The Cincinnatus girls volleyball team moved to 2-0 Thursday night in its defense of the Section III Class D championship after a 25-14, 25-14, 25-20 win over McGraw at McGraw High School.
The Lions, like they did in their season opener Tuesday, came out firing on all cylinders. They jumped out to an 11-2 lead after a long Cassia Scuyler service run. McGraw answered by scoring six of the next eight points, but Cincinnatus closed out the set strong.
Cincinnatus returns nearly all of the team that won a sectional title last year. The Lions have been asserting their dominance early in matches, beating Manlius Pebble Hill 25-4 to open Tuesday’s match. Star Allyson St. Germain feels this year’s team has picked up right where the last one left off.
“Normally we do the basics, but this year we haven’t had to do the basics,” St. Germain said. “We can just jump right into it and it’s been so much smoother. We lost Kaylee Brenchley last year and we filled that with Hannah (Ellerson). She’s adapted very well.”
Cincinnatus kept the pressure on for the final two sets, but made far more unforced errors and let McGraw hang around. That also happened Tuesday and is something the Lions are looking to stop.
“I think we just get too high,” St. Germain said. “We think we’re just going to win it no matter what, so we’re taking it all. Then we chill out and then we’re like, ‘Oh, we’re going to go down if we do that.’ The momentum just has to go back up.”
“We just let up a little bit and have to come back,” senior setter Kardance Latta added. “It’s just a learning experience.”
McGraw’s defense stood up to the test for a lot of the night, putting together some long rallies and forcing Cincinnatus to work for it. McGraw head coach Jessyca Doran was pleased with her girls’ defensive effort against a strong offensive squad.
“We’ve always struggled with them, so (Thursday night) having digs, pulling them out and actually competing at that level, it was a great night,” Doran said.
Part of McGraw’s stellar defense was the net play of Haylee Bassett, Remi Stull and Mikenlee Ticknor. The trio all had a block on the day and it’s one of the areas Doran has seen her team improve the most.
“That has been a big goal of ours, getting the blocks down, especially against a team that can kill like this,” Doran said. “That has been a huge thing for them.”
St. Germain paced Cincinnatus with 15 kills, three aces, four service points and two blocks, Latta added 25 assists, five service points, three kills and an ace and Madison Stover recorded eight service points and five aces. Cassia Schuyler (eight service points, two aces), Payton Gerrard (four digs, four service points), Lucy Finch (four kills, two blocks), Maddie Pittsley (three kills, one block) and Ellerson (two kills) also aided the Lions’ winning effort.
Stull topped McGraw with three kills, a block and six digs, Bassett contributed a kill, three aces, a block, five digs and four assists and Adrianna Stacconi recorded six digs. Myranda Murray (two digs, one kill), Ticknor (one kill, one ace, one block), Emmily Thomas (one assist, one dig) and Emma Marshall (one kill) also pitched in for McGraw.
Both the Lions and Eagles will play in a tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday at SUNY Morrisville, then Cincinnatus will host Stockbridge Valley at 7 p.m. Tuesday and McGraw will host Brookfield at 7 p.m. Monday.
