next three points to extend the lead to 21-17.

Lancaster won four of the next five points to cut the lead to 22-21. A final kill from Jozwiak gave East the set 25-23.

East also won league road matches over Starpoint, 25-16, 25-11, 25-8, Oct. 16 and West Seneca East, 25-13, 25-20, 25-17, to finish league play a perfect 12-0. The Lady Flames have won the last six ECIC II titles.

“It’s our goal all of the time,” Wright said.

The victory marked a special milestone for Greenfield and Jozwiak, who finished their four-year high school careers a perfect 50-0 in league play. Senior Grace Wendell is also undefeated in her two years on varsity.

Steffan (17 kills), Jozwiak (9 kills, 15 digs), and Greenfield (32 assists, 12 digs) led East against Starpoint.

In set one, four kills from Steffan gave East a 5-1 lead. Starpoint came back to take an 11-9 lead, but the Lady Flames responded by winning six of the next seven points to regain the lead.

East won 10 of the final 12 points to take the set, 25-16.

In set two, East took a 6-0 lead on a Jozwiak serving run, which included three aces. A seven-point serving run from Greenfield extended the lead to 15-4 and the Lady Flames never looked back, winning the set, 25-11.

In set three, East took a 5-0 lead behind two kills from Madison Smith and two aces from Jozwiak. An eight-point serving run from Smith gave the Lady Flames a 17-5 lead. A block and a kill from Grace Degan helped East close out the set 25-8.

Steffan (15 kills), Jozwiak (10 kills), Reid (five kills), Polokoff (four kills), Smith (three kills) and Clark (three kills) led East’s offense against West Seneca East. Steffan (21 digs), Mack (14 digs) and Jozwiak (10 digs) led the defense.

In set one, the score was tied 4-4 before the Lady Flames won seven of the next eight points to take an 11-5 lead. Two kills from Steffan extended the lead to 17-8. Kills from Steffan and Polokoff, and an ace from Greenfield gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-13.

East took a 9-5 lead in the second set. West Seneca East kept the score close, closing within two at 14-12. A five-point serving run from Polokoff extended the lead to 18-12. Two kills from Reid and a kill from Smith gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-20.

In set three, East took a 7-1 lead behind a serving run from Mack. Kills from Steffan and Polokoff, and an ace from Smith, extended the lead to 13-3.

West Seneca East fought back to close within four at 17-13, but the Lady Flames responded by winning eight of the last 12 points, winning the match on an ace from Reid.

East hosted Williamsville North Tuesday but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host West Seneca East in the Section VI Class A-1 prequarterfinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

(Reporter Patrick J. Nagy contributed to the article)

Clarence Boys volleyball falls to OP in marathon
Clarence Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The members of Clarence’s boys volleyball team were left saying “could have been” and “if only” following the Red Devils’ 27-29, 25-16, 24-26, 25-19, 12-15 setback to Orchard Park on Oct. 17.

Teddy Payne had 12 kills and 29 assists to lead the way for Clarence, while Shawn Trznadel had 13 kills and 22 assists to go along with his five blocks. Jackson Wurtz had 19 digs. Trznadel and Chris Wikar combined for 10 of the Red Devils’ 11 blocks on the night — an average of 2.2 blocks per set, much better than the team’s season average of 1.4 per set.

Clarence, which also averages close to nine digs per set, bumped its average for this match up to 13.2.

“Those numbers show that we played very solid defense, which is what we’ll need to do if we want to advance in the sectionals,” coach Kevin Starr said. “Looking at the scores of each set gives an accurate idea of what this match was like. In the first and third sets, we were down 19-12 but fought back and almost pulled them out. If we’d been just a little sharper in the early parts of those sets, we probably would have swept them.

“But, we’ve got to give a ton of credit to Orchard Park; they’re a young and very talented team that had just come off a big five-set win against Frontier, so they earned the win.”

Clarence (12-6, 6-3 ECIC I) returned to action Monday at West Seneca West, but information about the team’s league finale was not available at press time.

The Red Devils complete their regular season by hosting Williamsville East in this evening’s Senior Night match before traveling to Canisius Thursday.

The Red Devils will begin postseason play the following Wednesday, Nov. 1, but won’t know who they’ll be playing until after The Bee goes to press.

Lady ’Jacks take pair on volleyball court
Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

North Tonawanda’s girls volleyball team closed out a busy week of action with a pair of victories last week, defeating Niagara Falls and CSAT on consecutive nights to improve to 10-19-2 overall on the season.

The Lady Lumberjacks sent their nine seniors off in style Thursday with their 25-14, 25-15, 25-12 Senior Night win over Niagara Falls. North Tonawanda served up 16 aces as a group on the night, with Chase Steingasser (4 kills) picking up a third of them. Natalie Prims pitched in with four aces, while Laney Wieclaw contributed five kills.

“It was a total team victory on Senior Night,” coach Jessica Anderson said. “Serving and serve receive was key for us in this match. Our passing was on point and we were able to run an efficient offense because of that.”

The Lady Lumberjacks extended the good times the following night by taking down CSAT, by 25-7, 25-13, 25-15 scores, in a league crossover match. Bailey Crampton (12 assists, 6 aces) and Sara Dolan (6 digs, 5 aces) each had four kills for the victors, while Grace Proefrock served up seven aces.

“It was a pretty solid night for everyone on the team and just a great victory for the seniors in their final home match of their career,” Anderson said. “All of our players played their role and added to the victory in some way.”

The two wins to end the week helped North Tonawanda make up for its earlier 8-25, 13-25, 14-25 setback to Kenmore West on Oct. 17. Starter Lindsay Piotrowski — one of the team’s primary passers and a defensive stalwart to boot — was out sick for the match, which Anderson conceded “definitely played a role in our slow start.”

“Without the passing and defense that Lindsay typically gives us, we could not get much going offensively, especially in the first set,” Anderson said. “We gradually started to play better as the match went on and never quit. The girls have the never-say-die attitude that is one of the great attributes of a winning team.”

Dolan had five kills and nine digs to lead the way for North Tonawanda, while Wieclaw had seven digs. Jasmine Moran chipped in with eight digs for North Tonawanda (4-9 league), which closes out regular-season play this evening with a non-league clash against Williamsville South. Anderson believes the Lady Billies will present a tough challenge for her squad, but in the end it will serve the Lady Lumberjacks well for the postseason.

Those thoughts proved to be a bit of a premonition on Anderson’s part, as the 12th-seeded Lady Lumberjacks wound up drawing the fifth-seeded Lady Billies for the prequarterfinal round of the Class A bracket. South took Monday’s match by 25-6, 25-10, 25-14 marks, but further information on that match was not available at press time.

Garbo earns benchmark dig for Tonawanda girls volleyball
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Maria Garbo picked up her 1,000th career dig — though the number could actually be significantly higher, since coach Renee Smith noted that the team only kept stats for four of the five years Garbo has been the Lady Warriors’ starting libero — to highlight the Tonawanda girls volleyball team’s effort in a tough 5-25, 16-25, 20-25 loss to Alden on Oct. 10.

Garbo finished the night with 12 digs and picked up the historic one on her eighth dig for the match. She was rewarded with the game ball noting her achievement, which Smith said is something that’s “few and far between.”

To the best of Smith’s knowledge, no one had previously crossed the 1,000-dig threshold in program history — though Smith admits that previous record keeping within the program either wasn’t done or wasn’t preserved.

“Getting 1,000 digs for your career is a huge achievement,” Smith said.

The Alden match also was Tonawanda’s only blemish during its otherwise successful run to close out the season, a run that included wins over Holland (25-15, 25-15, 25-23) on Oct. 12; Lackawanna (25-10, 25-5, 25-13) on Oct. 16; and JFK (25-13, 22-25, 25-11, 25-13) on Friday.

Smith was especially pleased with the Lady Warriors’ conquest of Holland, since the Lady Dutchmen were the ones to come out on top during the initial meeting between the clubs. Garbo was once again at it defensively for Tonawanda, picking up 14 digs, while Kelsey Wood chipped in with five kills and eight digs of her own.

“Holland was a good win for our team, especially since we really felt that was a win we should’ve had the last time we saw them,” Smith said. “We did not have our setter when we went to Holland, so it was a tough time on our side the first go-around, but with our setter back this time, we took control of the match from the get-go.”

Tonawanda’s serving proved to be Lackawanna’s undoing during their match, as the Lady Warriors racked up 35 aces on the night. Kristen Toth (13 assists) served up 11 of them, while Garbo (5 kills, 7 digs) added eight aces.

“Lackawanna is always a match where we need to keep our emotions and play at a high level,” Smith said. “Fortunately, our team took care of business and continued to play our game even when many balls were out of system coming back.”

The Lady Warriors continued to play with focus in Friday’s regular-season finale against JFK. Garbo, along with fellow seniors Jaclyn Haynes, a right-side hitter, and Delanie Grosskopf, a setter/ right-side hitter, were recognized for their contributions before the game and helped in their own way to guide Tonawanda to the victory, which pushed the Lady Warriors’ record to 8-6 overall.

“The girls showed how much control we have on our side of the court in the JFK match,” Smith said. “JFK is a team that will not bump, set and spike, but rather they will pass the ball over on one in every aspect of the game. When a team plays volleyball this way, it’s very important that we play our game but also still keep control and run our offense. We took control of this game and made very few errors in a match where you have the ball on your side for longer periods of time.”

Toth led the way for Tonawanda with 10 aces, 30 assists and three kills, while Allysa Prytula added seven kills, six aces and five digs for the Lady Warriors, who finished third in the league standings for the team’s best finish in Smith’s time with the squad.

“Every year since I took over the varsity program, our team has been getting better and better,” Smith said. “I told everyone I spoke to that I was building a program here at a school where few wins were typically seen, and I can finally say that we’ve built it. If you ask me, this is the best we possibly could have done this year, and the girls did it. These girls deserved this finish, as they worked hard and put the extra time and energy in this season.

“I didn’t let my team know where I thought we would finish, or the teams I thought we would win or unfortunately lose to, this season,” Smith continued. “Instead, I told them that our season goal was to get a better record and let them know match by match what was expected. When I made them aware that if we won our last game that we would secure third place, many of the girls were in shock, as we only looked to our next opponent, not the end.”

Tonawanda, the third seed for the Class B-2 bracket of the playoffs, learned Monday night they will be hosting sixth-seeded Newfane at 6 p.m. Friday in its playoff opener. Going into that quarterfinal round match, Garbo has 278 digs, 58 kills and 43 aces on the year, while Toth has 258 assists, 64 aces, 27 kills and nine blocks. Haynes contributed 40 kills, 38 aces and 87 digs, while Prytula added 13 blocks, 50 kills and 34 aces. Hannah Reid contributed 29 aces, 29 kills and 98 digs.

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

NT boys volleyball stays on target to make run for NFL division title
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

North Tonawanda’s boys volleyball team improved to 10-1 against Niagara Frontier League competition behind recent wins over Kenmore East, Niagara Falls and Kenmore West.

More importantly, those victories kept the Lumberjacks in contention for the regular season title — a goal of the team’s in 2017 after finishing second in the standings for a number of years – going into Monday’s rematch with Lockport. Information about that contest was not available at press time, however.

“We’ve been second place the last couple of years, but we’re knocking on the door of the first-place slot,” coach Luke Hodgson said. “We need to just kick the door down at some point and not wait for Lockport or Grand Island to make mistakes and let us in. We’ve played well all season long and have beaten or competed with high-level talent, sometimes even besting them.”

The Lumberjacks’ recent run to 10 league wins began with their 25-9, 22-25, 25-12, 25-15 conquest of Kenmore East on Oct. 10. Josh Roy had 16 kills and 13 aces to pace the victors, while Alec Roy dished out 37 assists.

“Josh always positions himself in the right place at the right time to make the play,” Hodgson said. “Against Kenmore East, he moved well on offense while going after every set and play; he didn’t wait for the ball to come to him. It was a real pleasure to see an athlete — and a sophomore at that — exhibit such maturity with his court sense and anticipation.”

North Tonawanda followed that effort up with a 25-13, 25-13, 25-22 win over Niagara Falls two days later. Trevor Book led the way for the Lumberjacks with 13 kills, while Josh Roy added eight. Dylan Suter finished with six kills for the victors.

“Trevor showed an excellent command of the situation during the Niagara Falls match,” Hodgson said. “As a senior he took over the match. Niagara Falls pressed their offense numerous times but Trevor was always the answer to their challenges. I was happy to see him use his experience and senior leadership to call for the ball more — and then rise to the occasion.”

The Lumberjacks, who were eliminated during pool play — despite winning four of their six sets — during Saturday’s Grand Island Tournament, then closed out their recent run through league play on Oct. 17 by taking down Kenmore West with relative ease, winning by 25-7, 25-14, 25-19 scores. Austin Spatorico finished the match with six kills for the Lumberjacks on Senior Night, while Suter added five kills and six digs.

“I was happy that all of our seniors — Trevor Book, Tyler Yim, Austin Spatorico, Mike Krawczyk and Alec Roy — contributed on numerous fronts against Kenmore West,” Hodgson said. “It was a clean and confident victory that helped propel the team forward toward sectional play.”

North Tonawanda (10-2 overall) also took on Starpoint before The Bee went to press, but information about that match, held Tuesday, was not available at press time. The Lumberjacks are slated to wrap up their regular season this evening by hosting St. Joe’s.

“So far, I’m happy with the team’s performance,” Hodgson said. “I just want the boys to see they’re true contenders and not become complacent with their success so far. I want them to see there is more success out there, waiting for them to go out, want it and then take it.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Sweet Home boys volleyball saw the potential for better days when it struggled
By Miguel Rodriguez, Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Seeing that brighter days awaited Sweet Home boys volleyball back in 2015 wasn’t hard for coach Rich Cicero.

It’s not because he had a crystal ball. It’s because he had a bird’s-eye view of it in practice.

Cicero saw the program’s future in action daily during what turned out to be a winless season for his Panthers. The members of the young and talented junior varsity team regularly took down his varsity outfit in scrimmages conducted in practices.

Victory after victory piled up for the developmental squad during the first six to seven weeks of that season until one late September day when the varsity finally experienced that winning feeling against the kids.

With that in mind, one can’t help but wonder why didn’t Cicero just call up a couple of the talented youngsters in order to perhaps give the big team a chance to experience victory on the court at least once during that 0-20 season?

“The coaching staff has been together a long time,” said Cicero, who is in his 20th year as skipper and helped the program win Section VI and Super Sectional championships during his playing days with the Panthers. “In the past we have brought a kid up to get a win or two but that didn’t translate to going to a championship or more wins. I think we needed to start developing the Sweet Home volleyball program as a culture and that’s the decision we made.

“We decided to let the JV kids stay together, understand what winning is and stay together as a group.”

The plan has worked like a charm.

The Panthers reached the Section VI final last season – going from 0-20 to within a win of securing their first postseason championship since 1993. They lost in the final to perennial contender Hamburg.

That near title has been a source of motivation for this year’s edition, most of whom are returnees who have rarely experienced defeat during their time at the school (one loss in two years on JV and six in two years on varsity).

Sweet Home (11-3) is among the many teams who embark on Section VI championship quests later this week. The seeding meeting is scheduled for Wednesday with pre-quarterfinal contests slated for Friday.

The Panthers are expected to be part of a 12-team Division II-A bracket along with defending champion and old friend, Hamburg – which is looking for its eighth title in 14 years and fourth in five.

Sweet Home’s only losses are to Hamburg (twice in three matches) and Western New York No. 1 Large School Lockport (in the final of the Sweet Home tournament).

“That’s kind of been in the back of our heads the entire season,” said junior outside hitter Dylan Aarum, who leads the Panthers with 118 kills. “We’ve been working toward getting back there.”

“These kids understand we’re a very heavy senior group (with seven),” Cicero said. “Every year the team changes for better or worse. They’ve been giving it their all, all season. They have a goal to win sectionals and they’ve been working hard every day.”

Hard work and talent have gone hand in glove with this group as several members play the sport year round – including participating in clubs, open gym sessions and volleyball camps. The Panthers also get after it in practice.

It also does not hurt to have skilled athletes. The core includes junior Kaleb Luton, who missed all of last season with a knee injury. Luton has 112 kills. Alex Stoj is only 5-foot-7 but is a great leaper at outside hitter. Back-row specialists include Evan Bezak and Jack Hiwiller. State track champion Nate Davis also is on the team.

What was it like last year when this group took the court with 0-20 hanging over the program’s head?

Was the team annoyed it’s linked to it even though it had nothing to do with it? Were members of the team secretly smirking heading into matches against teams who may have found it hard to believe that a program could go from winless to title contender in an instant?

“They never really bring it up,” Cicero said.

“It’s like night and day,” said senior setter Jon Miller, whose older brother was on that winless team. “They weren’t bad players. I think the guys we have on the court this year and last year, we’re all good friends. We love hanging out with each other and I think it is that bond and friendship that keeps us together when stuff gets tough (during a match).”

It’s something that didn’t go unnoticed years ago by Cicero.

Better days indeed.

“A couple of us on JV probably could’ve been pulled up to varsity (in 2015) but they decided to make the decision of keeping us together on JV to continue building chemistry so that when we reached this level we’d already be very comfortable with each other,” Aarum said. “I think it’s worked out really well.”

Milestone year for Williamsville South volleyball alum Kim Dunkleman
By Staff, Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Canisius tops Eden
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 24, 2017

No. 4 ranked Canisius swept three sets from No. 2 Eden in their annual match. The Crusaders won 25-16, 25-23 and 25-19 as Troy Gooch had 16 kills and three blocks and Brian Herrmann had 31 assists.

"It’s always exciting for our team and our fans when we play Eden," said Canisius coach Tom Weislo. "It’s good for volleyball in our area when the good teams play each other."

Eden was coming off a stunning loss at Maryvale on Monday night that left the Raiders in a tie for the championship in ECIC III.

In girls volleyball, St. Mary’s of Lancaster, No. 1 in the WNY small schools poll but the undisputed No. 1 team overall, swept three sets from cross-town rival Lancaster, 25-12, 25-20 and 25-21. Hannah Mulhern had 18 kills for the Lancers (34-5-2) while Jillian Vitale racked up 37 assists and Summer Slade had 15 kills.

Makayla Greenfield had 24 assists and five digs for No. 1 ranked large school Williamsville East in a 25-12, 25-17, 25-14 nonleague triumph over Williamsville North.

Western New York 2017 Boys Top 10 Poll - 10/24/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Western New York 2017 Girls Top 10 Poll - 10/24/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Woman's Volleyball
Buffalo News
Monday, October 23, 2017

Freshman middle hitter Jenn Heritz of Daemen was named the East Coast Conference Rookie of the Week. A 6-foot middle blocker, Heritz helped the Wildcats split a pair of conference road matches last weekend, falling to Bridgeport in three-sets before a straight-set sweep of Mercy. She averaged 3.40 kills per set and finished with a .359 hitting percentage over the weekend.

High School Extra: Maryvale tops Eden to gain tie for ECIC III volleyball crown
By Staff, Buffalo News
Monday, October 23, 2017

Most seasons you can pencil in Eden as the ECIC III boys volleyball champion. Not this time, though, Maryvale got off to a 10-0 start in the fifth set and triumphed over the Raiders, 3-2, Monday night at Maryvale. The outcome left Eden and Maryvale tied for the division championship, each with 11-1 records.

Last Maryvale victory in the rivalry?

"I would say it was 2007," Flyers coach Jon Bednasz said. Eden and Maryvale tied for the ECIC III championship that year also.

The Flyers had come from a 2-1 deficit to force the fifth and deciding set.

Playing before an enthusiastic home crowd, Maryvale won the first set, 25-20, but Eden came back to take the next two, 25-23 and 25-19. Maryvale knotted the match, 25-21 before the 15-8 finale.

"We started off hot. Jordan Nosal served the first 10 points," Bednasz said. "Basically it was a total team effort. We played great defense and (setter Nate Zawadzki) was able to find the right hitter at the right time. We had kills from various people but Jordan was our go-to guy.

"It was a great match, a great environment in the gym. The student body came out and supported us. It was Senior Night, too. It was a lot of fun."

Nosal finished the match with 35kills and seven aces. Deante Mecca had 15 digs, Tom Frain had 18 kills and Zawadzki had 59 assists.

Hamburg, which played in ECIC I last season, wrapped up the ECIC II title with a 3-1 victory at Williamsville East.

“This was not a power team, but a very solid team,” said coach Brian Carroll, who has been the Bulldogs’ coach since 1996.

Six-foot-5 junior captain Jacob Couzens leads a diversified attack for the Bulldogs.

"We spread the ball around," said Carroll, who has led Hamburg to three sectional championships, 2004, 2005 and 2009 and regional championships in 2004 and 2005.

Frontier tops Canisius volleyball
By Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, October 21, 2017

Frontier’s boys volleyball team, ranked sixth in the latest coaches poll, beat No. 3 Canisius in three sets to capture the championship of the Hamburg Tournament on Saturday.

The Falcons dropped the first set, 25-22, but came back to win the last two by scores of 28-26 and 15-12.

