IAC VOLLEYBALL: CANDOR WINS THIRD STRAIGHT SMALL SCHOOL TITLE (2021-04-17)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR — Candor made short work of Moravia to win its third consecutive IAC Small School championship Saturday, sweeping the visiting Blue Devils, 3-0.

The Indians won the first two sets by 25-9 scores and the third, 25-15.

Strong play at the net, as has been the case all season, propelled the Candor machine to victory.

"Even on those balls that were close to the net, a lot of people were up there with their hands up, making those plays and if you can play a ball above the net usually your outcome is a little bit better," Candor coach Pam Quinlan said. "We got some touches on blocks, just those close balls to the net, either on our side or their side, and again, just some great sets from our setter, and some good finishes by our hitters."

Despite the scores, Moravia came ready to play. After scoring the first point of the match, the Devils fell behind, 3-1. Taking advantage of a few Candor miscues, the visitors battled back and tied the set four times and, thanks to a half-dozen Indian hitting errors, only trailed 8-7 when things finally fell apart.

Strong net play and solid serving kept Asia Curkendall at the service line as the Indians built an impressive 17-7 cushion. A couple of Curkendall aces highlighted the run. An Indian hitting error ended the run, but Candor would finish out the set by scoring eight of the final 10 points.

"At the beginning of the game I think our passing was off a little bit and finishing plays, we just weren't quite getting there," Quinlan said. "I think our energy was just not quite where it needed to be, and then I think we got some good runs on some serves and were able to score some points and get a pretty sizable lead. Then we just talked about that coming out the second game, let's just pick up our energy and pick up the speed of the game a little bit, and I think they did in the second and the third set."

Moravia tallied first in the second set as well, but a pair of aces by Shelby Swartz sparked a seven-point run for the Indians and they wouldn't trail again. Hoernick tacked on a pair of aces, serving 12 straight points as the Indians turned an 8-4 advantage into a 21-4 cushion.

The Devils managed to hang around a little longer in the final game. They never led, although the score was tied at one.

"They have some good swingers over there, some good hitters on that side, some girls that made some good contact, some good defensive plays," Quinlan said. "Some balls came back over and maybe we were not quite ready, I guess. They had some good serves that we had a little trouble handling, or just finishing on the hit, but I think overall, a great showing by the team."

Candor led by seven on two occasions in the early going, but solid play by Kate Baylor, Sophia Amos and Alexa Nye helped Moravia battle back to close the gap to 10-8.

With the score 14-11, the Indians would call a time out. Megan Henry rejected a Moravia hit at the net for a side out shot and Hornick served four straight points to give the Indians a 19-11 advantage. The Devils never got closer than seven after that.

Curkendall recorded nine service points, two aces, four kills, one assist block and four digs; Teagan Bartlow had three digs; Swartz registered nine service points, two aces, five kills, two assists, two blocks and five digs; Anna Greeno added four digs; Hornick contributed 21 service points, nine aces, two kills, 18 assists; Isabel Makie tacked five kills, one assist block; Brayden Watkins pitched in with four service points, three digs; and Henry added eight kills, one assist, one block and five digs.

Candor ends its season at 8-0 in the IAC Small School ranks and 10-1 overall.

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IN PHOTO 1: Candor's Shelby Swartz. ... PHOTOS 1-23 BY DAVID ALLIGER — TRAVELING PHOTOGRAPHY. PHOTO 24 BY CATHY DOANE.