The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Oneida girls victorious over Clinton
Cynthia Bobo’s Oneida side secures spot in Section III Class B semifinals
For the second season in a row, the Oneida girls volleyball teamis one of the last four standing in Section III Class B.
Owning a 14-6 record and the No. 3 seed in Class B, Cynthia Bobo’s Tri-Valley Pioneer champion Oneida side took down No. 4 Clinton in straight sets: 25-20, 25-15, 25-22.
“I absolutely love this team. They work so well together and the thing that I ask of them is to let the people see what I see in practice. They are very knowledgable when it comes to volleyball. They play very well together, their movement...when they are on and playing their game, they are so pretty to watch,” said Bobo. “It was pretty exciting to see them play smart volleyball.”
Oneida junior middle hitter Jamie Jones gave Clinton some trouble up front, putting away 14 kills.
“I was able to [find success up front] with the people behind me calling spots for me where to hit and my setters putting up amazing balls for me to put down easily,” Jones said. “I think we got down in the beginning of the sets, but once we started working and working cohesively, we really started putting it in gear.”
One of those setters, Zoey Fox, paced Oneida with a team-high 18 assists. Schuyler Vecchiano added seven more.
Defensively, Nicole Smith led Oneida with 15 digs.
Molly Moyer and Paige Nashton combined for nine aces on the Oneida serve.
“I think we did fairly well on serve-receive, so we were able to set up a lot of plays. I think our spacing on the court was good, so again, we were able to pick up a lot of stuff they sent over,” said Bobo. “I think this is one of the deepest and smartest teams [I’ve had]. I can honestly say my six seniors, a lot of them came up with me as sophomores, have committed the time to getting better. They have committed to the open gyms, camps and any opportunity to play together. That is why they are as good as they are, because they have put in the time.”
In the first set, Oneida and Clinton fought to a 1515 tie before the home team began to pull away. A Jones ace, a well-placed shot by Smith to the back left corner, and back-to-back kills byMoyer gave Oneida some breathing room at 19-15. Clinton pulled within two moments later on a Sarah Martini ace, but Oneida was able to capitalize on unforced errors by Clin- ton before Jones smashed the set winner off an assist from Fox.
The hosts never trailed during the 25-15 second set. Moyer blasted a shot off a defender to put Oneida up 22-14. Two serves later, Smith added a kill of her own for a 23-15 edge, and after Clinton was unable to return a serve, Nashton found a hole in the visitor defense to put Oneida up two sets to none.
Clinton kept things tight in the third set, using backto-back kills from Skyler Jones and Kacie Simzer to stave off elimination with Oneida up 24-20, but the hosts iced the contest out on the next serve, securing the 3-0 win.
“I think when you are playing an away game, and you are not in your home gym, I think they were nervous,” said Clinton coach Lori Ann Storey of her team. “I’m very proud of them. I think they played hard. They came in really wanting to put on a good show, and if not win, at least make them work for it. And I think they did.”
With the victory, Oneida moves on to face No. 1 seed Chittenango following the Bears’ win over No. 9 Sherburne-Earlville for a rematch of last season’s 201718 Class B semifinal.