“It was very competitive from both teams,” Frontier coach Bill Faust said. “I really thought in game one we hung with them. I told my guys that we’re running with them, we’re right there. Game two our defense did a real nice job. We took a lot of that momentum into game three. We had an early lead, Canisius made a little run but we hung on.”

Match point was decided on a kill by 6-foot-7 junior Brandon Dunz, who came from his outside hitter position to the middle on a play that the Falcons also ran for a big point in the second set. Denz earned MVP honors.

“He had a real nice day today,” Faust said. “He can hit it hard. We’re just working on the other parts of his game. When we needed him to terminate and get a kill, he came through.”

Frontier juniors Brian Norsen and Ben Taylor were named to the all-tournament team, as were Troy Gooch and Brian Herrmann of Canisius, Jacob Couzins of Hamburg and Keith Norward of St. Joe’s.

Bulldogs win volley tourney

The Hamburg girls volleyball team won its second straight tournament Friday night with a title in the Southtowns Tournament.

After beating Williamsville East last week in the final of the North Tonawanda Tournament, the Bulldogs beat Orchard Park in three sets.

Hamburg’s Meg Seider was named MVP, while teammate Kailee Herbst was named to the all-tournament team along with Frontier’s Amanda Crafts, Lake Shore’s TaShawni Cornfield, West Seneca East’s Sarah Eisenmenger and Orchard Park’s Elizabeth Chow and Katelynn Hennessy.

Iroquois girls volleyball team wins two of three matches
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, East Aurora Bee
Thursday, October 19, 2017

Iroquois’ girls volleyball team won both on and off the court Oct. 5, taking down both Lake Shore by 27-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-20 marks but also adding $1,945 to the fight against breast cancer with the money collected during the team’s sixth annual Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser match.

Julia Peinkofer had 14 kills to guide Iroquois’ effort, while Raven Kirsch added 11 kills and four aces. Sarah Wittek chipped in with nine kills and three blocks, while Rachel Donner contributed four kills, four aces and 36 assists.

The Lady Chiefs then took on Springville on Oct. 10 and persevered in what was a 25-18, 20-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15 decision. Wittek recorded 11 kills and eight blocks to lead the way for Iroquois, while Peinkofer added eight kills and two blocks. Kirsch chipped in with six kills and four aces, while Donner (16) and Megan Nolan (10) combined to dish out 26 assists.

Iroquois then closed out its recent stretch of matches Thursday with a 12-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-25 setback to Maryvale that coach Mark Dubel said served as “a preview of what the playoffs will bring.” Iroquois was poised to do better this time around after fielding a full roster — unlike when it faced the Lady Flyers earlier this season — but Dubel conceded that “one of their players got in our heads and wound up beating us on the court.”

“I was hoping to see more of a competitive showing from the team in this rematch, but they got in our heads again,” Dubel said. “We just have to find a way to be mentally tougher and much more resilient. In the last week our game has started to improve and we are playing together better as we approach the end of the season, but we still have work to do to get ready for the playoffs.

“We have shown improvement in our response to adversity and the mental and team components of it as well,” Dubel continued. “We saw it in the Lake Shore game when we were trailing for nearly the entire first set, but came back to win in extra points. We followed that with a loss in the second set and it could have gotten really bad, but our girls kept a positive attitude and really responded for the first time in a long time to a stressful situation to close out the match. When we rally in response to the opponent’s big plays and move on from our own mistakes, we see good outcomes. When we dwell on those all of those things, we don’t.”

Laina Caparaso led the way for Iroquois with eight kills, while both Wittek (3 blocks) and Kirsch added six kills. Peinkofer finished with four kills and two blocks, while Donner had five aces and 26 assists.

Iroquois (9-5, 7-4 league) returned to action Monday against Pioneer, but information about that contest was not available at press time. The Lady Chiefs close out their regular season Friday by hosting Sacred Heart in non-league action.

“Katie Jacobs has been a huge contributor at libero and is passing really well right now — we just have to get more and harder hits resulting from her passes,” Dubel said. “Setter Rachel Donner works tirelessly to get to every pass and make a hittable set out of it, and Asia Streety has stepped up her play and hitting at the right side front row in the absence of the injured Alaina Wyckoff. Maddy Hoeflich has made the adjustment from outside hitter to playing defense on the right side and has been a good addition to our starting lineup.

“When all three elements of the pass, set and hit come together, it’s fun to watch and see them execute the skills they’ve worked hard at all season,” Dubel continued. “Where we have to be better is our mental and emotional response to our own mistakes, as well as our response to the opponent’s rallies. Our middles are both playing well, though, and that opens up the court for our outside and right side hitters. We still have some timing issues between the setters and hitters to work out, but those are improving.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

EA girls volleyball tops Maryvale in battle of undefeated squads
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, East Aurora Bee
Thursday, October 19, 2017

East Aurora’s girls volleyball team passed a very important test Oct. 6 when it downed Maryvale by 25-19, 25-23, 25-21 scores to remain undefeated in ECIC III play on the season.

The Lady Blue Devils were eager to play the rematch of last season’s Section VI Class B-1 title game after it had been postponed from its originally-scheduled date. Coach Rebecca Jacobs noted that the gravity of the match was palpable walking into the gym, but her players were still able to stay calm and focused for the entire match, “even when we were not passing as well in the second game.”

Olivia Alessi (6 kills, 5 aces) and Maddie McLaughlin (8 kills, 2 blocks) connected well on the court and played very smart against Maryvale’s defense, while Olivia Covington also played a very smart game in the back row while adding six kills and three blocks — which helped East Aurora limit Maryvale outside hitter Julia Carter.

For the match, East Aurora’s front row had eight total blocks.

“The atmosphere was very energetic for a Friday night match,” Jacobs said. “Our team was very focused coming into this match; we set a goal and stuck to the game plan to stop the Maryvale offense from scoring major points. I’m very proud of how we played and stayed mentally tough when it was close. It’s really fun to watch my girls and see how they play well together. It really makes this season a fun one to coach and watch them grow as a team.”

East Aurora kept its perfect record intact for the Maryvale match by dispatching Pioneer a day earlier by 25-14, 25-9, 25-18 scores. Julia Halsey played a powerful role on the outside during the match, recording four kills, nine aces and a block. McLaughlin chipped in with eight kills and one block, while Alessi served up five aces as well.

“This win meant a lot for our team because it was a total team effort,” Jacobs said. “It was nice to see some of the other girls come into the game and make plays that helped contribute to this win. As a coach, its nice to see our veteran players play next to newer players and show them the ropes of the game. We displayed our ability to change rotations up, and run different plays and be successful, which was great to see.”

East Aurora continued to roll after the Maryvale match as well, taking down Cheektowaga by 25-16, 25-15, 25-15 scores on Oct. 10 before knocking off Lake Shore by 25-17, 25-15, 25-19 marks the next day.

Alessi finished with five aces, two kills, one block and 21 assists against Cheektowaga, while McLaughlin led the team in kills, with 11, to go along with her four blocks. Against Lake Shore, Alessi had nine kills, three aces and 22 assists, while Covington had eight kills, three blocks and two aces.

“I am really impressed with Maddie this season,” Jacobs said. “After not being able to play for two seasons, to come back her senior year and play like she did against Cheektowaga is very impressive. Maddie has worked really hard in practice, and is showing her strong work ethic and focus on the court. It’s so much fun to watch her play, and see her court awareness and strong offense develop game after game. She is someone to definitely watch as we get closer to playoffs.”

East Aurora (10-1, 9-0 division) returned to action Monday against Springville and then faced crosstown rival Iroquois on Tuesday, but information was not available at press time for either contest.

The Lady Blue Devils close out their week — and regular season — by facing Akron tonight and Maryvale Friday.

“I am very happy with how my girls are playing and how well they are staying focused on our team goals this season,” Jacobs said. “We’ve got a busy week coming up, capped by our Senior Night rematch with Maryvale, which will be a special day for our seven seniors for sure.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Girls volleyball squad sweeps three league matches
Sports Reporter, TAYLOR NIGRELLI, Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, October 19, 2017

It appears the Orchard Park girls volleyball team is hitting its stride at just the right time. The Lady

Quakers got three big league wins last week to move to 6-2 in league play and 11-3 overall. They defeated Jamestown, Frontier and Lancaster in league play, winning all three matches in three sets. They’re playing well at all aspects of the game.

“I don’t know what the simple answer is,” Orchard Park coach Greg Lardo said. “I think we’re doing a lot of things better. We’re serving the ball in a lot more. We’re not making careless errors. The thing we talk about all the time is trying to be better at defense. We’re keeping the ball off the floor and making teams believe that it’s really hard to score points against us and hopefully make them do things that are out of character for them.”

The win over Lancaster was especially sweet, considering they lost to the Lady Legends earlier in the season. They’re hoping to replicate that success against Clarence and other top teams.

“We’ve won the first game in all of our matches this year. Against Lancaster and Clarence, we lost in four after that. Even when we started out hot and think we have them on the ropes, we’ve had those slip-ups throughout the year,” Lardo said. “I know that playing at home is a big deal for us and we had a big crowd. It was probably our biggest crowd all year. That helped us out a lot. You could see the mentality of my girls before the game; we knew we were going to play well. You can tell a lot just by the way a team warms up and their focus and energy. Everything was just kind of coming together. Beating them 3-0, especially at home, we were pretty excited about that.”

The Lady Quakers will have a busy two weeks to close the season. They’ll have Williamsville North, Clarence and St. Mary’s this week before taking on West Seneca West and Eden, then the Hamburg Tournament the next week. They’re focusing on taking things one match at a time and continuing to do what they did in the past week.

“Last week we had three matches, before that we only had one so we knew we were going to have three for the next three weeks,” Lardo said. “I know the following week we have West Seneca West, Eden and the Hamburg Tournament as well. We’re kind of booked up to end the season. But I guess it’s good because we’re playing better now than we did at the end of the year. We’ll just take each game as it comes. I know we got ahead of ourselves talking about Clarence, but Williamsville North took us to five the first time we played them at our place. We’re trying not to look past them. Their gym is always a hard place to play as well. Nothing else really matters unless we can take care of this game and just get one game at a time.”

The team is in good shape heading into stretch run of the regular season. They are currently second in ECIC I, with wins over every team but Clarence. But they did put forth a solid effort against the Lady Red Devils early in the season. Plus, they’re playing better than they have all season. They’ll have a lot at stake when they take on Clarence Thursday.

“We lost those first two games – one to Lancaster and one to Clarence, they were both away,” Lardo said. “I know our girls really want to beat Clarence now just because Clarence has been undefeated for a few years now in the division. I think they dropped one game to Lancaster last year. We think we have a good chance. We know Lancaster and Clarence are really good teams, so to make it a guarantee that we can play all of our playoff games at home is really our goal. We won’t get the one seed, because Clarence will get it. But if we play them in the finals, that will be at a neutral site. That’s really our goal for this week, so hopefully we can take care of both of those matches.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

Maryvale girls volleyball wins three of four matches
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 19, 2017

Maryvale’s girls volleyball team continued to gather momentum as it marched toward the postseason, picking up wins in three of its four most recent matches — though the Lady Flyers were unable to collect the victory that would’ve really put an exclamation point on that run.

The one that got away? A rescheduled rematch with East Aurora in the 2016 Section VI Class B-1 title game on Oct. 6 that, to date, is the Lady Flyers’ only loss.

“This was the match that we had been waiting for all season, but due to the schedule and this match being moved from its original date, we had played six events in eight days — including four games that week alone — so the girls were tired from what had been a long week by the time this match came around,” coach Tina Raczynski said. “We’re not going to use that as an excuse, though. The girls played their hearts out and it was a tight match, and in the end we were proud with the way we finished.

“East Aurora certainly served strong, and sometimes we weren’t able to pick it up. One thing I do know is that we are looking forward to when we meet them again on the 20th.”

Maryvale, which dropped the match by 19-25, 23-25, 21-25 scores, was led by senior captain Julia Carter’s 19 kills and seven digs. Fellow senior captain Morgan Michalski added 15 assists and 17 digs, while junior Brianna Schlierf chipped in with two kills and six digs.

Maryvale came into the East Aurora match looking to do well after taking down Springville in a marathon 20-25, 25-11, 13-25, 25-14, 25-14 decision just a day earlier. Carter had 28 kills, 20 digs and 14 assists to guide the Lady Flyers, while Michalski added 27 assists, 13 kills and 17 digs. Junior Amiah George chipped in with 11 digs, while junior Keke Ubaydah had six digs and an ace.

Sophomore captain Christie McGee-Ross contributed 15 digs, five kills and two aces to the victors’ cause.

“Springville always gets stronger in the second half of the season, which is why this is always a great match for us,” Raczynski said. “We just weren’t passing the ball well in the first match, but once we finally pulled it together we were able to come back and win the match. Springville was hitting the ball well, so it forced us to play a tight defense.”

Maryvale bounced back from the loss to East Aurora by cruising to a 25-15, 25-6, 25-13 victory over Pioneer on Oct. 10. Carter had 11 kills, five aces and two blocks to lead Maryvale’s efforts, while Michalski added 13 assists, nine aces and three kills. Juniors Alanna Hill (1 kill, 1 dig), Jamie Brundo (1 kill) and Emma Jacobs (1 assist) also contributed to the win.

“This was a great match for us,” Raczynski said. “We were able to give everyone playing time, so the whole team participated in the win.”

The Lady Flyers continued to pick up steam two days later when they knocked off Iroquois by 25-12, 23-25, 25-18, 25-15 scores. Maryvale entered the match not really knowing what to expect, Raczynski said, since it had not played in the Lady Chiefs’ gym in six years. The Lady Flyers dominated play in the first set thanks to strong service and play — both offensively and defensively — that “was spot on,” but Raczynski concedes her team “came out a little too confident in the second set” and ultimately dropped it.

That was just a temporary setback, however, as Maryvale bounced back to close out the match.

“We pulled it together in games three and four,” Raczynski said. “It was a great match to play towards the end of the season in terms of starting to prepare for sectionals. Iroquois taught us a great lesson.”

Michalski had 17 assists, 13 kills and six digs to guide Maryvale, while Carter added 16 kills, 14 assists and two blocks. McGee-Ross chipped in with six kills, five blocks and six digs, while Schlierf contributed four kills and three blocks for Maryvale (13-1, 10-1 league), which hosted West Seneca West for Senior Night Tuesday. That match — as well as Wednesday’s clash with Alden — ended too late for this edition, however.

The Lady Flyers close out their week by traveling to East Aurora Friday for a match that could decide whether Maryvale earns at least a share of the regular season division title.

“I am happy with the way things are progressing,” Raczynski said. “The younger girls on the team are starting to pull it together and are comfortable with their positions, and we are hitting and serving well. We still need to tweak a couple of things but we are starting to get excited about what’s to come. It’s going to be bittersweet saying goodbye to Julia and Morgan, though, as they have been such a big part of our program for the last six years. Not only are they fabulous players — Julia has committed to Texas A&M-Corpus Christie to play Division I and Morgan has a few school interested in her but hasn’t committed yet — but they are great leaders also.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Lancers volleyball team sitting at 9-3 on season
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Lancaster Bee
Thursday, October 19, 2017

The St. Mary’s boys’ volley- ball team is rolling along at a good pace in coach Peter Florczak’s first season. The Lancers are 9-3 on the season, recently grabbing a trio of wins over larger league foes. The team defeated St. Francis, once last week and once this week, both in three sets. Tuesday, they beat St. Joe’s in three sets, as well. Defense and spiking were keys to the wins.

“We play tremendous defense, and our two big guys, Eric Brown and Christian Szablewski, led the offense with their spiking capability,” Florczak said. “Good spiking plus good defense wins volleyball games.”

The team also played in the Williamsville South Tournament Saturday. They won two of six matches and did not qualify for the playoffs. The tournament had an odd format, with teams playing only one set per match.

The Lancers were much more successful in the Lockport Tournament the prior weekend. The team was forced to start three freshmen because three seniors were busy taking their SATs. They made the semifinals, where they had to take on the top-ranked team in Western New York and tournament host, Lockport. The Lancers held their own, losing 25-16, 25-18.

“They’re the best team in Western New York,” Florczak said. “We made it to the semifinals and played Lockport, while playing three freshmen. We only lost 25-16 and 25-18. It was SATs on that day, so three of my starting seniors couldn’t be there, so three of the freshmen were asked to play and they held their own against the best team in Western New York.”

The Lancers played Cardinal O’Hara Wednesday in a match that did not end by press time. They’ll play Holland and Sweet Home next week to close out the regular season. Although these are non-league games, playing well heading into the postseason could be important to more success in that department.

“I always talk to the team about a rhythm,” Florczak said. “If we can get ourselves in a good rhythm then we’ll feel pretty good going into the playoffs.”

The team has shown progress over the course of the past two months. The Lancers are working on digging out of holes when they are down and dealing with adversity.

“I think they’re showing great progress just like in any sport,” Florczak said. “The teams that can deal with the adversity during the match are the ones that normally come out victorious. We’re focusing on how you dig yourself out of a hole when things don’t go your way.”

South boys volleyball wins bronze at own invite
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Williamsville South’s boys volleyball team took third-place honors at its 26th annual invitational Sunday, beating Cheektowaga, 21-25, 25-9, 25-8 in the bronze game.

“We did not play well in the first game but the scores in the other two games does not indicate how close it was,” South coach Thom Knab said. “We had more gas left in the tank. It was a long day.”

South finished second out of pool play with a 4-2 record, losing its first two against Cheektowaga, 15-25, and Williamsville North, 19-25, and then beating St. Mary’s of Lancaster, 25-22; Maryvale, 26-24; Williamsville East, 27-25; and Cicero-North Syracuse, 25-22.

“We started out a little slow as the homecoming dance was the previous night and the guys were tired,” Knab said.

The Billies moved on to the semifinals where they lost to Maryvale, 12-25, 12-25.

“We beat them in pool play but Maryvale has a couple of strong hitters with a lot of experience and we were not able to contain them,” Knab said.

Setters/right side hitters Evan Oliver (23 total kills, 16 assists) and Nico Zanelotti (7 kills, 47 assists, 3 aces) were named to the All-Tournament Team.

“They are like the two quarterbacks of the team,” Knab said. “They work well together and support each other. Evan is a very athletic player who can do a lot to keep in matches.”

Dan Proch tallied 21 kills and Jeffrey Randall blocked seven shots throughout the tournament.

South went 1-2 in its other three matches last week, splitting non-league matches against Starpoint, losing 24-26, 24-26, 23-25 Oct. 10, and winning at Iroquois, 25-19, 25-20, 25-13, Oct. 11, and falling to Hamburg 25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 18-25 in a home league match Friday.

Knab said his team put together one of its best performance of the season against Starpoint.

“It was an exciting, competitive match that could have gone either way,” Knab said.

Proch tallied 12 kills and an ace in one of his best outings of the season, Knab said.

Oliver and Zanelotti each tallied six kills, and Le Cao posted five kills.

Cao (nine kills), Proch (eight kills, five aces), and Oliver and Roman Price (six kills each) contributed against Iroquois.

“We were able to get more of an attack going and had a better passing game going,” Knab said.

Cao (eight kills) and Proch (seven kills) led the Billies’ offense against Hamburg.

Knab also said the team blocked well as a unit.

South (7-9, 5-5) hosted Williamsville East Tuesday but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. The Billies compete in the Grand Island Tournament Saturday.

Williamsville North

It was not a great week for the Spartans.

It began with a 25-27, 13-25, 17-25 league road match against Clarence Friday and ended with a 2-4 finish in pool play at the 26th annual Williamsville South Invitational Sunday at South.

Coach Jake Waszak said the team’s passing was on and the offense ran well in the first set against Clarence. In the second and third sets, Waszak said the team’s serve receive completely fell apart and they could not run its offense or gain any momentum.

Adam Gulick led North with nine kills and 15 digs. Jon Abaya (six kills), Joe Battaglia (four kills, seven digs), Jackson Lieber (six digs, ace) and Matt Wiepert (19 assists) also contributed for the Spartans.

North started pool play at the South Invitational with a 25-19 win over South, and then lost to Cicero-North Syracuse, 20-25, Cheektowaga, 21-25, and St. Mary’s of Lancaster, 21-25, beat Williamsville East, 25-23, and lost to Maryvale, 25-27.

“It was a weird day,” Waszak said. “It was frustrating to see that we slipped back to the old style of Williamsville North volleyball. It almost seemed like we were complacent in our technique and our motivation to play. It was kind of shocking to see because I thought we were past it.”

Gulick led the Spartans in the tournament with 26 kills. Also contributing were Abaya (seven kills), Justin Konotopskyj (four kills), Battaglia (17 digs), Mitchell Simon (10 digs) and Wiepert (45 assists).

Waszak liked the play of JV call-up Andrew Krysiak in the back row.

North hosted Lancaster Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

Sweet Home

Dylan Aarum tallied 10 kills and Jon Miller handed out 16 assists in Sweet Home’s three-set road win Friday over West Seneca East.

Sweet Home (10-1) traveled to Hamburg (9-1) Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. A win for Sweet Home will help its chances of getting a piece of the league title.

