By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
TIOGA CENTER — Owego battled its way past a stubborn Maine-Endwell opponent, 3-1, to win its third consecutive Section IV Class A volleyball title here Saturday.
The River Hawks won the first set, 25-19, and the second, 25-17. The Spartans would rally to take the third set, 25-17, then Owego sealed the deal with a 25-19 triumph in the final set.
Coach Abbey Manning, looking to go 3-1 against M-E in sectional finals, was aware the Spartans would bring it to the court, but knew her team was up to the challenge.
“Playing a team once, obviously it's difficult to play them twice, especially in a two-week, three-week span, so being able to come in here and for them to battle against us made us work,” she said. “I'm glad that they did because we needed that, in general, but also the past couple of matches we haven't played our best and I'm glad that we finally got our mojo back tonight.”
M-E grabbed an early 4-1 lead in game one, but the River Hawks rallied to tie the score at seven on a service receive error on Maggie Hamed’s serve. Hamed would serve up three more points and Owego would lead the remainder of the set.
The Spartans pulled within two at 10-8 and 13-11, but Ava McKeon stuffed a shot at the net for a side-out and 14-11 lead. Trailing, 16-11, M-E closed the gap to 18-16, but could get no closer.
Owego jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in game two, but the Spartans trimmed the lead to 5-3, but the River Hawks went on a 7-0 run. Behind, by nine, M-E tried to rally, eventually closing the score to 18-12, but could get no closer.
The River Hawks came out hot in game three, building a 7-1 cushion, but M-E battled back to make it an 8-8 contest but Owego extended the lead to five points three times, the last being 15-10.
The Spartans cut the lead to 16-14, then went on a 10-point surge with Panayiota Modlo at the service line and the River Hawks committing several errors.
Owego broke a 3-3 deadlock in game four with a 5-point burst, then added three more for an 11-4 lead. With the River Hawks on top, 13-6, Bella Miller and Alyssa Harrington came up with back-to-back kills off front row defenders to make it 17-7.
M-E would come back to make it an 18-14 game, and would trail by four three more times down the stretch before the River Hawks scored the final two points to end the match.
Manning credited the team’s energy with helping them repeat as sectional champs.
“I felt like we were really high at some points and then really low,” she said. “In that third set, when they went on a run, that's when we were at our low point, so being able to bounce back into the fourth set and bring that energy and not let up was a huge benefit for us.”
She also applauded the River Hawks’ teamwork.
“I think it was a completely full team effort across the board,” Manning said.
The power-hitting Hamed posted a double-double, cranking out 21 kills to go with 10 digs and an ace. Miller dished out 38 assists, and also recorded five aces, three digs and one kill; and Harrington contributed eight kills, 10 digs and an ace.
Evelyn Howe added eight kills, two blocks, an ace and an assist. Braelea McLaren chipped in with six kills, 11 digs, two aces and a block; Peyton Coolbaugh had 12 digs, two assists and an ace; and McKeon tacked on a kill, a block and a dig.
Owego (15-3) will host a regional match Saturday at 11 a.m.
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IN PHOTO 1: Alyssa Harrington. IN TOP PHOTO: The champions. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
