The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
MECS girls capture Section III Class D title
CHITTENANGO, N.Y. » In the Section III Class D girls volleyball semifinals, No. 2 seed Morrisville-Eaton fell behind two sets to one against No. 6 Fabius-Pompey before storming back to take the final two sets to advance to the section championship.
Playing No. 4 Deruyter for the Class D title on Saturday, firstyear coach Will Curtis’ Warriors saved M-E fans the anxiety, taking three straight sets (25-20, 2523, 25-14) en route to a section championship.
“I knew they could do it,” Curtis said. “We prepared, put in hard work, and were led by two amazing seniors. The game plan we had in place was to utilize our hitters to hit to their week spot in the middle. They did everything they needed to do.”
M-E came out firing in the first set. Back-to-back aces by LeBlanc and an Emma Baker kill put the Warriors up 14-5 to open the championship contest. DeRuyter cut the deficit to five later in the opening set when Kennedy Enderle smashed a point through the outstretched arms of Kim Chandler to bring the score to 20-15, but M-E, buoyed by a twomore kills from Baker, closed out the first, 25-20.
The Warriors fell behind 21-13 in the second set after the Rockets ran off six straight points midway through behind the serving of Megan Purcell. M-E halted the run on an Ashley Snyder kill before tearing off their own 10-2 run to bring the tally to 23-23. Kendra Waltz, who had already collected six aces in the second set, made sure the Warriors did not let the Rockets even the contest. The sophomore served up a final laser ace that skimmed the net before landing for M-E’s 25th point and a 2-0 lead.
“In the beginning of the year, she was on fire with her serves,”
Curtis said of Waltz’ performace. “She had a little slump at the end of the year, and I told her just to stay loose, and she performed today. She was on fire in the back row.”
Said Baker of the second set comeback, “We played our game, and when we were down, we kept playing and didn’t let that get into our heads. We just kept going and fought back, which was amazing.”
Down 2- 0 entering the third set, DeRuyter jumped out to a 6-1 lead. LeBlanc assisted Baker on a kill to halt the Rockets’ run, and M-E tied the set at 8-8 on a Molly Holcomb kill. Holcomb added another point moments later, putting M-E up 12-9. The Warriors steadily outpaced the Rockets in the latter half of the final set, growing their lead to 20-11 when Waltz sniped a kill to the back corner for a 20-11 lead. Just five points away from clinching the Class D banner, LeBlanc set up Waltz for two more points for a 24-14 edge before the Warriors closed the con- test out, eliciting a roar from the M-E fans in attendance and a mob scene on the court.
“We’re going out on top in mine and Emily’s senior year, and that is amazing,” Baker said. The two seniors combined for double digit kill totals in the victory with LeBlanc serving as the table-setter to Baker. “People ask us that all the time [about our chemistry.] We just know each other so well. It’s hard to explain.”
For LeBlanc, the connection is much simpler.
“She’s a ringer,” LeBlanc said with a grin.
In addition to winning the Class D sectionals, M-E was crowned champion of the Center State Conference-III, and LeBlanc surpassed the 1,000 career assist mark in what has been a storybook season for the Warriors.
“We won it. We went all the way,” LeBlanc said. “We just played so well, and I couldn’t do it without my team.”
For her first-year coach, the win is extra special as Curtis asked his team to change its identity to start the season.
“It feels amazing,” Curtis said. “To have them be able to trust me with my system...We have a completely different system than they had last year. To be able to put people in positions that they were not familiar with was fantastic. They believed in the system, they trusted me, and they performed.”
Though their title run fell short, the Rockets’ run marks a drastic turnaround to where the program was when coach Jamie Doolittle first arrived.
“It’s amazing,” Doolittle said of DeRuyter’s season. “The last two seasons, we were 0-for, the second year we were 1-12, and this year we made it to the sectional finals.”
“Our seniors are the glue that kept this team together. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without them.”