Amherst girls volleyball team wins bronze at invitational
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Amherst’s girls volleyball team won the bronze division championship at Saturday’s Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Volleyball Tournament in North Tonawanda.

After an extremely challenging morning of games, coach Rachel Lewis Schepart said the team settled down and gave it their best in the bronze division playoffs.

She said the team battled and won the first and second game to make it to the finals against North Tonawanda, where they won 25-27, 25-15, 25-10.

“It was a tough match, but the team persevered,” she said. “It was an overall team effort that led us to victory.”

Schepart said the playoff games were a highlight of how the team has progressed throughout the season.

She said the three senior captains, Mia Ciccarella, Elizabeth Hall, and Caroline Seaner, showed their leadership capabilities and brought the team together.

North girls volleyball falls in five games
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

For the second time this season, Williamsville North’s girls volleyball team went to five games with Orchard Park and could not pick up the victory, losing to the Lady Quakers, 17-25, 19-25, 25-23, 26-24, 22-25 at home Oct. 10.

North coach Keith Hopkins said his team had a hard time closing out sets. He said the first two sets were tied and his team gave up late runs.

North held six-point leads in the third and fourth sets and led 20-17 in the fifth set.

“We still can’t seem to close out matches when we need to,” Hopkins said. “We still haven’t learned our lesson.”

Allie Macon led the North offense with 11 kills. Megan Farber added 27 digs. Abby Vincent contributed seven kills and handed out 14 assists.

North responded with a 20-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 non-league home loss against Lockport Thursday.

“After dropping the opening first set where Lockport made only one error and we had nine hitting errors and five missed serves, we improved our play and they dropped theirs,” Hopkins said.

Macon tallied 12 kills. Vincent supplied five kills and 16 assists. Bri Brown contributed five kills.

North also participated in Saturday’s Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Volleyball Tournament in North Tonawanda, losing in the gold quarterfinals to Williamsville South, 30-19.

North had gone 4-2 in pool play, beating City Honors 25-16, 25-20 and Roy-Hart, 25-23, 25-18, and losing to Sacred Heart, 23-25, 18-25. They then beat Grand Island, 33-31, in the gold division pre-quarters after trailing 15-6.

All day North had problems with its serve receive and serving, which caused the team to struggle. Other than that, Hopkins said the team did well in every other category, like blocking.

North (13-9-2, 5-5) hosted Jamestown Monday and traveled to Sweet Home Tuesday but information about the matches was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They travel to Grand Island for a non-league match Wednesday.

Williamsville South

The Lady Billies won both of their league matches over Sweet Home, 25-14, 22-25, 12-25, 25-12, 25-11 at home Oct. 10, and at Amherst, 25-8, 25-21, 25-10 Thursday to improve to 8-3 in ECIC II with one league match left. South travels to Starpoint Friday.

Coach Tom Sproull said his team responded in the final two sets, did not make as many unforced errors and played extremely well.

Megan Muehlbauer led South’s attack with 12 kills. Amari DeBerry added nine kills and Hannah Abramowitz posted six kills.

Against South, Sweet Home coach Breean Martin said the team started off slow in game one and took control of the momentum in the second and third games but got into serve receive trouble and could not finish.

Lauren Hubert tallied 21 assists, five digs and four aces. Tessa Sutherland posted three kills and four blocks. Christie Ackendorf recorded nine kills, four blocks and 13 digs.

DeBerry and Muehlbauer led the offense against Amherst with nine and eight kills, respectively. The team also was successful on 94.4 percent of its serves.

South also dropped a non-leaguer at home to Lancaster, 16-25, 17-25, 22-25 on Oct. 11.

“Our overall game was not as crisp,” Sproull said.

DeBerry led South’s offense with five kills.

South went 5-1 and won its pool at Saturday’s Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Volleyball Tournament in North Tonawanda. South split games with Hamburg, and swept Lewiston-Porter and Frontier. South then entered the gold division bracket and beat Williamsville North, 30-20, and then lost to Williamsville East in the quarterfinals, 32-34.

Sproull said his team had at least two chances to win game point against East and could not close it out.

“Overall, I was pleased with our play at the tournament,” Sproull said. “Our offense ran smooth, our serve receive was better, and we served like we normally do. It was a good step in the right direction as we get closer to playoffs.”

Sweet Home

The Lady Panthers split against their other league opponents last week, beating West Seneca East, 25-16, 25-22, 25-20, at home Thursday and losing to Hamburg, 17-25, 22-25, 21-25 Friday.

Christie Ackendorf recorded 17 kills, six blocks and 11 digs against West Seneca East. Britney Banks recorded five kills and three blocks, and Madison Gerber added 15 digs against Hamburg.

At Saturday’s Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Volleyball Tournament in North Tonawanda, Sweet Home finished second in its pool with a 4-2 record, beating Amherst and Lockport, and losing to Williamsville East. Sweet Home then beat Mercy, 30-25 in the gold division pre-quarters after trailing 12-8 and lost to Sacred Heart, 17-30, in the quarterfinals to finish eighth out of 20 teams.

Sacred Heart volleyball takes St. Mary’s to five games
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

In a very exciting home league match against top-ranked St. Mary’s of Lancaster, Sacred Heart showed how well it can play this year.

The Sharks nearly pulled out a huge upset, losing 25-16, 22-25, 26-28, 25-18, 27-29, Oct. 11.

The first game of the match opened with a great service run by senior captain Clare Falkowski. Strong kills by senior captain Lauren Aichinger, senior Micaela Ryan and sophomore Siobhan Ryan helped the Sharks keep a good lead throughout the game.

It looked like St. Mary’s was going to make a run, but a great dig by sophomore Hannah Tudor changed the momentum of the game and Sacred Heart ended strong to win the match by nine.

Sacred Heart also came out strong in the second game.

Aichinger had a great block on St. Mary senior Summer Slade, Falkowski had a tip, and a double block by Siobhan Ryan and Aichinger had the Sharks up.

A kill by Aichinger put Sacred Heart up 3-1. Both teams traded points, but a kill by junior Taylor Jakubik put Sacred Heart ahead 4-3.

A kill by Micaela Ryan helped the team open an 8-4 lead. A kill and an ace by Jakubik, and then a kill by Siobhan Ryan, put Sacred Heart up 12-5.

Siobhan Ryan had another tip and a kill to get the score to 15-9.

After a series of errors by Sacred Heart, St. Mary’s took a 16-15 lead. Slade also had multiple kills to help St. Mary’s open the lead to 20-15.

Micaela Ryan had a kill to bring the game to 21-17, Falkowski had a tip to bring the game to 23-20, and Siobhan Ryan had a tip to get Sacred Heart to 24-21, but the team could not get any closer than 22.

Sacred Heart was down 2-0 in game three, but a tip by Aichinger and a dig by Siobhan Ryan set up a kill to tie the game at 2-2.

Senior Claire Beecher had a serve receive returned for a point. A double block by Micaela Ryan and senior Emma Tierney and a great dig by Tierney to set up a point gave Sacred Heart the lead. An ace by Aichinger gave the Sharks a 7-3 lead.

A block by Micaela Ryan a few points later, and a kill by her, kept them ahead 10-6.

A Siobhan Ryan save and then a kill on the next point kept the Sharks in the lead 12-9. After a kill by Aichinger and two kills by Micaela Ryan put Sacred Heart up 17-14, St. Mary’s battled back to tie the game at 17.

Aichinger had a kill to give the Sharks the lead at 20-18, but Slade answered the next point and then St. Mary’s tied the game at 20.

Aichinger had a kill off a great dig by Tudor to tie the game at 21. Two points later, a kill by Aichinger gave the Sharks a 23-21 lead.

A Jakubik hit kept the lead at two, but St. Mary’s again tied the game at 24-24.

St. Mary’s went up by one, but a kill by Micaela Ryan tied the game at 25. St. Mary’s regained the lead only to have Micaela Ryan tie the game at 26 off a kill. St. Mary’s ultimately won 28-26.

The fourth game went back and forth. Aichinger opened the game with a kill off a slide and then a kill down the middle to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

St. Mary’s tied the game at 3, but Sacred Heart blocked a Slade hit to take the lead 4-3. Micaela Ryan had a kill to give the Sharks a 6-5 advantage.

A tip by Micaela Ryan, a kill by Siobhan Ryan and a kill by Aichinger gave the Sharks a 10-9 lead.

St. Mary’s again tied the game up at 10-10 and then took the lead. Aichinger had a big block to tie the game at 11. A back row kill by Siobhan Ryan closed the gap to 12-13.

Sacred Heart tied the game at 13, but then St. Mary’s gained a two-point lead until Micaela Ryan had a kill and a tip to tie the game at 16.

Micaela Ryan had a kill off an overpass by St. Mary’s to give the Sharks a two-point lead, 18-16.

An ace by junior Gabriella Berardi gave the Sharks a three-point advantage.

Sacred Heart opened a larger lead off an ace by Tudor. A kill down the right side by Micaela Ryan, a tip by Siobhan Ryan and a back row kill by Micaela Ryan ended the game 25-18 for Sacred Heart.

The fifth game was equally exciting with the two teams initially trading points, but then an ace by Aichinger and a block by Micaela Ryan on Slade gave the Sharks a 7-3 advantage.

St. Mary’s battled back to tie the game at 7-7. Kills by Micaela Ryan and Siobhan Ryan helped the Sharks maintain a slight lead 14-12. St. Mary’s again tied the game at 15.

Micaela Ryan had three kills to keep a small lead of 19-18, but again St. Mary’s tied the game at 19. The Ryan sisters had a block to regain the lead 20-19, Aichinger had a kill off an overpass to give Sacred Heart a 22-19 advantage. Aichinger had a kill off a slide to keep the lead up by three.

Aichinger had a great block on Slade to give the Sharks match point at 24-21, but St. Mary’s did not give up and tied the game at 24. The teams traded points but St. Mary’s had the advantage.

Sacred Heart tied the game at 27 off a Micaela Ryan kill, but that was as close as the Sharks could get and ended the match losing 27-29.

Micaela Ryan led offense with 15 kills and also had one dig. Also contributing on offense were Siobhan Ryan (11 kills), Aichinger (10 kills), and Jakubik (two kills, two aces).

Beecher led the defense with 14 serve receives and 11 digs. Also contributing on defense were Siobhan Ryan (13 serve receives, nine digs); Berardi (eight serve receives, five digs; also two aces); Tudor (eight serve receives, three digs); and Falkowski (three digs; ace).

Sacred Heart used its success against St. Mary’s to defeat Mt. St. Mary’s on Friday night to clinch second place in the Monsignor Martin League.

After previously losing to the Thunder earlier in the season and possibly losing the opportunity to get a bye in league playoffs, Sacred Heart defeated Mount St. Mary 25-23, 25-16, 25-14.

Micaela Ryan led the offense with 14 kills and two aces. Also contributing on offense were Siobhan Ryan (four kills, one ace), Jakubik (four kills), and Aichinger (three kills, one ace; also two digs).

Siobhan Ryan and Berardi led the team defense. Siobhan Ryan had 12 digs and four serve receives and Berardi had 13 digs and three serve serves.

Also contributing on defense were Tudor (nine serve receives, five digs); Beecher (eight digs, four serve receives); and Falkowski (four serve receives, one dig; also four aces). The team ended the week 11-3 overall and 7-3 in the Monsignor Martin Association League.

At Saturday’s Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Volleyball Tournament in North Tonawanda, the Sharks split games with Roy-Hart, 25-20, 21-25; defeated City Honors, 25-16, 25-11; defeated Williamsville North 25-23, 25-18; defeated Sweet Home, 30-19, in the quarterfinals; and lost to Hamburg in the semifinals, 30-26.

Overall for the tournament, Siobhan Ryan led the offense with 18 kills and four aces. Also contributing on offense were Micaela Ryan (15 kills, two aces; also two digs), Aichinger (16 kills), Beecher (16 aces), Jakubik (four kills, one ace), Tierney (four kills; also two digs), junior Gabriella Salvo (three kills), and Falkowski (two aces; also one dig).

Beecher led the defense with 23 serve receives and 17 digs. Also contributing on defense were Siobhan Ryan (eight serve receives, eight digs), Berardi (nine digs), Aichinger (seven digs, two serve receives) and Jakubik (six digs, three serve receives).

The team ends its regular season this week with matches against Kenmore East on Tuesday night when seniors Aichinger, Falkowski, Micaela Ryan, Claire Beecher, and Tierney were honored, and road matches Wednesday at Frontier and Friday at Iroquois.

East’s Greenfield surpasses 3,000 career assists
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Williamsville East’s girls volleyball team has achieved great success in the past four years, and senior setter Makayla Greenfield has been the driving force behind it.

Greenfield added a major milestone to her resume when she eclipsed 3,000 career assists at the North Tonawanda Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Tournament Saturday.

It happened in pool play against Sweet Home.

The school’s all-time leading assists leader finished the tournament with 108 assists and has 3,098 for her career.

“It’s been a goal of mine since I made varsity as a freshman,” Greenfield said. “Getting 3,000 assists is as much a team accomplishment as it is an individual accomplishment. I have been fortunate to play with some great players over my career, like Carly Shifflet and Lexi Novak, and this year with Ally Jozwiak and Rachel Steffan. Coach [Scott] Wright always believed me from day one and gave me the confidence and allowed me to grow as a player.”

“It’s a testament to how much she puts into volleyball,” Wright said. “She has worked with a lot of good outside hitters around her that can kill the ball, so it’s more of a team award than an individual award.”

Greenfield started playing volleyball as a sixth-grader and started setting because she was not tall enough to be a hitter but was smart and understood the game.

“Hitting is what everyone talks about in volleyball, but setting is just as important,” Greenfield said.

A four-year starter, Greenfield assumed the starting setter role at East as a sophomore. She set the single-season assist record with 1,171 and helped East reach the state championships for the first time in program history.

She earned national recognition by being named to the CBS/MaxPreps Underclass All-American Team, the PrepVolleyball.com All-American Team and the PrepVolleyball.com Sophomore 79 List.

Greenfield followed up with an equally impressive junior season, registering 1,129 assists and leading the Lady Flames to their second consecutive trip to the state championships. She was named first team all-state and to the PrepVolleyball.com All-American team.

This season, Greenfield has recorded 752 assists with four matches and the playoffs remaining. Greenfield is hopeful that if the team plays up to its potential, they can go on a deep playoff run.

(Reporter Patrick J. Nagy contributed to the article.)

Amherst competing in matches
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Amherst’s boys volleyball team is 1-9 in ECIC II and 3-11 overall, but coach Peter Wlosinski said the team has had some good competitions this season.

“We’ve taken a set from Hamburg and Williamsville South both times we saw them,” he said. “It’s given our players a taste of what they can achieve. We’ve been fighting for points more and more as the season has progressed. As the season approaches the end, it’s time to put all the pieces together as we get ready for playoffs. The team has had a good mindset as we enter matches and have been saying the phrase ‘why not us’ all season long.”

Amherst’s lone league win was against East Aurora. They played them a second time Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

Amherst’s overall record is 3-11 with non-league wins over Hutch-Tech and Holland.

Junior Jack Lasher leads the team in kills, hitting percentage and points earned. Sophomore Marcus Hall is second on the team in kills and hitting percentage. Sophomore Sam Greco leads the team in aces and digs. Junior setter Jackson Tan has led the team to more than double the amount of kills than they had last year, Wlosinski said. Senior Aidan Keyes leads the team in blocks. Senior DaVon France is second on the team in points earned.

Amherst competes in the Grand Island Tournament Saturday.

Short-handed East girls volleyball takes runner-up at tourney
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Williamsville East girls volleyball coach Scott Wright was never happier to see his team take runner-up at a tournament than he was with their performance at Saturday’s Lady Jacks “Dig Pink” Invitational Volleyball Tournament in North Tonawanda.

Without four starters, East went 5-1 in pool play, and one starter came back for playoffs, and the team finished second, losing to Hamburg, 20-25, 14-25.

“The senior leadership of Makayla Greenfield and Ally Jozwiak calmed the situation down and allowed the best to come out of all the players,” East coach Scott Wright said.

In set one against Hamburg, a kill and ace from Greenfield gave East a 3-1 lead. Hamburg fought back to take a 7-6 lead.

A kill from Nikki Polokoff and a Polokoff/Madeleine Reid block gave East a 14-12 lead. Hamburg regained the lead 18-16 before a block by Greenfield and a kill by Jozwiak tied the score 19-19. Hamburg went on to take the set 25-20.

In set two, East started flat, allowing Hamburg to take control and build a 14-4 lead. Hamburg went on to win the final set 25-14. Jozwiak finished the Hamburg match with 13 kills and eight digs.

East advanced to the finals after beating Williamsville South, 34-32, in the semifinals.

South started strong, taking a 5-3 lead. The Lady Flames responded by winning the next four points to take a 7-5 lead.

The two teams traded points, as neither team could take more than a two-point lead. With the score tied at 17-17, a serving run by Polokoff gave East a 21-17 lead.

South responded by winning the next four points to tie the score. The teams were tied four more times before the Lady Flames strung together four points to take a 29-27 lead, but South saved match point.

South had a match point of their own but the Lady Flames rallied to win, 34-32. East was led by Jozwiak with nine kills and Madison Smith with eight kills.

The Flames beat Kenmore West 30-17. Ken West took the early lead 5-3.

With the score tied 7-7, a 10-point serving run by Smith gave East an 18-7 lead. Kenmore West closed the score to 23-16, but the Lady Flames responded by winning seven of the last eight points. Jozwiak dominated play with 14 kills.

East finished first in their pool by beating Sweet Home, 25-22, 25-21; Amherst, 25-8, 25-21; and splitting with Lockport, 12-25, 25-22.

Greenfield had a strong tournament, finishing the day with 108 assists, 34 digs, and 13 kills. Greenfield, the all-time assist leader at Will East, reached a major career milestone by recording her 3,000 career assist.

Jozwiak continued her stellar play with 61 kills and 41 digs.

Smith stepped into a starting role at outside hitter and had a great day, finishing with 34 kills and 24 digs. She also earned the Sportsmanship Award, given to one member of each team for demonstrating strong sportsmanship and character.

Polokoff moved from her normal middle hitter position to right side and had her best tournament, registering nine kills, 30 digs, and a team-high six aces.

Other contributors for the Lady Flames included Skyllar Cicero (23 digs), Gracie Wendell (13 digs, two aces), Grace Degan (three kills, two blocks), Reid (four blocks), and Emma Vande Velde (one kill, two blocks).

East clinched its sixth consecutive ECIC II title with a 25-19, 15-25, 25-23, 25-11 home win over Hamburg Oct. 11. The win improved the Lady Flames’ league record to 10-0.

“We haven’t lost a league match in 4.5 years, so any time we can continue to help ourselves out for the playoffs is good for us,” Wright said. “Hamburg gave us all we could handle.”

Jozwiak had one of the best nights of her stellar career with 28 kills and 25 digs.

“Ally has been really coming on as of late,” Wright said. “She’s started to do what seniors do. She’s the second of our 1-2 punch with Rachel Steffan.”

Others with strong performances included Greenfield (40 assists, 20 digs), Steffan (14 kills, 19 digs), Summer Clark (five kills, eight digs), and Christy Mack (18 digs).

In set one, the lead traded hands several times, with neither team taking more than a two-point lead. Two kills from Jozwiak and one from Greenfield gave East a 19-14 lead. Two kills from Clark extended the lead to 21-14 and the Lady Flames would go on to win the set 25-19.

In set two, Hamburg held a 4-2 lead before going on a six-point run to take a 10-4 lead, which they extended to 15-7.

The Lady Flames cut the lead to six points on a couple of occasions but that was as close as they would get, dropping the set. It was the first time East had lost a set to a league opponent since 2015.

With the match up for grabs, the third set would be crucial.

Hamburg controlled play at the start to take a 9-5 lead. Two kills from Jozwiak cut the Hamburg lead to one at 10-9 before Hamburg regained the momentum to take a 15-11 lead.

A seven-point serving run by Steffan, including three kills by Jozwiak swung the momentum back to the Lady Flames as they took a 19-15 lead.

Hamburg rallied to take a 22-20 lead. East won the next two points to tie the set at 22-22. Hamburg won the next point but East responded to win the final three points and take the set 25-23.

In set four, the Flames played their best volleyball of the night taking a 10-4 lead behind five kills from Steffan. Four kills from Jozwiak extended the lead to 15-7.

A Greenfield/Polokoff block and two kills from Steffan gave East a 21-9 lead. Jozwiak’s 28th kill of the match gave the Lady Flames the set 25-11.

East improved to 9-0 in the league with a 25-17, 25-10, 25-20 home win over Amherst Oct. 10.

“It was a nice team win and everybody contributed,” Wright said.

Leading East were Greenfield (25 assists, nine digs, four aces), Steffan (11 kills, seven digs, four aces), and Jozwiak (five kills, five digs). Smith made her debut, contributing three kills and three digs.

In set one, two kills from Steffan and one from Jozwiak gave East a 4-0 lead.

Amherst closed within two at 8-6 before the Lady Flames won the next four points, including an ace and a kill from Polokoff.

