The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
ROLLING ALONG
Oneida sweeps past Westmoreland to build momentum towards sectionals
ONEIDA, N.Y. » Oneida was ready for what ever Westmoreland had in store on Tuesday night.
The hosts did what they had to do to walk away with the 25-8, 2510, 25-13 boys volleyball victory.
Communication and focus was the key to success for the Blue and Orange when taking on Westmoreland and on moving forward towards sectional play.
“Communication was really good tonight. It helped our sets be a lot better” senior Nate Jennings said.
From the opening serve, Oneida was focused. Opening up the set on fire, Oneida displayed what it can do when it is clicking on all cylinders.
The Blue and Orange were led by Jennings, who led the way for both squads with 15 kills — a great reflection for him on what he said he could improve on as Oneida made a push for sectional play.
“The improvement and placements of my hits and being more smart with them,” he said.
After breezing in the first set, it was more of the same from Oneida in the second.
Jordan Farwell helped pace the hosts with 16 digs, leading both squads. The momentum for Oneida would be stopped only
brief ly as Westmoreland started to mount a run. Unfortunately, that run would be short lived and Oneida started to pull away once again.
With Ethan Scanion racking up 21 assists, Oneida was able to keep the roll going and it looked like a well-oiled machine.
With Oneida up two sets to none, the victory seemed to be all wrapped up. But Westmoreland wouldn’t go down with out a fight.
It hung around with the Blue and Orange.
Behind the play of Mark VanDeusen, who had and impressive three kills and eight digs on the night, Westmoreland seemed to be on the verge of a strong run. The power of the Blue and Orange proved to be too much, however. With the steady focus, great communication, and will to win, Oneida took control once again to secure the sweep.
With this win, Oneida improved to a 9-1. As sectionals inch closer, Oneida head coach Nik Ano talked about his team.
“Well the biggest thing we can work on is our passing and setting,” he said. “When we can get those aspects down, we have some guys that can really swing. We can also improve on our blocking. Those are are the big things wewant to touch up.
“But tonight the kids stayed focused and had some great passes. And they were really swinging tonight. We have some tough opponents coming up so tonight was a nice step up for us”
Oneida looks to stay hot as its four games remaining in the regular season.
The sectional seeding meeting will take place on Feb. 23.
With the loss, Westmoreland fell to 3-7.