(UPDATED WITH STATS) NYS VOLLEYBALL: CANDOR BATTLES PAST ELLICOTTVILLE TO CLAIM STATE TITLE NO. 4 (21 PHOTOS) (2024-11-23)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
GLENS FALLS — It was a battle for the ages — and maybe a little redemption for Candor, which battled past Ellicottville, 3-2, to capture the 2024 NYSPHSAA Class D Girls Volleyball Championships here Saturday.
“It's really great,” junior outside hitter Nicola Soper said of winning the title. “We've worked for this all season, ever since August and until now, so it was really great to do it with the group of seniors we had and the team that we had.”
It was also the fourth state title for the Coyotes, adding to their back-to-back triumphs in 2003-04 and the trifecta, which they garnered in 2019.
“Oh, it's awesome,” said Candor coach Pam Quinlan of being the state champions again. “You know, every team works incredibly hard. You know that every team, when they get here, they're putting their heart and soul into it. And to go five games like that; we went three with them yesterday. They're tenacious, well coached, good ball players. To just do maybe a few things more right or a few things less wrong is just the difference in a game like that. It's just great for the district, for the kids.”
At the very least, the victory was also a small measure of redemption after watching a potential championship slip away in the 2023 semifinals where Candor grabbed a 2-0 lead over Chautauqua Lake, only to fall to the eventual champions.
“When we came here, we had a talk and we were like, we don't want to feel that again,” Soper said. “We just wanted to get it done and come home with a win for our community that came out and supported us.”
Don’t even mention the fact that COVID-19 probably robbed the Coyotes of back-to-back titles in 2020 when they were the preseason favorite to win it all.
This time, it was Candor’s to win or lose, coming into the finals. With a 15-1 record, the Coyotes were favored to defeat Ellicottville, which sported a 17-8 mark, but showed onlookers during Friday’s pool play that it was the real deal.
“We knew it was going to be a battle based off of yesterday, so we just had to keep fighting and keep pushing,” said Soper. Candor defeated Ellicottville, 2-1, in pool play Friday.
The Eagles would win the first set, 25-21, but Candor countered with a 25-20 victory in the second set. Game three went to Ellicottville, 25-17, but the Coyotes responded well to take game four, 25-14.
The final set was a fight to the finish with the teams trading points on the other’s mistakes before Nicols Soper gave Candor a 3-1 lead with a pair of her powerful hits, one diving down in front of the Eagles’ libero in the back row a dn the other careening off a front row defender.
Ellicottville answered back with three consecutive blasts near the back corners to go in front, 4-3, but an Eagle miscue put Candor on top, 5-4. That lead would not be relinquished, but the Coyotes wouldn’t run away with a win either.
Candor built a 7-4 advantage, but Ellicottville called a timeout, regrouped and trimmed the gap to 8-7. From there the lead would never grow larger than two points until an Emmi Makie shot to the back row followed by her hit just inside the sideline made it 12-9.
Soper followed with a kill to the back corner to give the Coyotes a “sizeable” 13-9 cushion. Candor then let a hit go out of bounds, but the ball stayed in for a sideout and Natalee Leiper’s shot off a Coyote player made it a two-point game again.
Ellicottville was unable to do anything with the next two balls, securing state championship No. 4 for Candor.
The first set saw the score tied to begin a four-point run to give the Eagles a 10-7 lead. Moment later, the Coyotes responded with a four-point spurt that made it 11-10. From there, the score would be knotted five times, but Ellicottville would ride another four-point burst to a 19-17 advantage and hold the lead from there.
Two Candor hits into the net, then Riley Whitmer crushed a shot off a back row defender for a 24-21 lead. Emmi McCracken would get a piece of the next ball, but it rolled along the top of the net and dropped out of bounds to end the set.
Game two saw Kate Stouffer, McCracken and Soper come up with big plays for an 8-4 lead, but a block by Whitmer and a pair of hard kill shots from Leiper helped the Eagles tie things up at eight apiece.
The Coyotes would work a 15-11 lead, but a Makie kill and Malley Heidl block pushed the advantage to 18-12. With Candor ahead, 18-13, the Eagles took advantage of five Coyote mistakes to close the gap to 20-19, but Candor countered with a 5-1 run to end the game.
Three Candor miscues and a block by Whitmer gave Ellicottville a 5-0 cushion to start the third set and the Eagles held onto the lead the rest of the game, building an 11-3 lead before a six-point Coyote run trimmed the margin to 11-9.
Ellicottville called a timeout, but Candor managed to tie the score at 12, 13, 15 and 16 before the Eagles finally created some space with an 8-0 run.
The Coyotes returned the favor in game four. The score was deadlocked five times before Candor turned a 10-10 contest into an 18-11 cushion with help from a Stouffer sideout, a couple of Makie kills and four Ellicottville mistakes.
Candor scored seven of the next 10 points to set up the final game.
Makie, Soper and Phoebe Swartz contributed triple-doubles to the win. Makie recorded 19 kills, 17 points and 15 digs; Soper had 10 kills, 15 digs and 13 points; and Swartz dished out 38 assists along with 16 points, 13 digs and two kills.
Stouffer added a double-double with 16 kills, 10 points and nine kills; Heidl had nine points, seven digs, five assists, one solo block and three block assists; Jill Teribury chipped in with eight points and three digs; and McCracken had three block assists.
This title is equally as special as the previous ones.
“They're all special in their own way because it's a different group of kids that just comes together and clicks,” Quinlan said. “One of the interesting trivia facts that I'm sure people will dig up somewhere is the fact that three of the girls on this team had sisters on the 2019 team and the 2021 team, so I think some of them were probably young kids in the stands for that game five years ago.
“For them to be able to also realize maybe that pinnacle of volleyball, I think, is just kind of neat, but I think for every kid who starts playing, I don't think you ever start playing thinking I want to win a state championship. I think they all start playing because it's just something that they have a passion for, that they love doing, and to be able to do it on a stage like this is just amazing.”
Soper was selected the tournament MVP while Stouffer and Swartz were named to the all-tournament team.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
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