Amherst cut the lead to one at 15-14 but East responded by winning four of the next five points to extend the lead to 19-15.

A five-point serving run by Greenfield gave the Lady Flames a 24-16 lead and a kill from Clark gave East the set.

A six-point serving run from Mack gave East a 6-1 lead to start set two. Kills from Clark and Smith extended the lead to 11-4. A four-point serving run from Polokoff built the lead to 16-5.

Kills from Vande Velde and Reid extended the lead to 18-6 and the Lady Flames would go on to take the set 25-10.

East moved ahead 5-4 in set three when Greenfield went on a six-point serving run to extend the lead to 11-4. Three consecutive aces from Steffan extended the lead to 16-5.

Amherst fought back to get within three to 22-19, before East responded with a kill from Jozwiak and two kills from Steffan to close out the set, 25-20.

East traveled to Starpoint Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. East travels to West Seneca East Wednesday and Lancaster Friday.

(Reporter Patrick J. Nagy contributed to the article)

Clarence Boys volleyball reaches OP tournament final
Clarence Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Eden lived up to its reputation as a Western New York volleyball powerhouse Saturday as it swept the Red Devils both in pool play and in the championship match of the annual Orchard Park Tournament.

The Red Devils, who finished second in their pool after splitting with Hamburg and sweeping St. Francis following the 2-0 loss to Eden, bounced back with a 30-20 triumph over St. Joe’s in the quarterfinals. That put Clarence in the semifinals against Grand Island, which had defeated the hosts en route to winning its pool.

Things didn’t look too hot for Clarence to start as the Red Devils missed eight serves in what would ultimately by a 25-23 loss. Clarence responded to the talk in the huddle between sets and missed just one serve the rest of the way en route to winning the next two sets by 25-15, 15-11 marks.

Eden, however, continued to be a step above the rest, taking the title in straight sets by 25-13, 25-18 scores.

“Our talk in the huddle was simple: If we make our serves, we’ll win the match,” coach Kevin Starr said. “There’s no good excuse for missing that many serves. I consider a missed serve to be as much a mental error as it is a physical one; it’s completely unforced and completely preventable.

“The thing about this team is that no matter how a match comes out, they still believe in themselves,” Starr continued. “Once it gets down to this part of the season and the top teams have to battle it out for the league and sectional titles, mental toughness can be a big factor.”

Teddy Payne and Shawn Trznadel were both voted to the tournament all-star team for Clarence, which came into the tournament flying high after downing Williamsville North the previous evening by 27-25, 25-13, 25-17 scores.

North rocketed out to a 6-1 lead to start the match before Clarence settled down and chipped away at the Spartans’ advantage to complete the first-set comeback.

Payne had 15 assists and four aces to pace Clarence, while Trznadel had 17 assists and four aces. Libero Jackson Wurtz finished with 13 digs for the Red Devils.

“We settled things down after that slow start and chipped away from there,” Starr said. “The boys have a great deal of confidence that they can get back on course when things aren’t going well. Several times this season, we’ve had to refocus on what makes us a good team — basic skills like passing and serving, for example. Sometimes we’re not as mentally tough as we should be, and we get ourselves into spots like this one … but we usually manage to get things together in time.

“Volleyball is a game of momentum, and as the scores of the second and third sets show, we were able to continue our comeback from the first set and dominate the match from that point on.”

Clarence (12-5, 6-2 ECIC I) returned to action Tuesday against Orchard Park, but information about that contest was not available at press time. The Red Devils return to action Monday at West Seneca West, and then close out their regular season by hosting Williamsville East on Wednesday, Oct. 25, before traveling to Canisius on Thursday, Oct. 26.

“We beat Orchard Park at their place a couple weeks ago, and if we win Tuesday, we’ll put ourselves in the position to win our second consecutive ECIC Division I league title — if we can beat West Seneca West next week,” Starr said. “It will also have an impact on sectional seedings too, so this is, without a doubt, our biggest match of the year so far.”

Clarence Girls volleyball clinches another ECIC I title
JASON NADOLINSKI, Sports Reporter, Clarence Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Clarence’s girls volleyball team locked up its fourth consecutive ECIC I regular-season title on Oct. 10 — after going 12 years without one — by defeating West Seneca West by 25-9, 25-12, 25-15 scores.

Team veterans Melissa Ratzel and Jaide Cummings have been part of each of the Lady Red Devils’ championships, with the teams in that time compiling a 48-2 league mark in the process.

“I have always thought of this team as a work in progress, and they continue to put the necessary work in daily, which allowed them this past week to achieve one of their self-set goals by winning the league,” coach Michael Meyer said. “I remain excited to see them continually improving and really do look forward to match nights and tournaments, where I get to see the results of the work that they put in.”

Defensive specialist Abbey Cole and Lizzie Danzer stepped up with some tough serving against the Lady Indians, and also combined for five digs. Defensive and serving specialist Haley Marlowe served five aces and had four digs, while Miranda Edmondson “had one of her best nights on varsity” with six kills and two aces, Meyer said.

Lindsey Leipold spread the ball around on offense, helping seven players finish the match with two or more kills for the Lady Red Devils.

The prospect of an undefeated run through league competition came to an end in Clarence’s next match, however, as the Lady Red Devils dropped a 25-19, 20-25, 21-25, 23-25 decision to Orchard Park on Thursday. Edmondson provided a spark off of the bench after Clarence fell behind by a large margin in the fourth set, with the Lady Red Devils rallying to knot the score at 23-23 before the Lady Quakers were able to ultimately prevail.

Cummings turned in one of the strongest individual efforts on both sides of the ball in a bid to will Clarence to victory, recording a season-high 20 kills in 45 attempts to go along with 19 digs. Lexi MacDonald “provided fiery leadership as she tried to rally the team,” Meyer said, collecting 26 digs while racing all over the court trying to will the team to victory.

Ratzel and Kennedy Oleszak combined for 12 blocks for Clarence, which entered the West match looking to do well after knocking off Williamsville North on Oct. 5 by 25-10, 25-17, 25-22 scores. Leipold once again ran a diverse offense, getting eight players involved in the attack en route to finishing with 29 assists. Leah Victor was one of the main beneficiaries of Leipold’s setting, finishing with 12 kills on just 18 swings.

Oleszak and Ratzel combined for 11 kills in the middle, while MacDonald, Cummings, Edmondson and Jenna Hugenschmidt “once again provided great passing and aggressive team defense,” Meyer said. Jessica Fitch and Julianne Bolton came in off the bench and provided some big swings as well, Meyer said.

Clarence (15-2, 11-1 league) returns to action this evening by traveling to Hamburg before closing out the week by traveling to the Horseheads Tournament on Saturday. The Lady Red Devils will then wrap up their regular season Monday with their Senior Night match against Sweet Home. Ratzel, Oleszak, Leipold and Danzer will all be recognized for their contributions to the team at that match.

“The girls continue to stay focused on our process of improving with every game we play and at every practice, so it’s great that we now have two non-leagues and the Horseheads Tournament to help them prepare for playoffs,” Meyer said. “To continue our success moving forward, we need to not be satisfied with where we are and need to focus on our goal of improving while playing volleyball the right way.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

NT reaches Bronze title game at own girls volleyball tourney
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

North Tonawanda’s girls volleyball team wasn’t quite able to close out its effort in Saturday’s annual Lady Jacks Dig Pink Invitational tournament the way it was hoping to, falling to Amherst in the Bronze Division’s title game by 27-25, 15-25, 10-15 marks.

The Lady Lumberjacks, who started the tournament with strong efforts in pool play, looked like they were back on track after playing well in the first set against the Lady Tigers. Things started to fall apart in the second set, coach Jessica Anderson conceded, as North Tonawanda committed nine of its 16 hitting errors for the match in the second set. The Lady Lumberjacks had nine serving errors in the match as well, which didn’t help their cause.

“We just played very flat after the first set; we got quiet, had some mental mistakes and had some hitting errors too,” Anderson said. “The hitting errors and serving errors really hurt us, though, and we just couldn’t recover after that second set. We knew they had beaten us to 15 in each of the first two sets, and though we started to fight back in the third set after we had switched sides, we were just in too big of a hole for a game that only went up to 15 points.”

Lindsay Piotrowski led the way in the final with seven kills and nine digs, while Chase Steingasser added five kills. Sarah Dolan chipped in with 10 digs.

To reach the Bronze final, North Tonawanda had to defeat City Honors in the semifinals. Steingasser once again had a strong showing for North Tonawanda in that round, finishing with four kills and four aces, while Piotrowski added four digs. Bailey Crampton dished out eight assists and served up two aces for the victors.

“We played well as a team in the semifinals to go into the finals with a nice head of steam,” Anderson said. “All in all, I was pretty happy with our day overall until we got to the finals.”

Saturday’s tournament was North Tonawanda’s first action since its 11-25, 14-25, 9-25 loss to undefeated league foe Niagara Wheatfield on Oct. 10. Once again the Lady Lumberjacks got out to a quick start, leading 6-0 in the first set, but Niagara Wheatfield’s first server was on fire in ripping off 13 unanswered points to put North Tonawanda in a decent hole.

“We knew going into the match that Wheatfield was one of the best serving teams we’d face, so we had to be on top of our serve receive game,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, their first server was really mixing up where she was serving and the types of serves she was sending over. We just couldn’t get out of that rotation, which really took the fire out of us. It’s too bad because we had had a great practice the day before, and we were really focused and ready to go at the start.”

Laney Wieclaw had four kills to pace North Tonawanda offensively, while Jasmine Moran and Grace Proefrock finished with seven and six digs, respectively.

The Wheatfield match also came after a fairly long gap in game action, as North Tonawanda had last competed before that match when it dropped a 14-25, 13-25, 19-25 decision to Lockport on Oct. 5. The Lady Lumberjacks’ serve receive wasn’t up to snuff again, and a good number of hitting errors also played a role in North Tonawanda not playing up to the best of its ability as a team, Anderson said.

“We were definitely hoping to give them a better game, which only left us even more disappointed in the way we played overall that day,” Anderson said. “Our serve receive wasn’t working very well, so we weren’t able to run our offense the way we wanted to. All in all, we just didn’t execute very well offensively. But, on a bright note, you could tell that Lindsay was trying to do everything she could out there. And, Jasmine was definitely aggressive defensively. She made some nice plays for us to take away some potential kills from them.”

Piotrowski (3 kills) and Moran each finished the match with seven digs for North Tonawanda, which was hoping to build off its 25-7, 25-14, 25-13 win over CSAT the day before when it took on Lockport. Anderson was able to play a lot of atypical combinations on the day, and the Lady Lumberjacks “played very well together, never let down, and kept their composure while doing what they had to do to get the win,” she said.

Steingasser led the way for North Tonawanda with six kills and four aces, while Proefrock also served up four aces. Wieclaw chipped in with three aces and three digs for the Lady Lumberjacks (4-9, 2-8 division), who returned to action Tuesday at Kenmore West in a match that ended too late for this edition.

North Tonawanda closes out its regular season with matches against Niagara Falls Thursday, CSAT Friday and Williamsville South on Monday.

“We definitely want to be more consistent all the time as we close out the regular season,” Anderson said. “We need to believe in each other and realize that we are a good team when we play together. The girls really played well during pool play in our tournament, so if they realize we can play well against good teams like we did on Saturday, good things can happen for us. We’ve just got to play with confidence no matter what team we’re facing.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Western New York 2017 Boys Top 10 Poll - 10/17/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Western New York 2017 Girls Top 10 Poll - 10/17/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Williamsville South Tournament
Buffalo News
Saturday, October 15, 2017

Maryvale lost in the finals of the Williamsville South boys volleyball tournament to Cicero/North Syracuse. Scores in the finals were Cicero/North Syracuse 25-22-17, Maryvale 22-25-15. 

The All-Tournament Team was Evan Oliver (Wmsv. South) Nico Zanelotti (Wmsv. South) Ervin Harrell (Cheektowaga) Zaire Rogers (Cheektowaga) Jordan Nosal (Maryvale) Nate Zawadski (Maryvale) Kyle Alberici (Cicero/North Syracuse) MVP: Josh BigFord (Cicero/North Syracuse).

High School Extra: Bulldogs win NT title
By Staff, Bufflo News
Saturday, October 14, 2017

No. 5 large school Hamburg beat ECIC II rival and No. 2 ranked Williamsville East in straight sets (25-20, 25-14) to win North Tonawanda’s 20-team Dig Pink Tournament.

The Bulldogs beat Chautauqua Lake in the quarterfinals, 30-24, and Sacred Heart in the semifinals, 30-26.

“Our trust in each other gets stronger by the day and is coming at an opportune time in the season,” Hamburg coach John Crangle said. “After a comeback win against Sacred Heart, we fed off that momentum and confidence.”

In Orchard Park’s boys tournament, Eden swept Clarence in the final by set scores of 25-17 and 25-18. Collin Rigley had nine kills and two blocks against the Red Devils, while Drew Hesse added eight kills and an ace. Gavin Musielak was named tournament MVP for the Raiders, who didn’t drop a set all afternoon.

Former IPFW volleyball players striving to help Puerto Rico
They want to hand-deliver supplies to key areas
BLAKE SEBRING, News-Sentinel.com
Saturday, October 14, 2017

Former IPFW volleyball players Jeff Ptak, left, and Jorge Ralat are hoping to raise money to
deliver supplies to Puerto Rico in the near future. (By Blake Sebring of The News-Sentinel.com)

Former IPFW men’s volleyball player Ivan Matos returned from his Puerto Rican home on Friday. He really didn’t want to leave, but the Puerto Rican league he was playing in canceled its season and he needed to work so he could send money home.

“From what I saw the day after the hurricane in the metro area, it looks like a war zone,” Matos said of the area around Guaynabo in the northeast part of the island. “All these trees were down, roofs were ripped off, electric cement posts were knocked down. My mom went out the day of the hurricane to see if her parents were OK… and when she came back, she was terrified because of how much destruction there was.”

His family’s house was built to withstand hurricane winds, they now have running water and a generator to provide electricity, but many on the island are still lack necessities.

“They say that the destruction took Puerto Rico back to the 1940s in that regard,” Matos said. “People are going to be desperate and they are going to start dying. Hospitals don’t have any electricity to take care of people. People are so desperate for water, they aren’t boiling it before drinking it. There is a large portion of the population down there that is really, really struggling, and they don’t know what is going to happen. They have no assurance that they are going to be OK.”

A trio of former IPFW volleyball players — brothers Felipe and Jorge Ralat and Jeff Ptak — are trying to do something to help. As the hurricane hit Puerto Rico, friends started asking Ralat and his wife Molly in Fort Wayne what they could do to help. With guidance from their sister Maricarmen who lives near San Juan, Felipe (who lives in Weston, Fla.) and Jorge came up with a fundraising idea, and Ptak knew he had to be a part of it after playing professionally in Puerto Rico for six years. Maricarmen works for a distribution center, and the friends decided they would do even better by personally buying the supplies, renting the delivery trucks and helping distribute them.

They started a fundraising page at https://www.gofundme.com/helping-puerto-rico-rise, and so far have raised almost $7,600 during the first week. There is also going to be a fundraiser for Puerto Rico on Oct. 30 at Hotel Tango 2, 10212 Chestnut Plaza with the proceeds going to the Ralats and Ptak’s mission.

“What’s cool about it, people know us down there, and when they see us going down to help out, it gives them a sense of hope that there are people who want to help and are going to help,” Ptak said. “I don’t care what you read on social media, Puerto Rico is not doing fine. It’s like the apocalypse down there. They are going to the mountain to drink water that is coming out of a hose.”

The brothers and Ptak are staking their reputations and credibility on their actions, which is partly how they’ve been able to raise the money so far.

“We love the idea, because we know where our money is going,” Jorge Ralat said. “We also love that with or campaign, we are giving other people the opportunity to help and be at peace knowing that their money is having a direct impact. We are going on a journey and we are planning to videotape and take pictures and show you how your money is being used.

“Just the fact that we can help somebody is huge to us. Somebody is going to benefit from this. You never know when somebody is down, but we want to be here for them. Whatever little we can do, we’re going to do it.”

There is currently no deadline or target date because they are paying for their own plane tickets, paid for by Jorge Ralat and Ptak through teaching extra lessons at Empowered Sports Club. Ptak, who recently retired as a player, is attending Impact Cosmetology Academy and working at The Golden, while Ralat is a salesperson at Pfizer Pharmaceutical.

So why not just donate the money to the Red Cross or some other charity organization?

“We won’t know where the money is going or if it is getting the the places that need it so desperately,” Ptak said. “There are a lot of areas down there that haven’t even been touched yet. I owe Puerto Rico everything, and this saddens me, to see all of our friends and people we love down there just be devastated, and then have people say it wasn’t a true disaster just hurts. I feel like I owe it to the people down there for what they have given me.”

Jorge Ralat said his aunt lives in a small town called Panuelas that no one has reached to help yet. Matos said the lack of communication infrastructure is a huge problem, especially with directing rescue workers. He said the weather destroyed many roads and bridges, preventing travel to some areas. That just makes Jorge Ralat and Ptak hungrier to get going.

“Whatever we can take down, whatever we can do, we will know we have done our part and we will help someone,” Ralat said. “We will do what we can.”

For more on local sports, follow Blake Sebring on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blakesebring and on Facebook at Blake Sebring.

Bulls Defeat Western Michigan For Second Straight Win
ubbulls.com
Saturday, October 14, 2017

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team won their second straight match on Saturday night as the Bulls took down the MAC West leading, Western Michigan Broncos, 3-1, at Alumni Arena. The Bulls improved to 11-8 on the year and 4-4 in the MAC.

The Bulls took the match 23-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-19 as UB hit .315, its second straight night hitting over .300.

The Broncos got off to a quick start in the opening set as they led 18-13 before a 6-1 Buffalo run tied the set up at 19-19. The set remained tied at 22-22 when Western Michigan scored two straight points and they went on to take the opening set 25-23.

UB responded in the second set with a dominating performance as the Bulls hit .393 in the set. Buffalo led by just a pair at 13-11 when it scored four straight points, as a service ace from Polina Prokudina extended the lead to 17-11. A solo block by senior Cassie Shado put the Bulls up 21-12 and a kill by Prokudina clinched the set, 25-16.

Western Michigan ran out to an early 11-8 lead in the third set as the Bulls called the timeout. It worked as UB answered with a 9-3 run as a kill from Kristina Nieves put Buffalo up 17-14. The Broncos fought back and the set was tied at 23-23 when kills from Prokudina and sophomore setter Scout McLerran clinched the set, 25-23.

Buffalo opened up a 6-2 lead in the fourth set before Western Michigan cut it to just two at 9-7. The Bulls answered with three straight points as a WMU attack error forced the Broncos to call timeout with Buffalo leading 12-7. The Bulls continued to roll in the set as a block from Nieves and freshman Andrea Mitrovic put Buffalo ahead 19-10. Still leading by nine, a kill from Shado forced WMU to call their second timeout with UB leading, 22-13. The Broncos fought off four set points, but a kill by Raven Jordan clinched the set and the match.

Prokudina led the Bulls with 21 kills, while adding 11 digs, one of five players in double figures. Shado finished with 19 kills and just two errors as she hit .486, while adding four blocks, including two solos.

Mitrovic added 10 kills and 11 digs, while Nieves had five kills and a team-high five blocks. McLerran finished the night with 53 assists in four sets, while adding 12 digs and four kills, with no errors. Jordan added three kills.

Junior Larra Bickelhaupt led the Bulls with 17 digs, while Hannah Watson added 12.

The Bulls will now begin a five-match road trip beginning on Friday night at Central Michigan.

Wildcats Oust The Knights In Four Sets
Lea Sobieraski Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant, daemenwildcats.com
Saturday, October 14, 2017

AMHERST, N.Y. – The Daemen College women's volleyball team overthrew Queens College in four sets in East Coast Conference action. The Wildcats topped the Knights 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-16 today at Lumsden Gymnasium. 

The results today drive Daemen to 9-10 overall and 5-2 in the ECC, Queens falls to 5-11 overall and 2-5 in the league. 

Sophomore middle blocker Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania / Targu Mures) posted her second-straight 15 kill performance to lead the Wildcat offense. Redshirt junior Courtney Scanlan (Ellicottville, N.Y. / Stony Brook) and sophomore Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y. / Eden) registered 12 and 11 kills respectively, while freshman Jenn Heritz (Granger, Ind. / Penn ) added eight. Meghan Ballou also tallied 14 kills in the victory for her eighth double-double of the season.

Senior setter Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Schroeder) dished out a match-high 43 assists and added seven digs. Georgia Wicker (Woodstock, Ill. / Woodstock) registered her fourth 20-plus dig performance, recording a career-high 29 digs. Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y. / Eden) and Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill. / West Aurora) rounded out Daemen's defensive effort, notching nine and eight kills respectively. 

"I like how we responded to a sloppy first set. We came back in sets 2, 3 and 4, and took care of the ball on our side," said head coach Stephanie Albano. "Katie is doing a nice job of running our middles in transition to give us a balanced attack."

