By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
CANDOR — Spencer-Van Etten came into Section IV Class D volleyball pool play as the No. 4 seed, but split with the top two teams here Thursday. With a 4-2 record on the night, the Panthers earned the right to play for the championship this weekend.
S-VE opened with a split against No. 2 Newfield, each team winning by a 25-21 score. Next up was No. 3 Oxford and the Panthers won, 25-19 and 25-15.
S-VE could lock up a spot in Sunday’s championship match if it could split with Candor, the top seed. That didn’t appear likely after the Coyotes dominated game one and cruised to a 25-8 victory. Game two was a different story as the Panthers won a tough battle, 25-23.
Coach Charity Meyers credited moving on to the finals to teamwork.
“I felt like it was a whole team effort,” she said. “Lauren (Gillette) is always a great hitter. Trinity (Dashler) has moved to middle and I think she does a great job. Ellie (Middlebrook), is our outside hitter. She's in ninth grade and I think she did fantastic tonight. Of course, my setter, Kelsea (Swayze). Maddie (Ashby), she's in 10th grade and I just felt like she's so reliable. If she gets a set that's way off, she somehow gets it in. She was digging stuff up, so I think she did a great job. And, of course, our libero, Amani (Diboun). I mean, she broke the school record this year for most digs, and she's just adding to that. Andy (Wallace) is our right side and she's been my most consistent server. She also broke a school record for most serves in the season. Lauren broke the school record for most kills in the season. The whole team's done a great job.”
S-VE 25-21, NEWFIELD 21-25
The Panthers worked a 13-8 lead, but the Trojans took advantage of a few S-VE mistakes to rally in front, 16-13. A Gillette hit off a Newfield player at the net knotted the score at 16, then back-to-back lift infractions put S-VE up, 18-16. Newfield’s Katherine Chaffee made it 18-17 with a nice side-out at the net, but a 5-2 burst by the Panthers made it 23-19.
The Trojans jumped out to a 10-6 lead, but S-VE closed the gap and eventually took a 14-13 lead, but a four-hit violation tied the set at 14 and the game would continue to be deadlocked at 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. A Panther serve past the end line for a side-out made it 21-20 Trojans and Newfield took four of the final five points.
S-VE struggled with Newfield during the regular season and Meyers said earning the split says a lot.
“That's one thing that we've been working on this season is mentally moving past that point of just giving up if we get behind and I feel like they have done that. Newfield with their new coach, it's her third year, but every year they get better and better.
“I just feel like we have pushed ourselves, and even postseason, when you don't play for two weeks, we were really pushing ourselves. That was our goal this year, push yourself more and more every practice, so it's all about the effort and I felt like they put the effort in.”
S-VE 25-25, OXFORD 19-15
Middlebrook served S-VE to an early 4-2 edge, and Swayze’s serving helped increase the lead to 10-4. The Panthers extended their advantage to eight points, the latest at 14-6, but the Blackhawks battled back to tie things up at 16. Middlebrook served S-VE to a 19-16 lead and Oxford never got closer than two points down the stretch.
Middlebrook, Wallace and Gillette were key to a 7-1 run to start game two, and Ashby helped extend it to 16-5. Oxford attempted to rally, but never got closer than 19-13.
S-VE 8-25, CANDOR 25-23
The Coyotes put S-VE in a big hole to start game one as Nicola Soper served up nine points en route to a 10-3 advantage. The Panthers cut the lead to 11-6, but Candor pulled away from there.
Candor went up, 4-1, in the second set, but S-VE trimmed the lead to 7-6. The Coyotes then worked a 12-8 advantage, but S-VE came back again, making it 12-11. The Panthers would tie things up 14 on a Candor hitting error, then take advantage of more Coyote miscues and a Gillette hit just inside the end line to build an 18-14 lead.
Candor would call a timeout and regroup, and eventually go ahead, 20-19, on a pair of key hits by Soper. Hazel Ray served the home team to a 22-19 edge, but the Panthers picked up a side-out and made it 22-21 when the Coyotes hit the ball into the ceiling rails. A Panther service error made it 23-21, but Candor committed a pair of hitting errors to tie the score at 23. Trinity Dashler’s ace made it 24-23 and a Coyote hit into the net gave the S-VE the win.
That left the Panthers with a 4-2 record for the night and neither Newfield or Oxford (playing each other in the final round) would be able to overtake them.
“I knew that we'd need a win unless we played a tiebreaker against Newfield at the end of the night, which gets harder as the night goes on because the kids get tired,” Meyers said. “Candor, they're always a tough team. I've seen my team improve throughout the season and I know they had it in them, so to see them actually do it just makes my heart explode. I'm just so excited that they did it and pulled through.”
Gillette finished with 17 service points, including two aces, 15 kills, 11 digs and one block; Wallace contributed 19 points, six of which were aces, 12 digs and one kill; and Swayze dished out 36 assists to go with seven points, three aces, 10 digs and two kills.
Dashler chipped in with 11 kills, five points, three aces and three digs; Middlebrook had 12 points, three aces, five kills and six digs; and Diboun added 28 digs and one assist.
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IN PHOTO 1: Lauren Gillette. IN TOP PHOTO: Madison Ashby (diving), Andy Wallace (27) and Amani Diboun. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
