WEST WINFIELD –– Mount Markham head coach Terry McKane approached the Tully girls volleyball team postgame to let the Black Knights know they were the toughest team his girls faced all season.
That’s high praise from the Mustangs’ longtime head coach, who has built a dynasty with a handful of Section III titles dating back to 2003.
No. 4 Tully gave No. 1 Mount Markham all it could handle, but couldn’t take a set in a 21-25, 23-25, 18-25 loss in the Section III Class C semifinals Wednesday night at Mount Markham Middle School.
The two teams went blow for blow early on, with Mount Markham taking an early 8-2 lead and Tully responding after a timeout to make it 16-15 Mustangs in the first. Mount Markham won the next two points before Tully took a 19-18 advantage. The Mustangs closed the first strong with a 7-2 run and proved to the Black Knights why they entered the match a perfect 17-0.
There was an extreme amount of tension in the first set and both teams had their moments.
“Whenever you get to this point, no matter how prepared you are you’re still going to get in that situation,” Tully head coach Jeremy Cook said. “I thought that we handled it OK. At different times, the girls cracked under some pressure, which is natural. We were looking for that person to rise to the top and kind of take over, and it just never happened.”
Tully appeared to get things together in the second, forcing the Mustangs to get uncomfortable defensively at times and riding a wave of momentum to take a 21-16 lead. The Black Knights forced a Mount Markham timeout after a long rally that included some big defensive plays by Maddy Lund. Tully had all the momentum and won two points out of the timeout to take that 21-16 advantage, but things turned from there.
Mount Markham went on an incredible run, tightening up the defense and letting star outside hitter Layla Rice swing away. The Mustangs turned the tide of the match, winning nine of the final 11 points in the set to silence the Tully faithful.
Cook felt Mount Markham was able to make the big comeback in the second due to some timidity and poor offensive execution.
“We needed to just create more offense,” Cook said. “Whenever we got a chance, we ended up hitting it directly at someone on their team and creating a really easy dig, or creating an error on us. A lot of it was they took advantage of their opportunities and we didn’t all the time.”
Mount Markham carried that momentum into the third, opening up a 19-10 lead. Tully did its best to come back and make the final set respectable, but Cook felt the way the second ended took the life out of his girls.
Rice and Kyra Piersma on the outside and Caleigh Smith and Navy Escamilla on the inside caused Tully problems all night. The Black Knights did their best to block, but the four hitters chose different players to hit at throughout the night and rotated it to keep the Tully defense off balance.
“That came because we were just playing so tentatively,” Cook said. “I think if we were a little bit more aggressive and a little more confident, we would’ve forced them to not have the option to have so many choices with what they were doing.”
“I thought we relied on tipping too much and we were very uncharacteristically frantic,” Cook added. “The speed of the game was a lot faster. They run their outsides a lot faster than we’re used to seeing.”
Anna Lund provided a bright spot for Tully, dishing out the 1,000th assist of here career late in the third set. She reached the milestone in just two seasons, sitting at 501 assists on the season entering Wednesday’s match.
“She’s been awesome and I think she was feeling a little pressure,” Cook said. “You could see she was a little tight (Wednesday night). I was trying to get her to let her shoulders down and just relax. The whole team wanted it for her, so you’re working for that.”
“It’s an incredible accomplishment,” Cook added. “In Tully volleyball history, she’s among elite company. Carla Hardy from Westhill is a Tully alumni and she’s in the 1,000-assist club. Most recently it was Alexa Shay, who’s a stud athlete. She’s in great company and has put in a lot of work to get there.”
Tully seniors Rowan Usherwood, Elaina Iozzo and Karissa Olender all played big parts on this year’s team and contributed to the Black Knights’ effort Wednesday. Adeline Russ is the Black Knights’ final senior.
Tully ends its season with a 16-4 record. Mount Markham will take on No. 2 Beaver River at 10 a.m. Saturday at Central Valley Academy in the Section III Class C title match in a rematch of last year’s championship game. Both teams are unbeaten.
BOYS BASKETBALL
TULLY 56, ONTECH CHARTER 40
Garrett Thompson poured in a career-high 34 points to help Tully win its 11th game in a row and move to 16-1. Thompson knocked down six 3-pointers on the night.
Connor Bastedo aided his fellow senior with 12 points, Sean Mize pitched in four points and Sam Dando and Nate Melton both made a 3-pointer for the Black Knights.
DERUYTER 72, MANLIUS PEBBLE HILL 24
DeRuyter snapped its four-game losing streak in emphatic fashion, opening up a 54-12 lead through three quarters. Dan Holl had a big night for the second game in a row for the Rockets, going for 27 points.
Devens Whalen added 14 points for DeRuyter, Dylan Foster contributed 13 points, Jackson Millett had eight points, Jonah Baxter notched six points and Josiah Hannafan and Jeremy Prince both scored two points.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
MEXICO 41, CORTLAND 38
Cortland held a 17-14 lead at halftime, but allowed 27 second-half points in the Purple Tigers’ fourth consecutive loss.
HOMER 46, ONONDAGA 40
Homer won the fourth quarter 12-6 to edge out its third straight win and second in as many days. Anya Gofkowski led the Trojans offensively with 12 points on three makes from deep, while Lauren Franco added 11 points.
Maddie Morgan made two 3-pointers for six points, Kennadie Taylor, Lizzie McCloy and Makenna Pym all scored four points, Destiny Eaton notched three points and Izzy Small had two points for Homer.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Cortland at Mexico, 6:45 p.m. today
Homer at East Syracuse-Minoa, 6:45 p.m. today
McGraw at Madison, 7 p.m. today
Groton at Odessa-Montour, 6 p.m. today
Cincinnatus at Faith Heritage, 6 p.m. today
DeRuyter at Brookfield, 6 p.m. today
Marathon at Moravia, 7 p.m. Friday
Dryden at Watkins Glen, 7 p.m. Friday
Tully at Hamilton, 7 p.m. Friday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Phoenix at Homer, 6:45 p.m. today
Weedsport at Tully, 7 p.m. today
Moravia at Marathon, 7 p.m. Friday
Watkins Glen at Dryden, 7 p.m. Friday
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
No. 1 Cincinnatus vs. No. 3 Sandy Creek, noon Saturday at Central Valley Academy