Queens was led by junior Leeks Hollis (Holtsville, N.Y.), the outside hitter doubled up with 13 kills and 15 digs. Senior Kristen Moore (Medford, N.Y.) registered 35 helpers in the loss. 

In the opening set, the Knights tallied 17 kills and posted a .324 hitting percentage en route to their sole set win of the day, capturing the first set 25-21.

In the second set, the Knights jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, but the Wildcats outscored Queens 11-5 to even the score at 15. Daemen used a three-point burst to take their first lead of the game 18-16. The run included a kill from Scanlan capped by two straight-kills from Apostol. Daemen closed out the set 25-21.

It was all Daemen in the third and fourth sets. The Wildcats held the Knights to six kills in the third frame and eight in the fourth, for a .0325 attack percentage. Daemen won the third set 25-17, followed by a 25-16 victory in the final set. 

Up next, Daemen begins the second portion of their East Coast Conference regular season schedule next weekend, traveling to University of Bridgeport and Mercy College on October 21 and 22. The Wildcats first square off against the Purple Knights on Saturday (Oct. 21) at 12:00 p.m., followed by another afternoon contest versus the Mavericks on Saturday (Oct. 22) at 1:00 p.m.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.

Women's Volleyball Stumbles at Mount Aloysius
Mounties defeat Mavericks (3-1)
medaillesports.com
Saturday, October 14, 2017

CRESSON, PA – The Medaille College Mavericks Women's Volleyball team traveled to Pennsylvania to take on the Mounties of Mount Aloysius in an AMCC showdown. The Mavericks looked to stop a two match skid; however, the Mounties were too much for the Mavs on the road as Medaille fell (3-1; 25-16, 22-25, 25-11, 25-14).

The Mavericks started slow, dropping set number one to the Mounties (25-16). While the Mavs found themselves in a whole, they climbed out almost as quickly jumping all over Mount Aloysius in set number two. The Mavericks took an early led in the set and never looked back, holding off a late Mountie surge to tie things at one a piece.

Unfortunately for the Mavs, Mount Aloysius claimed the final two sets to hand Medaille their third loss in a row.

The team numbers in Saturday's match were very comparable, with Mount barley out killing the Mavs (43-40). Both teams finished with three blocks, and the Mavs earned (75) digs compared to Mount Aloysius' (70).

The biggest difference in Saturday's match was each teams hitting percentage. While the Mavs earned a (.238) percentage in their set two win, Medaille finished with a (.054) hitting percentage when their final two sets saw them hit in the negatives.

Sophomore Melissa Postek (Williamsville, NY, Williamsville South) led all Mavs with (11) kills while freshman Alexa Hoiensahl (Depew, NY, Maryvale) wasn't far behind with (9) of her own. Freshman Savannah Berry (Livonia, NY, Livonia) had a double-double with (36) assists and (14) digs; while freshman Gina Appenheimer (Buffalo, NY, St. Mary's of Lancaster) (19), senior Bailey Salemi (Wheatfield, NY, Niagara Wheatfield) (16), and Postek (13) each added double digit digs of their own.

The loss drops Medaille to (3-19) overall and (2-3) in AMCC play as they look forward to a date with cross town rival D'Youville College on Tuesday, October 17 at 7:00 pm.

Spartans Leave AMCC Quad-Match with Win and Loss
athletics.dyc.edu
Saturday, October 14, 2017

Pittsburgh, PA – The D'Youville women's volleyball team played a pair of games on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Pitt.-Greensburg Bobcats in game one 3-0 and losing to the host La Roche Redhawks in game two 3-0.

In game one against the Bobcats, the two teams were tied at 9-9 before the Spartans went on a 14-3 run to take a dominate lead at 23-12. From that point on, the Spartans would close it out and take the first set 25-19. D'Youville carried over their hot start to the second set where they led 14-10 early. However Greensburg came back to tie the set at 16-16 and then 19-19 before the Spartans scored six of the next seven points to win the set 25-20. D'Youville again led in the third set at 13-6, but the Bobcats came back and tied it up at 15-15. As the set went on, the two were tied at 18-18 before the Spartans got hot again to close out the set by winning 25-19 and winning the match 3-0.

Three players led the team in kills, recording six each. Megan Schneider (Lockport, NY/Lockport) recorded five kills to go with her team high 10 digs while Abby Booth (Hamburg, NY/Frontier) led the team with 10 assists, adding six digs. Leading the team with four blocks was Julie Fleming (Tonawanda, NY/Mt. St. Mary's Academy), who was also one of the players with six kills.

The second match of the day began with the Redhawks holding a lead throughout the entire first set. La Roche established an early lead and built upon it, leading 18-11 and going on to win 25-18. Again in the second set the Redhawks failed to trail the Spartans throughout. Leading 4-0, La Roche built their lead to 15-9 and then 20-15 before they would win by the final of 25-18. The Redhawks were again out to an early lead before the Spartans would come back to take over the lead from La Roche at 12-11 and then went up by three at 17-14. The Spartans held a lead over the Redhawks at 23-21 but the Redhawks stormed back to retake the lead and win the third 26-24 and the match 3-0.

Kendyll Smith (Petrolia, PA/Karns City) led the team with 12 kills as Schneider added nine. Booth recorded a double-double with 14 assists and 10 digs. Alexandra Bubar (Wilson, NY/Wilson) had a team high 16 digs. Lauren Conley (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) led the way with three blocks.

The women will next host the Medaille Mavericks for senior night on Tuesday, October 17 for their final home match of the season. Game time is 7:00pm.

Bulls Defeat Western Michigan For Second Straight Win
ubbulls.com
Friday, October 13, 2017

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team snapped a four-match losing skid on Friday night as the Bulls swept the defending Mid-American Conference Tournament champions, Northern Illinois, 3-0, at Alumni Arena. The Bulls are now 10-8 on the season and 3-4 in league play.

The Bulls took the contest 25-23, 25-14, 25-19 as UB hit a season-high .327 for the match, while the Huskies hit just .182. The first set was really the only one that was close all night. Northern Illinois opened the match on a 9-4 run, but the Bulls responded with their own 9-4 run as a service ace from freshman Andrea Mitrovic tied the set up at 13-13. UB then went on to take a 17-14 advantage before the Huskies came back to tie it up at 23-23. Following a UB timeout, the Bulls got back-to-back kills from sophomore Polina Prokudina, which clinched the opening set for Buffalo, 25-23.

After hitting .333 in the opening set, the Bulls dominated the second set, hitting .400 as a team. UB led by just one at 9-8 in the set when the Bulls went on a 9-1 run, as a kill from junior Raven Jordan put Buffalo ahead 18-9. Jordan had a pair of kills during the run as she put forth one of her best performances of the year. A kill from Mitrovic extended the lead to 22-12 and a kill by senior Cassie Shado ended the set in favor of the Bulls, 25-14.

Buffalo kept its foot on the pedal in the third set, racing out to an 11-6 advantage as a kill from Mitrovic forced and early NIU timeout. A service ace from freshman Vanessa Marinelli extended the Buffalo lead to 18-13 and another kill by Shado put the Bulls ahead 23-17. The Huskies fought off one set point, but sophomore setter Scout McLerran ended it with her fourth kill of the night to clinch the set and the match.

"I was really proud of the way the entire team stepped up tonight and defeated a Northern Illinois team that had been playing some of its best volleyball lately," said head coach Blair Brown Lipsitz. "I thought we got contributions from everyone on the court and that is what you need to win matches in this league."

Mitrovic led the Bulls with 17 kills, while adding three aces and six digs. Prokudina had 11 kills, while chipping in seven digs and three assists.

Sophomore Kristina Nieves stepped back into the starting lineup in the middle tonight and answered with six kills and no errors as she hit .600. Shado added six kills as she hit .455 with three blocks, including a solo.

Jordan had four kills and three digs, while McLerran added four kills in addition to her 35 assists, eight digs, and two blocks.

Junior Larra Bickelhaupt had 18 digs, averaging 6.00 digs per set in the win. She also tied for team-high honors with three aces and added four assists. Sophomore Hannah Watson had five digs, while Marinelli stepped in as a serving specialist and came away with an ace and two digs.

The Bulls set a number of season highs for a three-set match tonight; including hitting percentage (.327), kills (48), assists (44), and digs (49).

Buffalo will remain home tomorrow evening when the Bulls host Western Michigan at Alumni Arena. The match is set to begin at 6pm.

Women's Volleyball Blanks Molloy In ECC Action
Lea Sobieraski Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant, daemenwildcats.com
Friday, October 13, 2017

AMHERST, N.Y. – The Daemen College women's volleyball team swept Molloy College in straight sets this afternoon in East Coast Conference action at Lumsden Gymnasium. The Wildcats cruised to their fourth league win, defeating the Lions 25-23, 25-18, 25-19.

Today's victory moves Daemen to 8-10 overall with a 4-2 conference mark; the Wildcats have won seven of their last ten matches. With the loss, Molloy drops to 15-4 overall and 4-2 in the league. The two teams have faced off ten times in four years, Daemen now leads the all-time series 8-2.

The Wildcats ousted the Lions in nearly every statistical category in today's win. Sophomore middle blocker Cristina Apostol (Bucharest, Romania / Targu Mures) tied her season-high kill total with 15 and notched an impressive .429 attack percentage, while adding three blocks. Courtney Scanlan (Ellicottville, N.Y. / Stony Brook) and Meghan Ballou (Eden, N.Y. / Eden) each notched eight kills in the sweep, while freshman Tirzah Peters (Amherst, N.Y. / Sweet Home) registered a team-high .667 hitting percentage and rookie Abby Francis (Goodrich, Mich. / Goodrich) posted a match-high 4 blocks. Senior Katie McKrell (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Schroeder) governed the Wildcat attack, dishing out 39 assists. 

Daemen's strong defensive showing was once again led by rookie libero Georgia Wicker's (Woodstock, Ill. / Woodstock) 19 digs. The Wildcats held Molloy to a .074 hitting percentage, their lowest of the season thus far. Meghan Ballou and freshman Ali Greenwood (North Aurora, Ill. / West Aurora) both tallied nine digs, while Kailey Ballou (Eden, N.Y. / Eden) added eight. 

"This was a big match for our team. We had great practices leading up to this match and it translated onto the court, "said head coach Stephanie Albano on her squad's imposing performance. "It was a complete team effort and we need to bring this same level of play into tomorrow." 

After trailing 3-4 in the early going of the opening set, Daemen used a five-point spurt on the serve of McKrell to take the lead 7-4. The Lions outscored the Wildcats 9-4 to retake the lead 13-11, but the Wildcats responded and evened the score at 17. Molloy scored five-consecutive points for a three-point lead (23-20), however the gritty Wildcats clawed back, winning the last five-points of the set for a 25-23 victory.

In the second set, Daemen jumped out to a quick 9-4 advantage. The opening run included kills from Scanlan, Apostol and Francis. The Lions used a five-point burst on to close the Daemen gap 9-8. The Wildcats cruised to their biggest lead of the frame (22-15), notching five-straight points on the serve of Jenn Heritz (Granger, Ind. / Penn). Molloy was unable to halt the Daemen momentum and the Wildcats went on to take the second set 25-18.

In the third and final set, the Wildcats continued to dominate the Lions. Daemen only committed three errors and notched 13 team-kills for a .286 attack percentage to seal the deal. The Wildcats had a 15-11 lead, forcing the Lions to take a timeout after a kill from Peters. The closest Molloy would get to the Wildcats was three-points (22-19) the rest of the way. Meghan Ballou nailed home a kill, followed by two monstrous Wildcat blocks to take the set (25-19) and game.

The Lions were led by sophomores Shannon Wren (Lynbrook, N.Y. / Lynbrook) and Sophia Smith (Georgetown, Texas / Georgetown), Wren posted a team-high nine kills and Smith registered 25 assists and five digs.

Tomorrow afternoon Daemen plays host to Queens College in another East Coast Conference contest. The Wildcats and Knights are set to begin action at 2:00 p.m. Tomorrow's match is the Wildcats' annual Dig Pink Match, all fans attending are encouraged to wear pink clothing and accessories. All proceeds raised during the game will be donated to the Sideout Foundation in support of breast cancer awareness and research.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's volleyball team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenVB on Twitter.

High School Extra: Lancers, Sharks roll
Staff, Buffalo News
Friday, October 13, 2017

St. Mary’s of Lancaster continued its domination on the local girls volleyball scene Friday.

The No. 1 small school Lancers, who are also considered the top team in all of Western New York, swept No. 3 large school Orchard Park by set scores of 28-26, 25-19 and 25-19. The Quakers were coming off of Wednesday’s big four-set win over No. 1 Clarence.

Jasmine Brundage had 15 digs, Kelly Cleversley 14 digs and Marie Rhodes five blocks for the winners, who have a record of 30-5-2 (including tournaments).

In Monsignor Martin action, No. 10 small school Sacred Heart beat No. 9 Mount St. Mary in straight sets, 25-23, 25-16 and 25-14. Micaela Ryan led the Sharks with 14 kills.

Crusaders win on road

No. 2 boys volleyball team Canisius swept Baldwinsville of Section III by set scores of 27-25, 25-17 and 25-20 in a trip out to the Syracuse area.

Troy Gooch led the way with 19 kills and three aces, while Matt Donnelly had 10 kills and two aces.

The Crusaders (16-5) play Cicero-North Syracuse Saturday afternoon. Baldwinsville and Cicero are considered to be among the top teams in their respective section.

In ECIC I play, No. 10 Orchard Park upset No. 4 Frontier in a five-set thriller. The Falcons won the first two sets, 25-11 and 25-21, before the Quakers stormed back to win the last three by scores of 25-23, 25-21 and 19-17.

Matt Donohue had a team-high 18 kills and seven aces to lead OP. Ben Shoop contributed 13 kills and seven blocks to the winning effort, while Hudson Harris added three kills and four blocks.

Jon Miller had 16 assists and Dylan Aarum 10 kills to lead No. 8 Sweet Home to a three-set sweep at West Seneca East.

The win by the Panthers (11-2, 10-1) sets up an ECIC II showdown next Tuesday at No. 9 Hamburg, which also has one loss in the league. The Bulldogs swept Sweet Home in the first meeting.

High School Extra: Orchard Park upends Clarence
By Amy Moritz, Buffalo News
Thursday, October 12, 2017

After dropping the first game, Orchard Park came back to win three straight and upend top-ranked Clarence in an ECIC Division I girls volleyball match. The Quakers won, 19-25, 25-23-, 25-20, 25-20.

"Clarence has dominated our division the last few years. They're a hard team to beat," OP coach Greg Lardo said. "They came out and beat us good in Game 1. By the middle of Game 2, we finally relaxed a bit, took a deep breath and started making smarter plays and stayed aggressive."

Ashley Dogal had 10 kills and five blocks for the Quakers (13-3, 9-2) while Amanda Renaldo had 39 digs and one ace.

"It's nice to see my team start to really believe in each other and really have expectations they're going to win," Lardo said. "You see it on their faces, in their play. They're playing with confidence."

Lady Legends volleyball stumbles with tough week
by TAYLOR NIGRELLI Reporter, Lancaster Bee
Thursday, October 12, 2017

Lancaster girls’ volleyball suffered a setback last week, losing two league matches to fall to third place in ECIC I. Unforced errors were a major culprit in the two-game slide, which dropped the team to 6-3 in league play. The Lady Legends fell to first-place Clarence Tuesday in three sets.

“We prepared a lot for the Clarence match,” Lancaster Coach Becky Edwards said. “We watched a lot of film on them and practiced their tendencies. We just made a lot of unforced errors in that match. Our hitting and serving were off. Clarence is too good to have an off day against.”

The team then lost to Orchard Park Thursday in three sets, after defeating the Lady Quakers earlier in the season. Unforced errors were again an issue for Lancaster.

“We had an injury going into the OP match and I don’t know if that affected us,” Edwards said. “They came out on fire. They weren’t making errors and we were. You can’t do that against good teams.”

The team was initially scheduled to have one game this week, against Jamestown Thursday. But that was rescheduled to earlier in the season (Lancaster won) so the Lady Legends will now take on Williamsville South in a non-league match. The focus will be on limiting unforced errors ahead of a big week next week. The slate will feature Frontier, West Seneca West and Williamsville North.

“We have three matches next week,” Edwards said. “We can’t take Frontier lightly. Then we have West Seneca West then our senior night is against Williamsville North. They’re good. It will be good to have a little bit of a break with one match this week. We’re going to regroup and get back on track.”

Another area the team is continuing to work on is how the passing game works when the first pass doesn’t go according to plan. They’re looking to improvise better than they have thus far.

“We have been having trouble dealing with out of system passing, when the ball is not passed perfectly to the setter,” Edwards said. “We’re working on finding better options when the first pass does not go well. We’re also focused on our blocking. We’re one of the taller teams in the division so we should be able to use that to our advantage. We’re going to continue to work on that.”

The team is still in fairly good shape heading into the final two weeks of the season. The Lady Legends are in third place, just one win behind second-place Orchard Park. They’re looking to get back into the sectional final this year and they have the talent and experience to do it. The defense is led by Katie Becht. Sam Moll and Julia Kurowski have been key on offense. The hitting leaders are Kurowski, Grace Blair and Katie Kozak.

“There are eight seniors and they have been around for a very long time,” Edwards said. “They don’t want to finish the way we played last week. It’s almost playoff time so we all have to get on the same page to make sure we have a successful season. Our goal before the season was to make the sectional final and that’s still something that we’re hoping to do.”

Lady Lancers volleyball undefeated in league play
TAYLOR NIGRELLI Sports Reporter, Lancaster Bee
Thursday, October 12, 2017

It’s been another year of dominance for St. Mary’s girls volleyball. The Lady Lancers are off to an 8-0 start in league play and have yet to lose a single match to a team from New York State. This is despite the fact that the team lost a solid chunk of starters from last year’s squad. It’s business as usual for this program.

“We’re 28-5 right now. I don’t think we’ve lost to a New York State Team yet,” St. Mary’s coach Don Pieczynski said. “We’re looking to keep that streak going. We lost to some Pennsylvania teams and some New Jersey teams, but we’re trying to win out now.”

The Lady Lancers rolled to two more league wins last week, topping Mount St. Mary and Nardin in three sets each.

“I just thought we executed to our potential,” Pieczynski said. “Our ball control was steady. We’re looking to win out the league.”

The team travelled to Corry, Pennsylvania for a tournament Saturday. They ended up losing in the quarterfinal round in a one-set elimination format. Considering the team has played a bevy of tournaments, both local and out-of-state, fatigue may have set in.

“We’ve had a pretty heavy travel schedule so we’ve kind of hit a wall,” Pieczynski said. “We have a few days off with Columbus Day so we’re looking to get rested.”

Looking ahead, the team will have Sacred Heart and Orchard Park this week, both of whom have been very solid this season.

“They’re two good teams. We’re playing at Sacred Heart and we’re likely to see them in the playoffs at some point,” Pieczynski said. “Sacred Heart is a big league game for us. Orchard Park is a strong team. They’re more than up-and-coming, they’ve arrived. That will be a good non-league match, but we’re looking to take on all comers.”

The Lady Lancers would like to keep up their undefeated streak against New York State teams, but the slate won’t be easy. Eden, Lancaster and Our Lady of Mercy are all on the docket after the tough couple of games this week.

“We have some tough ones. We have Sacred Heart and Orchard Park this week,” Pieczynski said. “Then we’re going to Rochester to play Our Lady of Mercy. We have Lancaster and Eden too. We’re loading up the schedule to be ready for the playoffs and states.”

A tough non-league schedule is not uncommon for St. Mary’s. It’s a tactic the team uses to get ready for league and state playoffs.

“We’re still focused on finishing our season,” Pieczynski said. “It’s a tough row to hoe, but that’s what champions are made of. We have to prove our mettle if we want to win it all.”

Road warrior mentality pushes Flyers’ boys volleyball to victory
Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 12, 2017

Maryvale’s boys volleyball team made the most of its week away from home, picking up three victories — including two in league play — and reaching the semifinals of the Lockport Tournament to cap a busier than-usual stretch of competition.

The Flyers were knocked out of contention for the Lockport title — by 23-25, 22-25 scores — by Starpoint, which was still stewing after being toppled by Maryvale not even 24 hours earlier by 22-25, 26-24, 25-16, 23-25 and 15-12 marks. Maryvale had gone undefeated in pool play at the tournament, sweeping North Tonawanda (25-19, 25-20), St. Mary’s of Lancaster (25-16, 25-17) and West Seneca East (25-14, 25-13).

“Playing seven sets against the same team in 20 hours is always fun,” Maryvale coach Jon Bednasz said of his squad’s clashes with Starpoint. “We use tournaments to get better, though, and I think we improved a lot this week. We were able to face three teams in pool play that we don’t normally see, and that’s what I always hope to get out of a tournament appearance.”

Jordan Nosal led the team in kills and aces on the day, finishing with 92 and 14 in eight sets, respectively, to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

“Jordan was the best player in the gym at Lockport,” Bed- nasz said. “He had his complete game — offense, defense and leadership — and I felt he had the toughest serve, too. We moved Jordan all over the court on offense, and no one had an answer for him. He was nearly unstoppable when attacking the ball.”

