The Cincinnatus girls volleyball team fell behind McGraw 14-5 in the first set, but flipped a switch and rallied to win 25-21, 25-6, 25-10 Monday night at McGraw High School.
McGraw came out of the gates hot and capitalized on some Cincinnatus errors. The Lions were letting the ball fall between them, sending two girls to attack the ball and hitting the ball into the net, gifting the Eagles free points.
“I think there were a little bit of nerves,” Cincinnatus head coach Becky Merihew said. “McGraw played Manlius Pebble Hill this weekend in a tournament and beat them and we played a tough game against them Friday and lost. We knew coming in it might be a little tougher, then the girls settled in and played Cincy volleyball.”
After Merihew called a timeout, the Lions seemed to turn it on. The girls were more in sync than before and had a different type of flow to their game, eliminating a lot of the costly mistakes.
“I think we just needed to communicate,” Madelyn Pittsley said.
“And we had to find our motivation,” Allyson St. Germain added.
McGraw had no answers the rest of the way, struggling to return Cincinnatus’ serves and constantly making the same errors that plagued the Lions early.
Pittsley and St. Germain helped cause some of the Eagles’ problems, with Pittsley recording five blocks and St. Germain in the mix for a bunch more. Both girls were reading McGraw’s second hits and setting themselves up for success.
“Personally, I saw every time the setter was breaking early, so if I could hit that spot I hit it and if not, I found somewhere else,” St. Germain said.
St. Germain led Cincinnatus with seven kills, five aces, a dig and 12 service points, Cassia Schuyler notched 19 service points, five aces and three digs and Pittsley had her five blocks, one kill, two aces and three service points. Payton Gerrard (four aces, one kill, seven service points), Kaylee Brenchley (three aces, two kills, one assist, eight service points), Kaedance Latta (eight assists, one kill, two aces, one block, six service points) and Lucy Finch (one kill) contributed for the Lions as well.
The win moves Cincinnatus to 3-1, the second year in a row with three wins or more in the first four games. The Lions started 4-0 last season.
A lot of this Cincinnatus team just won a state title in soccer and Merihew thinks some of that has permeated onto the volleyball court.
“Honestly, I’ve talked about this with my assistant coach Macy (Cobb), I just don’t know if the girls know how to lose,” Merihew said. “I don’t want that to sound bad. I think they just know how to win.”
The Lions’ next game is at 7 p.m. Thursday at Stockbridge Valley. McGraw, now 0-2, will next play at 7 p.m. Friday at DeRuyter.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
MORAVIA 48, GROTON 22
Moravia trailed 7-2 after a quarter then outscored Groton 46-15 the rest of the way. Caraline Wasileski and Jessalyn Jones led the Blue Devils with 11 points apiece.
Jordan Smith scored all nine of her points after halftime, Olivia Genson chipped in four points, Gabby Heim, Lashley Heredia-Castillo and Kendall Hess scored three points each and Daisy Drake and Allison Kehoe both had two points.
Devyn Blasz and Ellie Dykeman each scored six points to lead Groton’s effort. Jill Zigenfus notched four points, Sharla Lockwood had three points, Maddie Perkins contributed two points and Emily Trejo had one point.
TULLY 64, MCGRAW 16
Rachel Daddona went off for 24 points on three made triples as Tully moved to 4-0. The Black Knights jumped out to a 24-3 lead after a quarter and held a 42-12 lead at halftime.
Sammy Morgan followed Daddona up with 10 points on three 3-pointers, Ella Polak notched nine points, Gwyn Wilbur scored eight, Anna Congelli contributed seven, Grace McKenna had three, Anna Pierce scored two and Mary Earley had one.
Hannah Wilson led McGraw with six points, 14 rebounds, an assist and three steals. Leah Terwilliger had five points, five boards and two steals, Madison Sweeney contributed two points, two rebounds and an assist, Eden Sears had two points and an assist and Lexi McCall pitched in a point, four rebounds and a steal.
WRESTLING
HOMER
Hunter Lines led Homer on Friday and Saturday at Chenango Valley, going a perfect 9-0 with eight pins. Lines’ only other win was by forfeit.
Maddox Johnson and Jack Brown both went 7-2, with Johnson securing two pins and two forfeits and Brown getting four pins and a forfeit. Garrett Carr was 5-4 with four pins, Liam O’Brien finished 4-1 with three pins and a forfeit, Chris Slade was 4-1 with four pins, Daniel Hardesty was 4-5 with three pins and a forfeit and Patrick Maslin was 4-5 with four wins by forfeit. Maverick Harris (3-6, three forfeits), Jameson Swab (3-5, two pins, one forfeit), Owen Burhans (2-0), Leland Donahue (2-1, two pins), Aaron O’Brien (2-2, two forfeits), Anthony Cicioni (2-4, two pins), Owen Quaile (2-7, two pins), Ethan Maslin (2-7, two forfeits), Karson Kemp (1-0, one pin), Kamdyn Dittmann (1-0, one pin), Dominick Dovi (1-1, one pin), Lucas Narrow (1-2, one pin), Colin Murphy (1-3, one forfeit), Mason Burhans (0-1), Curtis Morgan (0-1), Kaiden McDermott (0-1), Jose Martinez-Herrara (0-1) and Declan Gilbert (0-2) also wrestled for Homer.
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
DRYDEN
Jade Brockner had the top day for the Dryden girls Saturday, coming in second in the 55-meter dash (7.86 seconds) and third in the 300-meter dash (46.91 seconds). Ethan Gibbs led the Dryden boys’ effort with a second place finish in the 55-meter hurdles (9.15 seconds).
Mckenna Crocker also came in third in the 3,000-meter race, Reagan Burnham was third in the 1,500-meter race, the 4x200-meter relay team of Raelan Green, Nicole Morrow, Jillian Miller and Brockner finished third and the 4x800-meter relay team of Crocker, Alivia Wojcik, Nora Anderson and Burnham came in third on the girls side.
Suansian Songput also had top finished for the Dryden boys, coming in fifth in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Cortland at Syracuse Academy of Science, 7 p.m. today
Union Springs at Marathon, 7 p.m. today
McGraw at Madison, 7 p.m. today
Moravia at Groton, 6:30 p.m. today
Cincinnatus at Otselic Valley, 7:15 p.m. today
Lansing at Dryden, 7 p.m. Wednesday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
CBA at Cortland, 6:45 p.m. today
Marathon at Union Springs, 7 p.m. today
Cincinnatus at McGraw, 6 p.m. today
Dryden at Lansing, 7:15 p.m. today
HOCKEY
New Hartford at Cortland/Homer, 7 p.m. today
WRESTLING
Marathon at Sidney, 6 p.m. today
Homer at Phoenx, 5 p.m. Wednesday
Marathon, Groton at Newark Valley, 6 p.m. Wednesday
Dryden at Odessa-Montour, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday
Jordan-Elbridge at Southern Hills, 6 p.m. Wednesday at Fabius-Pompey Junior-Senior High School
Moravia at Tioga, 6 p.m. Wednesday
BOWLING
Bishop Grimes at Cortland, 3:30 p.m. today at Cort-Lanes
CBA at Homer, 3:30 p.m. today at Hi-Lanes
Newark Valley at Groton, 4 p.m. today at Memory Lanes
