The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
M-E falls in Class D quarterfinals
CINCINNATUS » The Morrisville-Eaton girls volleyball team entered this season with several changes in place after reaching the Section III Class C semifinals last winter. Coach Amanda McCallops took over as the varsity coach this season as her team made the transition to Class D.
Friday, M-E’s rebuilding season came to an end.
The No. 5 seed had some shining moments in a quarterfinal match at No. 4 Cincinnatus but not enough to upset the Lions, who won 25-16, 17-25, 2517, 25-13 to advance to the semifinals.
“I feel like we had a really rough season and I was proud of where we ended up at the end of the season,” said McCallops. “We had a lot of work to do and I think we ended up doing the work we needed to to go into next season.”
Incons is t ent play plagued M-E throughout the season and Friday’s match was no exception. The visitors jumped out to a 5-3 lead into the first game behind a kill and an ace from Rachel Spring. Cincinnatus tied the score four times before McCallops’ team pulled ahead 14-12. However, that lead would be their last. The Lions scored five straight points to take a 17-14 lead before M-E scored two straight to pull within a point. Kaitlin Manley’s strong serving helped Cincinnatus pull away and the Lions ended the first game with eight straight points.
“We have trouble getting out of the funks that we get into in the middle of the game,” said McCallops. “The younger girls have trouble knowing that a mistake is something that they can shake off.”
M-E showed its potential in the second game as its defense went from sub- par to superb and the visitors never trailed as a result. McCallops’ team also showed balance on offense early with Emma Baker, Kylie Lehr, Jordyn Camp and Kate Lyrek recording kills to help M-E take a 14-8 lead. After the Lions scored two straight points, Spring ended the next four rallies with kills, helping the visitors push their advantage to 20-10. The Lions got within 22-17 before a pass from Lehr rolled over the net for a point. The sophomore followed with a kill on a free ball and a Cincinnatus mishit gave M-E the win in the second game.
The visitors couldn’t carry that strong play into the third game. Sydney Sherman served two aces to help Cincinnatus take an early 9-2 lead that M-E couldn’t overcome. Spring and Baker played well at the net to help their team pull within 20-16 but Manley ended a 4- 0 run with a kill and the senior added an ace to help the Lions put the game away.
Manley’s hitting and Sherman’s serving forced M-E to play from behind in the fourth game as well, giving the Lions a 10-3 advantage. The visitors used strong serving to get back in the game. Lyrek boomed two aces to bring M-E within 13-10 and Jenna Sedore added an ace to make it a 15-12 Cincinnatus lead. However, M-E would only score once more in the match. The Lions pushed the lead to 20-13 before McCallops took a timeout, but her players were unable to regroup. Sherman served five straight aces to close the match, sending Cincinnatus to the semifinals where it will face No. 1 Remsen in a rematch of last year’s semifinal.
Meanwhile, M-E’s season ends with a bright outlook for the future.
“A lot of the girls who were on the court tonight were sophomores and freshman,” said McCallops. “We have a lot of good girls coming up so it’s going to be an exciting season next year.”