The night before, 10th-ranked Starpoint showed it was itching to avenge an earlier loss to the fifth-ranked Flyers, taking advantage of Maryvale’s slow start to take the first set. Bednasz called the second set a “dog fight from the first serve,” with neither squad able to open up more than a three-point lead at any time.

For the night, Nosal finished with 24 kills, 11 digs and five aces, while Tom Frain added 13 kills. Nate Zawadzki dished out 39 assists for the victors.

“Anytime you get two top-10 teams in a divisional match, it’s going to be a battle,” Bednasz said. “It really wound up being an intense match with plenty of spectacular plays. Matches like this are great for pushing your team to the next level, because in order to get better, you have to play outside your comfort zone. Starpoint is a talented team with a lot of size — and we don’t match up well with big teams — but our guys have heart, hustle and are pretty darn smart on the court.”

Maryvale entered Friday’s match looking to do well after cruising to a 25-9, 25-18, 25-15 victory over Depew two days earlier. Zawadzki wasn’t available that night, which meant the setting duties were split by Frain (15 assists in two sets) and Nosal (8 assists in one set). Brenden Sphar and Travis Jordan led the team with five kills each, while Josiah Petz had 10 digs and four aces.

The Flyers’ slate of games began on Oct. 2 with a 25-12, 25-15, 25-14 non-league triumph at Williamsville South. Nosal “was a force from the service line, at the net and in the back row,” Bednasz said, recording 11 kills, six aces and five blocks. Zachary Amato chipped in seven kills and two blocks, while Frain had 14 digs. Kyle Kosmack chipped in with six kills and four blocks.

“Williamsville South has a long tradition of putting quality teams on the court, and we wanted to see some other teams in Western New York to get a feel for how the other divisions play and how well we stack up,” Bednasz said. “Fortunately for us, like he has been most nights, Jordan was the best player on the court.”

Maryvale (8-1 ECIC III) returned to action Wednesday by hosting Lake Shore, but information about that league contest was not available at press time. The Flyers close out their week by taking on Iroquois Friday, and then have a few days off before traveling to Orchard Park for a non-league contest Wednesday.

Bednasz plans on using the Flyers’ last few outings of the regular season to tinker with the lineup a bit, as he feels “we have not found our best combination yet.”

“We have a talented group for athletes and it seems each week we can add a new wrinkle to our lineup,” Bednasz said. “These guys can all play multiple positions and they do it well, which is why we’ve had three distinct lineups this year. Trying to finding the best lineup is a challenge, but it’s a great problem to have as a coach. I’m anticipating experimenting with a fourth lineup this week to see how they hold up.

“As a coach you never want to leave something on the table,” Bednasz continued. “One of our strengths is the athleticism of the seven guys who see a majority of the court time. I feel there is some untapped potential in some of our lineup combinations. Even though they might look good on paper, we have to try it on the court and try them on for size.”

East sweeps ‘Dig Pink’ doubleheader
JASON NADOLINSKI Sports Reporter, West Seneca Bee
Thursday, October 12, 2017

West Seneca East’s boys and girls volleyball teams took down their counterparts from the West side of town to earn a sweep of Friday’s rivalry matches at the 10th annual “Dig Pink” Volley- ball Cancer Fundraising Event, held once again at the Buffalo Niagara Court Center.

The Trojans’ boys team defeated the Indians’ squad by 21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 15-11 scores, while the Lady Trojans triumphed via 25-23, 25-21, 14-25, 25-22 marks. School officials said Wednesday morning that $2,700 was raised at this year’s event, bringing the 10-year total to more than $15,000.

The East boys’ win was part of an October surge that helped them start to put a tough September stretch behind them, but for West’s girls team, Friday was ultimately a missed opportunity to build off the momentum of defeating Depew in the Lady Indians’ contest leading up to Friday’s doubleheader.

“The Dig Pink event was great,” West girls coach Ashley Bonetto said. “Although we did not come home with the win on the court, we still won off the court with all the money we raised for Buffalo Hospice. All the games we played were close battles and while we just battled for one night, there are a lot of people out there who have been battling for many weeks, months and years for a much bigger purpose. It was just great to see all the teams, families and fans come together to show their support for something much bigger than a volleyball game.”

During the boys’ match, East senior Brendon Bobeck showed confidence and poise late in the match to help the Trojans prevail. Trailing by a 2-1 count in the series and playing from behind in the fourth game as well, Bobeck stayed calm and took the reins on the front lines, getting key points late in the game to bring East back. In the end, Bobeck recorded the final kill to force the match to a decisive fifth game, where he was East’s go-to target.

For the night, Bobeck finished with nine kills, two blocks, an ace, and a 92.3-percent serving percentage.

The Trojans entered the Dig Pink match feeling confident after taking down East Aurora on Oct. 4. Freshman Jackson Strong tied the school record for aces in a match when he served up eight after being called up for the varsity-only contest. Many of his aces came off jump serves.

“We were in a slump at the end of September, but we seem to be turning a corner and getting out of it,” East boys coach Chad Loughran said. “The team played with confidence in the first week of October, going 2-0, and looks to continue doing so while looking towards the playoffs.”

The Trojans (5-7 overall) returned to action Tuesday at East Aurora before hosting St. Joe’s on Wednesday, but information about those contests was not available at press time. East closes out its week by hosting Sweet Home on Friday.

“Confidence is a huge part of volleyball, so for us to have success this week, we will need a strong performance from the team by showing poise and confidence on the court,” Loughran said.

West’s girls team, meanwhile, received strong serving from Holly Guerra and solid offensive play from Miranda Held against East, but in the end that just wasn’t enough to take down the Lady Indians’ crosstown rivals. East, which had not won since it took out Lake Shore on Sept. 27, got five kills and three blocks from Heather Borodzik, while Julia Slowik had eight digs.

Sam Boyd and Maria Spinelli each pitched in with two blocks for the victors.

“Maria has been a huge part of our team — she had five blocks and three kills for us in that Lake Shore win — and Sarah Eisenmenger has consistently been the backbone of this team with her setting,” East girls coach Jenna Yates said.

West was hoping to fare better after taking down Depew on Oct. 4 — by 25-17, 25-11, 18-25, 25-19 scores — in the match leading up to the Dig Pink doubleheader. Sam Sigler “did a great job at the net” and “played very well offensively for us” against the Lady Wildcats, Bonetto said, while Sabrina Passucci “served very well and played well defensively.”

“The season has not been going how we would like it to, but we are continuing to work day in and day out,” Bonetto said. “We have been playing better as of late, even though we haven’t been getting wins, but we’ve certainly been playing better as a team and being more competitive. I can only hope this is going to continue as we move forward.”

The Lady Indians (3-8 overall) returned to action Tuesday at Clarence and Wednesday at Frontier, but information on those matches was not available at press time. West closes out its regular season with three games in as many days next week, starting with Monday’s match at Orchard Park. The Lady Indians will then travel to Maryvale Tuesday before hosting Lancaster on Wednesday.

“We definitely have a tough schedule to close out the regular season, but we are up for the challenge,” Bonetto said. “So long as we make progress every time we take the court, we’ll be heading in the right direction.”

East’s girls team, meanwhile, returned to action Tuesday against Starpoint, but information about that contest was not available at press time. The Lady Trojans (0-4 ECIC II) close out their week by traveling to Sweet Home this evening, and then resume play Monday at Hamburg.

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

OP Girls volleyball squad sweeps three league matches
Sports Reporter TAYLOR NIGRELLI, Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, October 12, 2017

It appears the Orchard Park girls volleyball team is hitting its stride at just the right time. The Lady

Quakers got three big league wins last week to move to 6-2 in league play and 11-3 overall. They defeated Jamestown, Frontier and Lancaster in league play, winning all three matches in three sets. They’re playing well at all aspects of the game.

“I don’t know what the simple answer is,” Orchard Park coach Greg Lardo said. “I think we’re doing a lot of things better. We’re serving the ball in a lot more. We’re not making careless errors. The thing we talk about all the time is trying to be better at defense. We’re keeping the ball off the floor and making teams believe that it’s really hard to score points against us and hopefully make them do things that are out of character for them.”

The win over Lancaster was especially sweet, considering they lost to the Lady Legends earlier in the season. They’re hoping to replicate that success against Clarence and other top teams.

“We’ve won the first game in all of our matches this year. Against Lancaster and Clarence, we lost in four after that. Even when we started out hot and think we have them on the ropes, we’ve had those slip-ups throughout the year,” Lardo said. “I know that playing at home is a big deal for us and we had a big crowd. It was probably our biggest crowd all year. That helped us out a lot. You could see the mentality of my girls before the game; we knew we were going to play well. You can tell a lot just by the way a team warms up and their focus and energy. Everything was just kind of coming together. Beating them 3-0, especially at home, we were pretty excited about that.”

The Lady Quakers will have a busy two weeks to close the season. They’ll have Williamsville North, Clarence and St. Mary’s this week before taking on West Seneca West and Eden, then the Hamburg Tournament the next week. They’re focusing on taking things one match at a time and continuing to do what they did in the past week.

“Last week we had three matches, before that we only had one so we knew we were going to have three for the next three weeks,” Lardo said. “I know the following week we have West Seneca West, Eden and the Hamburg Tournament as well. We’re kind of booked up to end the season. But I guess it’s good because we’re playing better now than we did at the end of the year. We’ll just take each game as it comes. I know we got ahead of ourselves talking about Clarence, but Williamsville North took us to five the first time we played them at our place. We’re trying not to look past them. Their gym is always a hard place to play as well. Nothing else really matters unless we can take care of this game and just get one game at a time.”

The team is in good shape heading into stretch run of the regular season. They are currently second in ECIC I, with wins over every team but Clarence. But they did put forth a solid effort against the Lady Red Devils early in the season. Plus, they’re playing better than they have all season. They’ll have a lot at stake when they take on Clarence Thursday.

“We lost those first two games – one to Lancaster and one to Clarence, they were both away,” Lardo said. “I know our girls really want to beat Clarence now just because Clarence has been undefeated for a few years now in the division. I think they dropped one game to Lancaster last year. We think we have a good chance. We know Lancaster and Clarence are really good teams, so to make it a guarantee that we can play all of our playoff games at home is really our goal. We won’t get the one seed, because Clarence will get it. But if we play them in the finals, that will be at a neutral site. That’s really our goal for this week, so hopefully we can take care of both of those matches.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

Sweet Home boys volleyball completes sweep of East
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Sweet Home’s boys volleyball team earned a big ECIC Division II road win at Williamsville East, 16-25, 25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 15-11 on Oct. 4.

Coupled with a 25-8, 25-9, 25-19 home win over East Aurora Friday, the Panthers are 9-1 in the league and 10-2 overall.

The victory completed a season sweep for the Panthers over East for the first time in probably five years, Sweet Home coach Rich Cicero said.

“They spoiled it for us last year when they won the second match against us, so it was a big win,” Cicero said.

Kaleb Luton stepped up for the Panthers’ offense with 14 kills.

“He was firing on all cylinders, pounding the ball and making great plays on offense,” Cicero said.

Cicero also noted the play of setter Jon Miller for delivering the ball to the right players at the right time, especially in the fifth game.

Sweet Home trailed 8-7 before both teams switched sides and the Panthers outscored East, 8-3, to win the match.

Middle hitter Solomon Shabazz closed out the match with a kill that an East player got a piece of but went out of bounds.

Nate Davis also broke into the starting lineup for the final three games at middle hitter and his jumping ability was a big help in the win, Cicero said.

Evan Bezak added 22 digs.

Against Sweet Home, D.J. Genau tallied three kills and 10 assists.

Sweet Home traveled to St. Mary’s of Lancaster Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. Sweet Home travels to West Seneca East Friday.

Williamsville South

The Billies improved to 5-4 in ECIC II and 5-6 overall with a 26-24, 25-12, 19-25, 25-13 road win over Amherst Friday.

Le Cao tallied eight kills and Nico Zanelotti posted seven kills and three aces.

“We got off to a slow start,” South coach Thom Knab said. “I thought we passed better than Amherst. We also converted passes to our strong attack.”

South also dropped a non-league home match against Maryvale, 14-25, 22-25, 15-25, Oct. 2.

“Maryvale is the fifth-ranked team in Western New York and they played like it,” Knab said. “We did not have enough firepower to match what they have.”

Cao tallied eight kills.

“He had half of our kills and that goes back to having inconsistent passing,” Knab said.

South went 0-6 at Saturday’s Lockport Tournament, losing to Williamsville North, 18-25, 14-25; Lockport, 15-25, 13-25; and Starpoint, 24-26, 22-25.

“We had better passing against Starpoint and put up better defense against their hitters to help keep us in the match,” Knab said.

Knab noted the play of setter/middle hitter Evan Oliver.

South traveled to Starpoint Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. The Billies travel to Iroquois Wednesday, host Hamburg Friday and host the 26th annual Williamsville South Invitational Saturday.

North girls volleyball wins two of three
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Williamsville North’s girls volleyball team recorded wins in two of three ECIC Division I road matches last week to improve its league record to 5-4.

The Lady Spartans beat West Seneca West, 25-9, 25-14, 25-13 Oct. 3 and Frontier 12-25, 25-23, 25-16, 25-13 Friday.

North coach Keith Hopkins said the team played consistently against West and never gave them an opportunity to get anything going.

Against West, Allie Macon tallied 10 kills, Maid Reed recorded eight kills and Abby Vincent handed out 15 assists.

After a slow start against Frontier, Hopkins said his team controlled the match.

Macon tallied nine kills, Vincent posted seven kills and Bri Brown added six kills.

North’s lone blemish was a 10-25, 17-25, 22-25 loss Thursday against Clarence.

“We did not come out with the intensity and focus that we had hoped,” Hopkins said. “We need to come out and play with more of a sense of urgency. This is a match that we need to learn from.”

North (9-7-2 overall) hosted Orchard Park Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. North lost the first meeting in five sets.

North hosts Lockport Thursday and competes in the North Tonawanda Tournament Saturday.

“We hope to continue to get better,” Hopkins said.

League wins improve East girls volleyball to 8-0 in ECIC II
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Williamsville East’s girls volleyball team kept its ECIC Division II record unblemished after recording league victories over Sweet Home, 25-15, 25-11, 25-21, at home Oct. 3 and Williamsville South, 25-17, 25-14, 25-13 on the road Thursday.

East is 8-0 in the division and 8-2 overall.

“We emphasize league matches so much,” East coach Scott Wright said. “It is great that they continue to win these matches and put us in a better chance to have success in the playoffs.”

Wright said his team played one of its best matches of the season against South.

“We had some distractions with homecoming week, so it was almost like we were too pumped up in the beginning and were making a lot of mistakes,” Wright said. “Once we settled down and got into our game plan, everything went like clockwork.”

It didn’t start out great, as South jumped out to a 7-1 lead. However, three kills from Rachel Steffan helped East win four of five points and closed the lead to 8-5.

Two kills from Allison Jozwiak and a shared block from Jozwiak and Nikki Polokoff tied the set at 9-9. A five-point run by Polokoff gave East a 15-10 lead.

South cut into the Lady Flames’ lead and trailed 18-17 before a kill by Steffan stopped South’s run. A six-point serving run from Makayla Greenfield, which included consecutive aces, gave East the set, 25-21.

The second set started with a four-point serving run from Jozwiak to give East a 4-0 lead.

The Lady Flames extended their lead to 10-3 before South went on a run to close within four points at 12-8. Four kills from Steffan helped East regain the momentum and an 18-9 lead.

A four-point serving run from Greenfield made the score 24-13 and a kill from Steffan closed out the set, 25-14.

In set three, Greenfield continued to dominate from the serving line with three aces to give East an 8-3 lead.

South won four of the next five points to make the score 9-7.

Two kills by Jozwiak and a kill from Madeline Reid pushed the lead back to four at 12-8.

A five-point serving run from Jozwiak extended the lead to 17-9.

Two kills from Polokoff and kills from Greenfield and Steffan put the Lady Flames up 22-10, and they would go on to win the final set, 25-13.

For the match, Steffan led the offense with 19 kills, Christy Mack led the defense with 13 digs, and Greenfield finished the match with seven aces.

South coach Tom Sproull said his team made many unforced errors against East.

“I feel like we made unforced error after unforced error,” Sproull said.

South was successful on 89 percent of its serves, well below their usual serving percentage that ranges in the 90s.

“We flat-out missed more serves and hits,” Sproull said.

South’s offense only generated eight kills, led by five from Amari DeBerry.

The lead in the Sweet Home match changed hands several times in the first set, with neither team taking more than a two-point lead.

Two kills by Jozwiak and an ace from Summer Clark gave East a 12-8 lead.

The Lady Flames held a 16-14 lead when Steffan went on a seven-point serving run to extend the lead to 23-14.

A kill by Polokoff and a block from Jozwiak gave the Lady Flames the set, 25-15.

In set two, East raced out to an 11-4 lead behind three kills from Steffan and two kills from Jozwiak.

Kills from Greenfield, Steffan and Jozwiak, and an ace from Mack, extended the lead to 21-10. A kill from Polokoff gave East the set, 25-11.

In set three, kills from Jozwiak, Steffan and Greenfield gave East the first three points.

Kills from Polokoff and Clark pushed the lead to 9-4. Sweet Home won six of the next eight points to get within one point at 11-10.

The teams traded points, and the Lady Flames maintained their lead 18-17. That was as close as Sweet Home would get. Two kills by Jozwiak powered East’s final push as they closed out the set, 25-21.

East was led by Jozwiak (21 kills), Greenfield (33 assists, nine digs), Steffan (15 kills, eight digs), Polokoff (five kills), Mack (10 digs, two aces), and Clark (three kills, six digs).

Christie Ackendorf led Sweet Home with six kills and two blocks.

Lauren Hubert handed out 20 assists and tallied eight digs and two aces.

“We started off strong in the first set and then East held us in a serve receive that we just couldn’t get out of, and took a five-point lead before we could get the ball back,” Sweet Home coach Breean Martin said. “They controlled the tempo in the first two sets, but we battled in the third set and almost got a win. Overall I was pleased with our showing and our improvement from the first time we played them.”

East hosted Amherst Tuesday but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Hamburg Wednesday and compete in the North Tonawanda Tournament Saturday.

Williamsville South

It was a rough week for the Lady Billies as they also fell on the road against Hamburg Oct. 3, 20-25, 13-25, 26-24, 16-25.

Sproull said Hamburg changed its game plan from the first time South played them on Sept. 18, a four-set win, and his squad did not adapt.

“We blocked really well the first time we played them,” Sproull said. “This time, they pushed and tipped the ball over the net, and we had too many balls that hit the floor.”

Megan Muelhbauer tallied nine kills, Maddie Popielski added eight kills and DeBerry tacked on five kills.

South, 6-3 in ECIC II, hosted Sweet Home Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press. South travels to Amherst Thursday and competes in the North Tonawanda Tournament Saturday.

Sweet Home

The Lady Panthers rebounded from the loss to East with a 22-25, 25-14, 25-15, 24-26, 25-10 home win over Starpoint Thursday.

Martin said the team started out slow and played catch-up for the entire first set.

“We then controlled the tempo in sets two and three and easily won,” she said. “We were up 21-20 in set four and proceeded to miss three serves in a row to fall 24-26 and completely turned it on for set five.”

Hubert served eight straight points from point 13 on in the fifth set.

Ackendorf led Sweet Home with 17 kills, six blocks and four aces.

Dayna Edholm (seven kills, four blocks, nine aces); Britney Banks (eight kills, five blocks); and Hubert (15 assists, six aces) also contributed to the victory.

Sweet Home hosted Williamsville South Tuesday, but information about the match was unavailable before The Bee went to press.

Sweet Home hosts Hamburg Thursday and competes in Saturday’s North Tonawanda Tournament.

(Reporter Patrick J. Nagy contributed to the article)

North boys volleyball trying to find its identity
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter, Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Williamsville North boys volleyball coach Jake Waszak knows his team is capable of playing with most teams in Western New York. He just has no idea which team is going to show up.

The Spartans pulled a Jekyll and Hyde routine last week, cruising to a 25-15, 25-14, 26-24 road win over a strong Williamsville East team Oct. 2, and then played poorly in a 15-25, 18-25, 13-25 road loss at Frontier Oct. 4. It’s become an unfortunate pattern for the Spartans this season.

“We have spent a lot of time talking about what it means to play Williamsville North volleyball and what we want to be moving forward,” Waszak said. “We’re focusing on what we are doing on our side of the court, like serving, serve receive, playing defense, and a focus on ball control, and not worrying about what is on the other side of the court. We played our new brand of Williamsville North volleyball against East and played poorly against Frontier.”

North tallied 19 kills in the second set against East.

Adam Gulick led the Spartans in the match with 22 kills, five aces and eight digs.

Joe Battaglia and Jon Abaya both tallied nine kills, and Alex Steinwachs and Justin Konotopskyj each had four kills.

Battaglia also recorded a team-high 11 digs.

Matt Wiepert handed out 43 assists and tallied two aces.

