ILION –– Maddie Pittsley got the ball and stepped to the service line with her team’s season on the line. After battling serving struggles all day, the junior needed to get her serves in play or Cincinnatus faced game point.
Five nearly-perfect serves later, the No. 1 Cincinnatus girls volleyball team was celebrating its second consecutive Section III Class D championship.
The Lions won all five points after Pittsley got the ball to win the winner-take-all fifth set 15-13 after facing a 13-9 deficit. Cincinnatus beat No. 3 Sandy Creek 19-25, 25-23, 25-23, 20-25, 15-13.
Pittsley, like many of her teammates, had battled consistency issues with the serve all day. She frequently pounded them into the net or missed wide, but stepped up with the season and 26-match winning streak on the line.
“I was quite nervous,” Pittsley said. “I was actually afraid that I was going to get flamed for the rest of my high school career for losing game point when we were in a sectional final. But I didn’t choke and we ended up pulling it out. All I could think of was my seniors.”
Lucy Finch provided a couple thunderous kills during Cincinnatus’ spurt. Finch’s second kill put the Lions up 14-13. She was clutch in the fifth set against Fabius-Pompey in the semifinal as well.
“All that goes through my mind in those situations is the technique and what I need to work on,” Finch said. “Every time I mess up I think about what I did wrong and I put it toward the next play.”
“I love the intensity,” Finch added. “I love when everyone’s yelling and screaming. It makes me go harder, I just love it.”
Cincinnatus appeared to be in rough shape early in the fifth, having lost the fourth late and gotten down 6-2 in the fifth. Senior captains Kaedance Latta and Allyson St. Germain were determined to not let their final season end with a whimper.
“I think we just knew it was our last game and no matter what we’re not going to give up and end on a loss,” Latta said.
“Whatever happens, happens,” St. Germain added. “I’m just happy we could pull it out.”
The two teams played remarkably close all match, with neither side taking too big of a lead without the other responding.
The Comets had success when they were controlling the net. Sophia Young, Kaitlyn Perkins, Maiah Owen and Phoenicia Hathaway all recorded at least three blocks and a kill for a Sandy Creek side that seemed determined to slow down St. Germain.
“Sandy Creek has always been good competition,” Cincinnatus head coach Becky Merihew said. “They’re really well coached. I knew they had studied us and learned how to play our big hitters.”
Sandy Creek, like Fabius-Pompey in the semifinal, had success hitting across the court on Cincinnatus. Merihew thinks that problem comes and goes with her team due to a little timidity and defensiveness.
“They phase in and out of it,” Merihew said. “I think sometimes we get back on our heels thinking we’re going to get a hit against us and then they’ll throw a short little hit in and we’re not ready to move forward.”
Merihew has coached the last two sectional championship teams and has learned not to doubt this group of girls, even in the toughest moments. Despite all the adversity Saturday, they still came out with the win.
“They just win, they know how to win,” Merihew said. “I said a couple years ago they don’t know how to lose.”
Latta and St. Germain paced the Lions yet again, with Latta going for 39 assists, 15 digs, 16 service points, five kills, two aces and two blocks and St. Germain following her with 16 kills, 13 service points, six aces and 18 digs. Cassia Schuyler (20 digs, seven service points, one ace), Finch (11 kills, eight digs), Hannah Ellerson (10 digs, seven kills, seven service points), Pittsley (nine kills, nine service points, one ace, one block, one dig), Payton Gerrard (nine digs, seven service points, one ace) and Ava Larrabee (two kills, one block, one dig) also aided Cincinnatus’ effort.
Latta and St. Germain have played together for three years and have led a remarkable era of Cincinnatus volleyball. The duo is 46-6 over their three seasons and get to end on a high note. Merihew knows girls like that don’t come around often and they will leave big shoes to fill.
“There’s going to be a hole next year,” Merihew said. “They’re two of the best volleyball players I’ve ever had in this school, and we’ve had a lot of good volleyball players. Just their posture, the way they lead, the way they pull themselves together, it’s going to be missed.”
Schuyler, Larrabee, Leah Stith, Cadence Gerrard and Taylor White also played their final game Saturday, and the whole senior class was a part of a very special run.
“I’m just grateful to be a part of something so amazing and so incredible that makes it really hard to say goodbye,” Latta said.
