No three-peat for Sweet Home; Sharks advance to states
Girls volleyball
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Sweet Home's Ellie Allen slams home a kill past the reach of Starpoint's Ashley Berry during the Lady Panthers' 16-25, 16-25, 18-25 Section VI Class A semifinal loss last Thursday at Sweet Home. Sweet Home had won back-to-back section titles. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Sweet Home thought they had what it took to win the Section VI Class A girls volleyball title for the third straight year, but Starpoint had other ideas.

Starpoint ended the Lady Panthers' reign as section champs with a convincing 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 sweep in the Class A semifinals last Thursday at Sweet Home.

Starpoint was seeded third in the tournament; Sweet Home was second.

"Something was missing from us that night," said Sweet Home coach Breean Trapasso. "Our offensive production was completely ineffective and we never made consecutive points. We did a great job of siding out, which is kind of ironic because I felt we struggled with siding out during the season. Against them, it wasn't a problem."

"We made a lot of unforced errors," she continued. "I was concerned about (Sam Palka, Starpoint's best player), but she didn't hurt us. Their one middle (Ashley Berry) was getting most of the kills."

Berry finished with 10 kills.

Ellie Allen (eight kills), Carol Skoney (six digs) and Kelsey Maving (six digs, four kills) led Sweet Home.

Sweet Home and Starpoint met twice in the regular season during tournaments. Starpoint beat Sweet Home at the Frontier Tournament; Sweet Home answered with a win in pool play at the North Tonawanda Tournament.

Sweet Home beat tenth-seed Iroquois, 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 25-13, in the quarterfinals last Tuesday at Sweet Home.

Sweet Home finished 15-3 and shared ECIC Division II honors with Lake Shore.

"I'm only losing one starter, libero Carol Skoney," said Trapasso. "We'll have a strong team coming back."

Williamsville North

The Lady Spartans went into its Section VI Class AA quarterfinal game last Tuesday at Lancaster short-handed.

North coach Tom Sproull said freshman right side outside hitter Corrin Genovese severely sprained her right ankle during a last minute warm-up drill.

"She jumped up to hit a ball and landed on someone's foot," said Sproull. "She was crying on the sideline because she was in pain and couldn't play."

"To lose a starter when you're already thin definitely killed the girls' mind-set heading into the game," he added.

Without Genovese in the lineup, North lost to Lancaster, 9-25, 10-25, 18-25.

The loss of Genovese forced Sproull to change his offense from a 5-1 (one setter and five hitters) to a 6-2 (two setters, three hitters) and replace her with eighth grade JV call-up Nikki Attea and junior Katie Kubala, who never played at right side hitter before.

North had come into the game winners of its last 12 games but Lancaster jumped out to a 5-4 lead in the first game before running off several consecutive points.

"We still earned points off of them," said Sproull. "We just didn't have enough of them."

Sproull said his team played better in the third game but still allowed Lancaster to score several points.

Emilee Slick and Jen Pawlak led North in hits in the Lancaster match and the season.

Pawlak (left side hitter), Amanda Holden (middle) and Kate Curcio are the only seniors on North, which finished 7-13. They were 3-9 last year and did not win a match two years ago.

"Overall, we worked better as a team on offense and defense," said Spoull.

"We definitely should be better next year," he added. "It's just a matter of how much better we're going to be."

Sacred Heart

The Sharks enter Saturday's Catholic State Championships with a chip on their shoulder.

Sacred Heart took out their frustration of losing to Nardin, 26-28, 23-25, 20-25, in the semifinal last week to defeat Holy Angels, 25-13, 25-11, 25-20, in the Monsignor Martin Association consolation final on Monday at St. Mary's of Lancaster High School.

"After a loss in the semifinals, I hope the team has a chip on their shoulder with something to prove this weekend," said Sacred Heart coach Chris Jenk. "We'll see Nardin again. I'm excited. The girls are ready to go."

The Catholic state championships are Saturday and Sunday at York College in Jamaica, N.Y.

Sacred Heart (12-3) dominated Holy Angels in the first two games, jumping out to a 16-3 lead in the first game and 11-2 in the second game. Holy Angels took a 3-0 lead in the third game but the Sharks outscored Angels 9-1 over the next ten points to lead 10-4. Sacred Heart never trailed the rest of the third game.

Senior outside hitters Kelly Novak and Courtney Conway generated most of the Sharks' offense. Novak had six aces, including three straight early in the first game, and 10 kills. Conway had six kills and two blocks. She sealed wins in the first two games with kills.

"Our outsides are our go-to hitters and it showed," said Jenk. "If anyone was watching that match, probably 90 percent of the balls were to our outside hitters. Paige (Schultz) did a great job getting the ball to them."

Schultz finished with 29 assists.

Middle hitter Chelsea Dziekan had 10 kills and two blocks.

Sacred Heart opened the playoffs with a 25-16, 25-17, 25-15 victory over Mt. Mercy in the quarterfinals.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com