Eoin Burns contributed two aces and four digs, and Mitchell Simon added six digs.

Gulick led the offense against Frontier with 11 kills, three aces and 12 digs.

Konotopskyj, Abaya and Battaglia each tallied four kills, and Steinwachs posted three kills. Burns had one ace.

Wiepert tallied 24 assists. Simon recorded six digs.

North also competed in the Lockport Tournament Saturday, defeating Williamsville South, 25-18, 25-14, and losing to Starpoint, 23-25, 22-25, and Lockport, 15-25, 19-25.

Waszak said the team played its best match of the pool and season against Starpoint.

“A few bounces went their way and that was the difference in the match,” Waszak said. “It was a heartbreaker to lose because if we beat them, we would have advanced in the playoffs and could have had a shot at making the finals.”

North (5-6, 3-4) travels to Clarence Friday and is in the 26th annual Williamsville South Invitational at 8:30 a.m. Sunday at Williamsville South.

“We’re still trending in the right direction, and it is nice to see the progress that they are making,” Waszak said.

Sacred Heart girls volleyball sweeps Nardin, Grand Island
Amherst Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Sacred Heart’s girls volleyball team had a successful week, defeating rival Nardin, 25-11, 25-10, 25-17, Oct. 4 at Villa Maria College, and a non-league game at Grand Island, 25-17, 26-24, 25-16.

Senior Micaela Ryan led the offense against Nardin with eight kills and one ace. She also recorded two digs.

Also contributing on offense were senior captain Clare Falkowski (five aces, two kills; also three digs and one serve); sophomore Siobhan Ryan (five kills, one ace); senior captain Lauren Aichinger (four kills, one ace; one dig); and junior Taylor Jakubik (three kills, two aces; also two serve receives and one dig).

Senior Claire Beecher led the defense with 10 digs and eight serve receives.

Also contributing on defense were Siobhan Ryan (seven digs, five serve receives); sophomore Hannah Tudor (four digs, one serve receive); and junior Gabriella Berardi (two serve receives, one dig; also one ace).

Aichinger had a strong offensive night against Grand Island to lead the team with eight kills and one ace. She also tallied two digs.

Also contributing on offense were Micaela Ryan (seven kills; also three digs); Siobhan Ryan (seven kills); and Jakubik (six aces, one kill).

Siobhan Ryan led the defense with 10 serve receives and eight digs.

Also contributing on defense were Beecher (nine serve receives, five digs); Berardi (five digs, three serve receives); Jakubik (six digs, one serve receive); and Falkowski (four digs, two serve receives).

Sacred Heart (10-2, 6-2) hosts St. Mary’s of Lancaster Wednesday and Mount St. Mary’s Friday.

Kenmore West wins ‘Kills for a Cure’ match against Mount St. Mary
Sports Reporter TAYLOR NIGRELLI, Ken-Ton Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The Kenmore West girls volleyball win over Mount St. Mary Friday night was about more than local bragging rights or a cross-town rivalry game. The match served as Kenmore West’s annual “Kills for a Cure” event, which raises money for Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

The event had a personal touch this year. Kathleen Veronica, the mother of Kenmore West’s Sam Veronica and a staunch Blue Devil supporter, was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year ago. She was honored in a ceremony before the match, where Kenmore West coach Kelly Strong thanked her for all she does for the program and read off a top-12 list of reasons why she is important to the team. The ceremony certainly created a lot of emotion around the match.

“There was definitely a lot of emotion to start off, but I’m really glad the team pulled through for my family and me,” Sam Veronica said. “I know my mom loves it. Everyone loves it. It’s nice to know we have a huge support system. The girls consider her a second mom. Everyone loves her. She really does so much for the team.”

The Lady Blue Devils jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first set, but Mount St. Mary began to storm back soon after. They went on an extended run, making the score 19-12 at one point. Kenmore West began to fight back, but the Thunder put the first set away at 25-19.

The next set featured another strong start by Kenmore West as the team jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Mount St. Mary called a timeout. Things got tighter from there as the score was within two points for much of the set. Eventually, the Thunder tied things up at 18 and Strong called timeout. The Lady Blue Devils were in danger of falling behind 2-0, a tough deficit to fight back from. But they won the first five points out of the break and held on to win the set 25-23.

“We’ve been a team that keeps our composure,” Strong said. “We’ve never been a team to be deer in the headlights. We stay the course. I have faith in the girls that they’re going to do that. To rattle off those five points was huge for us. We just kept pushing from there. We definitely got more aggressive with our serving. Our serving got a lot tougher. Our defense really got a lot better, like reading the hitters a lot better, being able to finish our passes a little more accurately. Those two things were helpful in putting us up over the edge there.”

The third set saw yet another early lead for Kenmore West, as the team again jumped out to a 7-2 lead. However, they kept that up for most of the set, leading 11-3 at one point and 22-11 at another. They finished strong with a 25-16 victory to go up 2-1 in the match.

“As inconsistent as our play was, the girls were able to finish and able to come through in pressure situations,” Strong said. “I’m hap- py about that. Can our play get a little more consistent? Yes, for sure. But we’ll take the win.”

The fourth set was a reversal of fortune, as Mount St. Mary jumped out to a 6-0 lead. But Kenmore West stormed back to tie things at 11. The set stayed within two or three points up until the end when the Lady Blue Devils started to pull away. However, the Thunder kept fighting, diving for balls and keeping volleys going. They fell 25-23, but they made Kenmore West work for it.

Abby Borkowski played a major role in the win. She had 17 kills, 21 digs and three aces. Meanwhile, Veronica had 10 digs and 32 assists.

“My outside hitter, Abby Borkowski, has been the go-to hitter all season,” Strong said. “She’s been doing a great job. Sammy played great defense, too.”

Meanwhile, it was a tough night for the Mount St. Mary team, which had a tough time stringing together good runs after a strong first set.

“It definitely was not our best match,” Mount. St. Mary coach Brittany Schukraft said. “I don’t think we played up to our full potential tonight. I think we easily took that first match, and they had it set in their mind that it would be easier than it actually was. They took complete advantage of that. They just wanted it more.

“We were running our offense pretty quick. The passing was huge for us. That’s what really fell apart after the first set, which is why we were defeated tonight. “There’s always an intensity shift, especially being down and digging yourself a hole. To be able to fight back is just experience and leadership on the court. We’ve had a lot of close matches that have gone to five sets. They just don’t quit. Tonight was not one of our nights.”

Although the Thunder fell behind in nearly every set, they continued to fight back every time. They even nearly forced a fifth set with their resilience.

“We’ve been talking about this and working on this, but sometimes there are just one or two rotations that we miss, or we have bad passing or something like that,” Schukraft said. “We’ve just been trying to work on that. They did a really good job and they were able to come back with it. That was good, because they were down a few points and they were able to work their way back.”

This is the eighth time Kenmore West has hosted the Kill for a Cure event. It’s long been an important match for the team, but this year’s win was just a little more special.

“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year,” Strong said. “They organize the entire thing. The girls really get excited about this match. It’s something fun that we can do for the community. This year we have the personal connection with Kathleen being diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a really special match for us this year in particular.”

email: tnigrelli@beenews.com

Clarence Boys volleyball makes most of sole contest
Clarence Bee
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Clarence’s boys volleyball team had a relatively easy week last week, defeating Lancaster in straight sets on Oct. 4 by marks of 25-16, 25-14, 30-28.

Coach Kevin Starr called Clarence’s effort in the match’s first two sets “some of our best volleyball of the season,” but in the third set, Lancaster had a few shots at game point as the match progressed. Fortunately, the Red Devils were able to fight the Legends off and come away with the win.

“The scores are a pretty accurate indicator of how this match went,” Starr said. “Lancaster has had an up and down season but when they’re on their game, they can play with anyone. We blocked better in this match than we have all season. We average about four blocks a match, and in this one, we had nine. Shawn Trznadel had five of them, and Alex Croff, Nick Maccallini and Alex Maccallini had the others.”

Devin Dzierba had seven kills on the night, including a couple at crucial points in the third set. Trznadel had 11 assists and seven kills to go along with his blocks, while Croff added eight kills. Teddy Payne added seven kills and 14 assists.

Action for the Red Devils (10-4, 5-2 ECIC I) is almost as scarce this week as it was last week, as Clarence does not play until it hosts Williamsville North Friday. The Red Devils will then close out the week by attempting to defend their title at Saturday’s Orchard Park Tournament.

Western New York 2017 Boys Top 10 Poll - 10/10/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Western New York 2017 Girls Top 10 Poll - 10/10/17
Buffalo News
Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Lady Blue Devils Honor Veronica
By Dave Ricci, Sports Union
Sunday, October 8, 2017

Kathleen Veronica is as strong as they come. She never wants her family, especially her daughters to see her cry and worry about her. She usually does a very good job of keeping a brave face, but on this night there was absolutely no way for Kathleen to control her tears. Not because she was scared of the unknown, but because of the love she felt from everyone.

Veronica, whose daughter Samantha is a junior on the Kenmore West volleyball team, was honored in a ceremony prior to the Lady Blue Devils Kills for a Cure breast cancer awareness game against neighboring Mt.St.Mary on Friday night.

“Well it’s awesome, you don’t really want to talk about it,” Kathleen Veronica said, as she was overcome by the outpouring of support. “And I don’t cry about this…it’s a positive night.”

Veronica said as she struggled to compose herself while wiping away the tears that were trickling down her cheeks. The Lady Blue Devils won the game three sets to one, but the final score paled in comparison to magnitude of the evening.

The breast cancer awareness game is a long standing Lady Blue Devils tradition as the program does its part to raise money and spread awareness during the month of October-which is breast cancer awareness month.

But this year’s game was even more meaningful as Veronica, one of the most well liked and involved team mom’s in the program, was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. Preparing for her third surgery that will take place next month Veronica has amazed everyone by her strength and remaining heavily involved helping the team behind the scenes, as she has done for the last seven years.

Head coach Kelly Strong read a speech during the pregame ceremony as Kathleen walked onto the court with family members, including her husband Mike, Samantha and her older sister Erin who graduated from Ken-West this past June.

During the ceremony, Strong read a tongue-in-cheek top-12 reasons why Kathleen is so important to the team, as the players presented Kathleen with pink roses and hugged her. The reasons, which ranged from running the concession stand and the team’s donut fund raiser to driving now co-captain Abby Borkowski to her first-ever volleyball practice.

While each reason prompted some perfectly timed laughter during an emotional moment, Kelly Strong said it was all to show Kathleen how deeply everyone cares about her and that everyone in the Ken-West family is in Kathleen’s corner.

“We came up with the top-12 list, but we could have came up with 100,” Strong said with a smile. “She does so much for us and this is the least that we can do to honor her. We came up with the list in about a minute. It really meant a lot to the girls to do something for Kathleen, especially for Sammy. She’s not one to talk about her emotions very much, but I know this has been weighing on her. I think for us to be able to express how much her mom means to us. I think that was important to her.”

Samantha Veronica, like her mom, usually keeps a pretty stoic face when asked about her mom’s situation. But the expression on Sammy’s face after the game revealed how much she appreciated the network of support backing her family when its needed most.

“I know my mom loves it,” Samantha Veronica said with a smile. “It’s nice to know we have a strong support system with everyone we know. The girls consider her a second mom. Everyone loves her and she really does so much for the team.”

The message of the evening wasn’t lost on the visiting Thunder either. While the focus walking into the gym was to win a volleyball game, as the ceremony unfolded and the Mount girls saw the raw emotion of what the Veronica family was going through-it reminded them of how precious life truly is.

“I think overall it was an emotional say for everyone said Mount junior Grace O’Brien. “It was a really meaningful thing and I was really glad to be a part of it. To be a part of this game. It was a really special thing to be here for Mrs. Veronica, because I do know Sam a little bit. And I know she’s friends with some of the girls on the team. It teaches us that volleyball, even though it’s a big part of our life now, in the long run it’s not as important. And there’s many more important things like our family and our friends.”

Money raised through 50/50, food sales, cash donations and basket raffle will be donated to Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Even though she is facing yet another round of surgery in the toughest battle of her life Kathleen Veronica was still thinking about her loved ones first.

“But I’m kinda just happy that it’s me and not my mom, or my sisters, my kids,” Kathleen said. It’s because of that kind, caring, unselfish heart that so many are people in Kathleen Veronica’s corner. No matter what. “I know I’m strong and I can handle it,” Kathleen said.

A Future Captain
By Dave Ricci, Sports Union
Sunday, October 8, 2017

Chase Steingasser and her coach Jess Anderson exchanged glances and couldn’t help but both laugh when asked if they ever had a discussion about what was expected of Chase this season.

“I know what she expects of me,” Steingasser said. “And I try to meet her goals, but I don’t think we’ve ever really had an individual talk yet.” “She knows that we count on her,” Anderson added.

There’s no need to talk about it at length, really. Chase Steingasser knows what is expected of her and she just does it.

Steingasser, a junior on the North Tonawanda Ladyjacks volleyball team, has established herself as one of the most consistent and dependable players in the Niagara Frontier League. A player the Ladyjacks can count on now, and down the road.

Not wanting to be pigeon holed as having just one positive trait or style, Steingasser said she tries to bring as many different positive qualities to the court. From being energetic and supportive to working as hard as she possible can each game, Chase Steingasser said it all starts from the demands she puts on herself to be her best for the team.

“I feel like I am meeting individual goals,” Steingasser said. “I always set high standards and I try to meet that every game.”

Now in her second year of varsity Steingasser is moving forward after her rookie season was hampered by ankle and back issues. The back injury, which Steingasser thinks may have been connected to a car accident she was in over the summer, came in the middle of the season and cost her two weeks of action. The time lost weighed heavily on Steingasser as she tried to balance wanting to come back as soon as possible to help the team, but she also didn’t want to come back too soon and risk a long term injury.

“It was very frustrating,” she said. “I love to play and not being able to play is not too fun. I tried to recover quick to get back. I didn’t want to come back too soon cause I didn’t want it to be a whole season that I was out. So I tried to take it slow.”

Once her body was fully healed and she was ready to get back on the court Steingasser then had to deal with the mental side of recovery by shaking that foreboding feeling that she would get hurt again if she played too hard.

“There was some hesitations and there still is a little bit cause I don’t want to re-injure myself,” Steingasser confessed. “The year before I had an ankle injury and I don’t want to do something to my ankle again, so there’s always hesitation, but I try not to think about it too much.”

Whether Steingasser realizes it or not she still plays hard on the court and has become a force in the middle for the Ladyjacks.

“I think she is just scratching the surface of what she is capable of,” Anderson said. “Since her freshman year coming in on JV til now, the improvement has been immense. The growth that I’ve seen this year has been tremendous. She is starting to become more consistent. Her errors have gone down. You can see her confidence level is building and you know that you can count on her to at least keep the ball in play. And that’s all because of the confidence in herself and that’s definitely growing.”

Sharpening her skills in travel playing for N.C.V.C., the past four seasons Steingasser’s volleyball I.Q., mixed with her athletic ability make her a gem the Ladyjacks can also look to as a captain next season.

“Without a doubt,” said Anderson. “The growth in her maturity level and her composure has grown too from where she came as a freshman. The maturity level that she has put on herself it’s very different from where it was last year. She takes a lot more ownership and on the sidelines she’s always cheering. She wants her teammates to do well. She wants the team to do well and it shows on the court. She’s always pushing her teammates to push themselves to do more and that’s the strength of a great captain.”

High School Extra: Volleyball titles for Lockport, Mercy
By Staff, Buffalo News
Saturday, October 7, 2017

The Lockport boys volleyball team defended home court to pick up its third tournament title of the season.

Setter Marc Bixby earned MVP honors, as the Lions swept Starpoint in the final and Maryvale in the semis.

Named to the all-tournament team were Lockport’s Sean Denniston and Zach Schneider, Starpoint’s Campbell Schoenfeld and Nico Zhilevich, Maryvale’s Jordan Nosal and St. Mary’s Eric Brown.

In girls volleyball, Mount Mercy beat Olmsted in three sets (18-25, 27-25, 15-12) to capture the title at the Cleveland Hill Tournament.

Elsewhere, No. 9 large school Kenmore West dropped the first set but won the last three to come out of No. 8 small school Mount St. Mary with a nonleague win. Set scores were 19-25, 25-23, 25-16 and 25-23.

Abby Borkowski had 17 kills, 21 digs and three aces, Chloe Moore had 15 digs and two aces, and Samantha Veronica had 32 assists and 10 digs for the Blue Devils, who are now 10-4 overall.

Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame: Charlie O'Brien, the founding father of WNY boys volleyball
By Matt Schneidman, Buffalo News
Saturday, October 7, 2017

The Green Bay Packers offered Charlie O’Brien a contract in the mid-1950s, but he turned it down. He asked his football coach from the University at Buffalo what he should do with the offer letter. His coach told him to frame it and show it to his grandkids.

So he did. Besides, he didn’t see football at the time as a sustainable profession anyway.

O’Brien attended Sloan High School from 1946-50 and after turning down the Packers’ offer, returned to the Buffalo area on the Cleveland Hill High School teaching staff. That began an illustrious career for the founding father of volleyball in Western New York, and he went on to post a 225-15 record coaching Cleveland Hill boys volleyball. During that time, he reeled off 119 straight wins and earned himself a spot in the February 1974 issue of Sports Illustrated.

For his legendary influence on Cleveland Hill and Section VI volleyball, which still stands strong today, O’Brien will be inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 1.

“I think it’s one of the highlights of my life,” O’Brien said. “I’m very pleased and honored and flattered by it.”

The year O’Brien started coaching at Cleveland Hill, the United States volleyball team wasn’t even invited to the Pan-American Games, he said. He read a newspaper article about the Americans’ exclusion, and it fueled his desire to grow the game at a local level.

He worked in the administration at Cleveland Hill and later became the school’s athletic director. He served as chairman for the Erie County Interscholastic Conference Athletic Directors Committee, helping the grassroots movement of volleyball into something bigger. In 1964, the sport was officially acknowledged by the ECIC.

“Before you knew it, we had a good nucleus,” O’Brien said, referencing a base group of Cleveland Hill, Eden, Orchard Park and Williamsville. “.., From there, we went on to do divisions.

“ … I basically had a teacher’s instinct. I wanted to coach and teach.”

O’Brien coached volleyball at Cleveland Hill from 1960-77, amassing an astronomical .938 winning percentage and rattling off 14 straight league titles and 11 sectional championships.

After leaving Cleveland Hill, O’Brien lived in Colorado for 18 years. When he returned to the Buffalo area, he noticed marked differences in how the game was played. The serves were better and more people were playing, most notably. He saw 15 teams playing at once in a gym. “For me, that was kind of a shock,” O’Brien said.

Forty years after leaving his perch as legendary Cleveland Hill coach, O’Brien is more than satisfied with how the game has grown. He’s still involved with the game locally, attending the annual Section VI banquet to interact with coaches and rising players. He’s encouraged by the amount of talent the area produces, even well after he helped ignite some of that talent decades ago.

“It’s blossomed all over the place,” O’Brien said. “It’s here to stay, volleyball. It’s an American game and the players we have do it justice.”

O’Brien smiles every time someone tells him their kid or other relative picked up volleyball. His influence, however direct or indirect, is still on every player that steps foot on a court in Buffalo today.

O’Brien was inducted into the Cleveland Hill High School Hall of Fame 27 years ago. In 2010, he was entered into the Western New York Boys Volleyball Hall of Fame. The award for best WNY volleyball coach is named after him.

But O’Brien’s favorite honor isn’t any of those, rather the one that comes next.

“This is kind of the crowning glory of it all,” he said. “I’m just very flattered with all the eligible people out there that I was selected, particularly at my age. I’m very flattered by the whole thing and happy for volleyball.

“I’ll be a volleyballer ‘til I die.”

Mavs earn split in doubleheader
Medaille takes first match but falls in second
medaillesports.com
Saturday, October 7, 2017

AURORA, NY- The Medaille Women's Volleyball team traveled to Aurora, New York to take part in a non-conference doubleheader Saturday. The Mavs looked to improve their record, (2-16) overall and (2-1) in conference. The Mavs would face Penn College in the first match and Wells College in the second match.

Medaille came out of the gate with a purpose as they took the first set (25-17). The second set saw a similar story unfold with the Mavs winning (25-19.) In the third set the Mavs slammed the door shut on Penn College winning that set by a commanding score of (25-8). The Mavs won the match by a score of (3-0).

For the match Melissa Postek (Williamsville, NY, Williamsville South) led the Mavs in kills with (11). Stephanie Ciesla (Hamburg, NY, Hamburg) added (6) kills of her own for the match. Savannah Berry (Livonia, NY, Livonia) led the Mavs with assists totaling (19). Three Mavs finished in double digits for digs. Gina Appenheimer (Buffalo, NY, St. Mary's of Lancaster) (12), Melissa Postek (10), and Savannah Berry (10) all accomplished the feat. The win improved Medaille to (3-16) overall.

The second match of the day saw the Mavs take on Wells College. Medaille looked to keep their winning ways going with another non-conference win.

