BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR - The story is the same, but the names have changed. The IAC South Small School division, which has dominated the league for years, has added another IAC Small School championship to its list, only this time, bragging rights belong to the Candor Indians.
There was little doubt among the volleyball community as to which team would win Thursday evening's championship match. Truthfully, the only question mark would be the scores. Candor controlled the tempo throughout the match, sweeping Moravia, 3-0, by scores of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-14.
"I think we played well," said Candor head coach Pam Quinlan. "I think the team chemistry right now is looking pretty good, a lot of connections between my setters and my hitters. Servers were on tonight. I think it was just a good night."
Candor stormed out to a 10-point advantage, 13-3, rather quickly in the opening game. Moravia trimmed the deficit to 14-7, but three straight aces by Jennah Kareem pushed the lead to 18-7. The Blue Devils would not get closer than 10 points down the stretch.
Moravia battled hard early in game two, but again was no match for the Indians. The pesky Devils did stick around a little longer, but eventually the home team pulled away, riding a couple of 3-point runs to a 20-12 lead.
It was more of the same early on in the third set, then Shelby Swartz served up a pair of aces to break a 4-4 deadlock and the game belonged to Candor after that. Moravia stayed close and was only down 8-6 when the Indians embarked on a 6-point run. The Devils cut the lead to six late in the set, 18-12, but Candor finished them, winning seven of the final nine points.
Even though the Indians do sport some youth, a stranger my not be able to notice - since they play like seasoned veterans.
"We don't use that as an excuse either, that ‘we're only this, we're only that,'" Quinlan said. "In terms of age in school, I think most of them play a little, maybe a little older than they are and I know and they know what they can do and that's kind of what we expect each game."
Of course, the Indians haven't had many opportunities to make excuses for their play as they've only been challenged by a couple of teams this year.
Kareem finished with four service points, all aces, nine kills, one block and two digs; Swartz contributed 20 service points, including seven aces, and six kills; and Braelyn Hornick had seven service points, two kills and 11 assists. Jenna Huizinga pitched in with five service points, one ace and one dig; Kailyn Edwards added three assists and one kill; and Kori Strong had two kills.
For Moravia (7-10), Sophia Amos had five kills, one block and two aces; Illeana Ramirez had three kills and an ace; and Alethea Banerjee had 12 digs and one kill.
For Moravia (7-10), Sophia Amos had five kills, one block and two aces; Illeana Ramirez had three kills and an ace; and Alethea Banerjee had 12 digs and one kill.
The victory pushed Candor's overall record to 18-0 and the Indians will take the No. 1 seed into next week's Section IV Class D tournament.
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IN PHOTO 1: Candor's Jennah Kareem. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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