Unfortunately for Medaille they would not see the same success they saw in the first match. The first set was close but the Mavs fell by a score of (25-19). Wells kept the pressure on in the second set taking the Mavs down (25-16). Medaille would not go down without a fight as they won the third set (27-25). In the fourth set Wells emerged victorious by a score of (25-13) and won the match by a score of (3-1).

or the match the Mavs were led by Lindsey McCarthy (Orchard Park, NY, Orchard Park) in kills with a total of (12). Melissa Postek also added (9) of her own to the cause. Savannah Berry racked up an impressive (25) assists in the second match. Once again Medaille had three players finish with double digits in digs. Gina Appenheimer (12), Savannah Berry (11), and Melissa Postek (10) all completed the feat once again.

The loss dropped the Mavs to (3-17) overall. Medaille will be back in action Wednesday when the take on Pitt-Bradford in an AMCC Conference matchup.

High School Extra: Orchard Park girls volleyball gets revenge
By Staff, Buffalo News
Thursday, October 5, 2017

The Orchard Park girls volleyball team had its rematch against Lancaster circled on the calendar for awhile now.

After losing in four sets on Sept. 11, the Quakers came away with a three-game sweep on their home court to put them in sole possession of second place in ECIC I. Set scores were 25-21, 25-16 and 25-20.

So what was the difference?

“Our attitude just coming in, and being at home always helps,” Orchard Park coach Greg Lardo said. “This was the biggest crowd we’ve had all season.”

It also helps when you have a veteran setter capable of turning OK passes into hittable sets and making the good passes count. That setter, senior Liz Chow, dished out 34 assists, had 10 digs and made three blocks.

“She’s got great hands,” Lardo said. “She’s been setting on varsity for four years, and this is one of the best matches she’s ever set.”

Rianna Moll added five kills, seven blocks and three aces for the winners.

No. 1 large school Clarence is currently atop the division having swept No. 3 Lancaster in league play and beating the Quakers at home on Sept. 19. The Red Devils visit No. 4 OP next Thursday.

“We have that one circled on our calendar, too,” Lardo said.

Clarence, meanwhile, stayed unbeaten in ECIC I with a 25-10, 25-17 and 25-22 sweep against No. 10 Williamsville North. Leah Victor led the way with 12 kills, while Kennedy Oleszak added six.

Sweet Home needed five sets for an ECIC II win over Starpoint (22-25, 25-15, 25-14, 26-24, 25-14).

Christie Ackendorf had 17 kills, six blocks and three aces, while Dayna Edholm added nine aces, seven kills and three blocks.

In boys volleyball, No. 1 Lockport won a battle of Niagara Frontier League unbeatens with a sweep at North Tonawanda. Set scores were 25-11, 25-11 and 25-12.

Jesse Donorovich led the Lions with 10 kills, 11 digs and a pair of aces. Trevor Book was a standout for the Lumberjacks with 11 kills, seven digs and two blocks.

Lockport hosts NT on Oct. 23.

Iroquois girls volleyball team falls in rematches with Central, Alden
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, East Aurora Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

The second round of league play did not begin as Iroquois’ girls volleyball team had hoped it would Monday, as the Lady Chiefs were tripped up by Cheektowaga by 21-25, 25-20, 17-25, 22-25 marks to fall to 4-3 in the ECIC III standings.

Iroquois coach Mark Dubel noted that Cheektowaga “played an inspired game and they definitely wanted the win more than we did.” The Lady Warriors’ passing was on as well, but Iroquois helped make that easier for Cheektowaga by hitting spike attempts right at the Lady Warriors and by sending over easy-to-play free balls.

“We have to work out some timing and placement issues with our setters and hitters,” Dubel said. “We don’t have massive changes to make, but the small refinements of our game should have a huge impact so we can get our game and our minds in the right place. We have been struggling on our serve receive and over-passing a lot of the opponent serves, either on the net so that we can’t set them, or we directly hit them to the other team.”

Iroquois entered the tournament looking to do well after faring well in the West Seneca Tournament Saturday at the Buffalo Niagara Court Center. The Lady Chiefs went 6-0 in pool play, sweeping the hosts, Wilson and Roy-Hart to earn the top seed for the Gold playoff bracket.

Unfortunately for Iroquois, Alden — which had also defeated the Lady Chiefs in three games on Sept. 26 — wasn’t intimidated by Iroquois’ seed as the Lady Bulldogs pulled off the two-set sweep to eliminate the Lady Chiefs from contention.

Dubel was hoping for a better showing in the rematch despite missing two starters, since Iroquois was without four of its six starters during the league meeting earlier in the week. A scheduling quirk that left Iroquois with a more than hour long break before playoffs started — while Alden had just finished its final pool match by comparison — got into the Lady Chiefs’ heads, Dubel believes, which left his players fighting an uphill battle from the start.

“I feel that we had put ourselves at a disadvantage mentally before the playoff match even started and we clearly didn’t play to our potential,” Dubel said. “We were sluggish to start and got way behind early, and just didn’t have enough time to get back in it. We got behind early again in the second set and again couldn’t make up the points we gave away on numerous uncharacteristic serving and passing errors. We had a great morning but got knocked out in the first round of playoffs despite the fact that I really felt we had the potential to win the tournament overall.”

Iroquois came into the tournament flying high after posting a 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21 non-league victory over Amherst the previous night. Middle hitters Julia Peinkofer and Sarah Wittek, whom Dubel said “had their best overall games of the season so far” while forcing Amherst to stay away from the middle, combined for 16 kills and nine blocks. Peinkofer also went 10-of-14 from the service line, including four aces.

“Julia and Sarah’s play in the middle resulted in a lot of setting and hitting errors on Amherst’s part,” Dubel said. “Those kinds of things don’t really show up on the stat sheet, but they’re pretty important to having success.”

Iroquois was missing five players in total — including some who were on college visits — when it took on Alden on Sept. 26, which played a significant role in the Lady Chiefs’ 13-25, 14-25, 17-25 setback. The missing players left Iroquois with a roster that was just eight players strong, which left multiple players filling atypical roles just to have enough players on the court.

“With the girls we had out that day, we were a shell of our actual team,” Dubel said. “When I scheduled this game I thought it would be a good midseason contest to see where we stood against a high level B-2 division team.”

Iroquois’ most recent run began Sept. 21 with a 25-13, 12-25, 25-16, 25-16 victory over Pioneer. Rachel Donner and Raven Kirsch served well throughout the match, with Donner hitting 12 aces on a night in which she went 22-of-27 from the service line. She also dished out 21 assists, five of which resulted in kills for Kirsch. Kirsch also had five aces.

Wittek chipped in with six kills for the Lady Chiefs (6-4 overall, 4-3 league), who return to action tonight by hosting Lake Shore in the sixth annual Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser match. Iroquois resumes play Tuesday by facing Springville.

“We need to use the lighter schedule we have over the next couple of weeks to get some people healthy and back to game form,” Dubel said. “We have three injuries that have girls out and we’ve also been dealing with some schedule conflicts that have made it tough to get the people we need in the spots we need them in both practices and games. While we’ve come up with wins during the season, we’re not satisfied with how we’ve gotten those wins. In some cases we haven’t won with the confidence that I’d like to see, and in the cases of our losses, we haven’t come together as a team the way we need to in the second half of the season.

“We aren’t yet playing to our ability as a team and need to improve the fine details of our play,” Dubel continued. “Both Maryvale and East Aurora are playing well and while we’ve matched up well across the lineups, they are a little stronger in a couple spots and that’s where the team chemistry can make all the difference.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Lady Blue Devils reach semifinals of Clarence girls volleyball tourney
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, East Aurora Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

East Aurora’s girls volleyball team advanced to the semifinal round of the Gold Bracket at Clarence’s annual tournament Saturday, but the hosts had other ideas — as evidenced by their 25-22, 25-17 win over East Aurora — when they met the Lady Blue Devils for the right to advance to the title match.

Senior outside hitter Maddie McLaughlin and sophomore setter Olivia Alessi were both named to the All-Tournament Team based on their play in the front row. Coach Rebecca Jacobs noted that they “did a nice job connecting in the front row” because “they work well together, which makes it fun to watch and win games.”

“Olivia’s court awareness and Maddie’s aggressive attacks helped contribute to our fourth-place overall finish,” Jacobs said.

The Lady Blue Devils’ week began Sept. 26 with a 25-12, 25-8, 25- 12 victory over West Seneca West. McLaughlin had 12 kills, while junior middle hitter Olivia Covington and senior outside hitter Julia Halsey combined for a total of 16 kills and nine aces. Senior libero Riley Jeffe had four aces as well.

“West was a fun match for our girls because it was at the start of Homecoming Week at school, so the girls were excited to have two home games during the week,” Jacobs said. “Maddie, Julia and Olivia connected well with our setter, and our passing and serve receive was nearly perfect. Riley and Victoria [Prusak] have been very focused and determined to pass well in order for our offense to run the plays we have been practicing.”

Mount St. Mary spoiled the Lady Blue Devils’ Homecoming vibe on Thursday, however, as the Thunder pulled out a 25-18, 19-25, 21-25, 24-26 victory over East Aurora. Halsey had 13 kills, while Alessi had 14 kills during a match that would serve as a prelude to their meeting during pool play of the Clarence tournament.

“Mount St. Mary was a tough match for our girls, but we were grateful for the opportunity to play against one of the better private school teams in our area,” Jacobs said. “They had a very strong defense, which made it hard for our hitters to find the court. Serving was an issue for us too, and we let up when the game got close.”

East Aurora (6-1 overall, 5-1 ECIC III) returns to action this evening against Pioneer before playing league leader Maryvale on Friday. The Maryvale match was originally scheduled to be held on Sept. 25, but was actually postponed, per state rules, due to the heat index at the time of the match.

“Overall I am very happy with our playing and look forward to this week’s matches, particularly the Maryvale match,” Jacobs said. “It’ll be the first time we play each other since last year’s B-1 sectional final, so I know we’ll both be ready to give our all.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

JV volleyball team wins Hamburg Tournament
Orchard Park Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

The Orchard Park Boys JV Volleyball Team played in its second tournament of the year and had the same result as the first: a tournament championship.

Played at Hamburg High School Saturday, the Hamburg Junior Varsity Volleyball tournament hosted teams from Frontier, Lake Shore, Lancaster, Orchard Park, St. Joe’s, Starpoint and West Seneca West.

In pool play, the JV Quakers won all three of their matches, defeating St. Joe’s, Starpoint and West Seneca West. In their sweep of the pool, they also won all six games played.

In the Gold Semi-finals, Orchard Park (winners of Pool B) faced off against Lake Shore (second place Pool A). The Quakers took the first game of the match, while the Eagles won the second. In the third and deciding game of the match, the Orchard Park JV team jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and then held on for the win, vaulting them into the championship match.

The final pitted Orchard Park against West Seneca West. The Indians (second place Pool B) upset the Pool A winner, Lancaster, in the other Gold Semi-final. In the gold medal finals, the Quakers swept West by winning the first two games in the best of three match.

On the day, the Quakers went 5-0 in match playing, winning 10 of the 11 games they played. Their record for the season, including tournament matches, is 18-1, with a game record of 45-4.

Players competing in the tournament included Peter Balisteri, Connor Bowman, Tom Connors, Nate Golding, Jake Janus, Greg Jubulis, Nate Lippett, Joe Nicometo, Ian Rauh, Jacob Schrantz, Bryce Schreiner, Kyle Zelasko, Eric Stuhr and Riley Winnert.

Lady Eagles come close to win in match with Tonawanda
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

Cleveland Hill’s girls volleyball team came close to pulling off a victory during Friday’s clash with Tonawanda, but in the end the Lady Eagles found themselves on the wrong side of a 25-18, 13-25, 21-25, 21-25 decision.

Alison McIntosh had five kills, one block and nine aces, while Lydia Catalino added four kills. Susie Horton chipped in with three kills, two aces and eight digs.

“The girls worked hard to obtain momentum against Tonawanda passing well and playing great defense,” coach Marie Meyer said. “Unfortunately, we struggled to put the ball away against their scrappy defense.”

Earlier in the week, Cleveland Hill dropped an 11-25, 10-25, 15-25 decision to Alden on Sept. 25. Christina Mohney had two blocks to help Cleveland Hill stay competitive throughout the match.

“We struggled to side out against Alden’s strong serving,” Meyer said. “The girls focused on their passing as the match went on, which made it easy to see how much it improved.”

The Lady Eagles (4-2 ECIC IV) returned to action Tuesday against Lackawanna, but information about that contest was not available at press time. Cleveland Hill takes on crosstown rival JFK this evening before finishing out the week by hosting its own annual tournament on Saturday.

“The girls continue to work together and grow, and are working to improve their communication on the court,” Meyer said. “Their serving is consistently improving, as is their ability to find holes in the defense. We just need to continue to emphasize our passing and focus on not letting the ball fall. If we can continue to help each other improve our weaknesses and use our strengths to our advantage, we should be in good shape.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Girls volleyball posts pair of wins: Central round-up
Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

The Lady Warriors recently took down league foes Pioneer and Iroquois to improve to 2-6 in ECIC III play.

Alisiana Muscoreil and Torrie Jenkins have been leading the way for the Lady Warriors at the net and the service line, while Bella Pezzino is defending the whole court. Setter Angelina Garcia is coming a long way and improves every game, coach Denee Hickson said, while Ally Alvira “is making smart plays that are helping our success.”

Cheektowaga, which also won the silver bracket at the West Seneca West Tournament, returns to action this evening at Lew-Port.

Maryvale boys volleyball tops Cheektowaga
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

Maryvale’s boys volleyball team bounced back from its first loss of the season in as strong of a fashion as possible — and against the perfect foe to boot — when the Flyers took down crosstown rival Cheektowaga by 20-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-18 marks on Sept. 26.

Central, seeking revenge for the loss Maryvale put on it in the title match of the Warriors’ own tournament earlier this season, came out full of energy and took advantage of the Flyers’ sluggish start to take the first set. Maryvale made some adjustments to its service options in the second set to bounce back with the win, and from that point on Maryvale’s seniors — Zach Amato, Nate Zawadzki, Deante Mecca, Kenny Fields and Jordan Nosal — “showed tremendous poise” to “quickly put the first set behind them and settle into our system to pull out the next three games,” coach Jon Bednasz said.

Zawadzki finished the match with 32 assists and two digs, while Nosal had 22 kills, six blocks and two aces. Tom Frain chipped in with 19 kills and four aces.

“We knew going into the match that Cheektowaga took us beating them in their own tournament personally and wanted the opportunity to get some revenge,” Bednasz said. “Even without that extra motivation, Cheektowaga is always a fun place to play and coach Marcussen is an excellent coach who gets the most out of his players.”

Maryvale went into the Cheektowaga match looking to get back on track after the sixth-seeded Flyers were derailed by the unbeaten second seeded Raiders of Eden, 19-25, 20-25, 21-25, in a match played Sept. 22. The Flyers missed eight serves in the first set alone, learning a costly first-hand lesson about the importance of not giving perennial contenders for sectional titles and beyond extra opportunities to score.

“You can’t give team points, you have to make them earn them,” Bednasz said. “I think the nerves of a big match got to us. Though Eden beat us in straight sets, our boys battled hard and never quit. Most of the night we were playing out of system, yet each set was still competitive.”

Frain finished the night with 13 kills and two blocks to lead the way for Maryvale, while Mecca chipped in with 11 digs.

Maryvale entered the Eden contest looking to do well after adding a 25-5, 25-22, 17-25, 25-17 win over Iroquois to its collection on Sept. 18. Nosal served up 11 aces on the night and went on a 17-point run from the service line to start the match and put the Chiefs in a hole too deep to climb out of — both in that opening set and for the match in general.

“Jordan continues to be one of those players who can take over a match, and against Iroquois, Jordan did just that,” Bednasz said. “Iroquois served, Nate Zawadzki set Jordan a open net back-to ball and Jordan crushed it, which set the tone for the match. Jordan then went to the service line and served 17 straight points. Starting off a match with a 17-0 lead is an amazing achievement.”

Maryvale (8-1, 6-1 division) returned to action Monday at Williamsville South and also traveled to Depew Wednesday, but information about those matches was not available at press time.

The Flyers close out their busy week by traveling to Niagara County twice in as many days, first to face Starpoint Friday and then to take part in Lockport’s annual tournament on Saturday.

“We have two road divisional games this week in which we hope to keep the momentum going so we can keep improving as a team,” Bednasz said. “We plan on focusing on our serving this week, both at practice and in games. Our serving has been weak and inconsistent, and is something we need to turn into an attack so that we can put pressure on teams.

“One of our goals for this season remains to win our division, but in boys volleyball, ECIC III is quickly becoming one of the toughest divisions in Western New York,” Bednasz continued. “Since the start of the season, four teams from our division have been ranked in the top 10. In years past, there seemed to be a couple of easier matches within the division, but this season, you can’t overlook any opponent; there are no nights off. But tough matches challenge you, they teach you how to fight and how to succeed, and ultimately they make you into a better team.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com

Maryvale girls volleyball team downs crosstown rivals Central, Cleve Hill
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter, Cheektowaga Bee
Thursday, October 5, 2017

Maryvale’s girls volleyball team put forth impressive performances throughout the week last week and was rewarded with wins over crosstown rivals Cleveland Hill and Cheektowaga for those efforts.

The team always looks forward to its non-league clash with Cleveland Hill — which the Lady Flyers won by 25-15, 25-14, 25-11 counts this year. Senior co-captain Julia Carter served up 11 aces to go along with six kills and a block, while junior Brianna Schlierf added five kills and two digs. Senior co-captain Morgan Michalski chipped in with 10 assists, two kills and six digs for the match that was played on Sept. 27.

“We look forward to this match every year,” coach Tina Raczynski said. “The girls have friends on Cleveland Hill’s team and that is also where I went to high school, so I know some of the parents of the girls from Cleveland Hill. It’s a fun match to play for us, and we responded to that challenge this year with a great team effort. Everyone on the team was able to receive playing time during this match, and my girls did a great job of setting the pace of the game. Cleveland Hill seemed to have a hard time handling our servers.”

Maryvale used the momentum of its win over the Lady Eagles to take down divisional foe Cheektowaga two nights later by 25-17, 25-20, 25-23 marks. Carter had 13 kills, nine digs and four aces to lead the way for the victors, while Michalski added 19 assists and 12 digs. Junior Amiah George had nine digs, while sophomore co-captain Christie McGee-Ross chipped in with four kills, four digs and two blocks.

“It’s always a big game for us whenever we play Cheektowaga Central because they are our rivals, so it was great that when we hosted them this year that it was during Homecoming Week,” Raczynski said. “The girls played excellent in this game; they were spot on with their offense, defense and serving. The girls played well together and really meshed as a team during this game.”

Maryvale closed out its week by taking part in Clarence’s annual tournament on Saturday, where the Lady Flyers ultimately just missed out on the Silver Bracket’s title at the hands of Chautauqua Lake by 25-20, 24-26, 5-15 marks in the final. It was a rematch of the two teams’ split of their pool-play clash, as well as their battle from the championship match in Sweet Home’s tournament earlier this season.

Maryvale also split with Lockport and was swept by the host squad in pool play, leaving a three-way tie for second place. After point differential was used to break the tie, the Lady Flyers found themselves out of contention for the Gold Bracket by just three points.

Maryvale wasted little time making the most of its Silver Bracket appearance, taking down fifth-ranked large school Niagara Wheatfield by 10-25, 26-24, 17-15 marks in the semifinals. The Lady Falcons were missing a pair of starters for the tournament due to injury, which Raczynski conceded “throws your chemistry off,” but that didn’t stop either team from playing good volleyball throughout that match.

After winning the first set against Chautauqua Lake, the Lady Flyers — the tournament’s defending Silver champions — were feeling good about the prospect of defending their title. Coming up just short in the second set proved to be a turning point, Raczynski believes, given how hard her team had fought to beat Central earlier in the week, coupled with the level of play the Lady Flyers had faced throughout the tournament up to that point. In the end, Maryvale just ran out of steam.

“We played some really big, tough schools this weekend and the girls never gave up,” Raczynski said. “We called ourselves the comeback kids. It never matters if we are down in points, because we have this great ability to just kick it into high gear and get the job done. That day, though, we just understandably didn’t have enough to close them out in the third set.”

For the tournament, Carter had 40 kills, 26 assists, 10 blocks and nine aces, while Michalski had 37 assists, 20 kills, 10 aces and four blocks. McGee-Ross chipped in with six kills, five blocks and four aces.

Maryvale (8-0, 6-0 division) was also supposed to have taken on East Aurora last week, but that match — originally scheduled for Sept. 25 — was moved to Friday due to the heat on the original date. Information about the Lady Flyers’ matches at Starpoint Monday and at Lake Shore Tuesday to start the week was not available at press time. Maryvale will also host Springville this evening as part of an extremely busy week.

“We need to really kick into high gear to get through this week,” Raczynski said. “At the end of this week we will need to play our best to play in what is the biggest match of the year so far for us in East Aurora. I am really happy with the way things are going right now, though, as we are on the right pace for this point of the season. I am happy to see improvements every game.”

email: jnadolinski@beenews.com