Cortland Standard .net

By TANEY BEAUMONT
Staff Writer
CHITTENANGO — The DeRuyter Central and Cincinnatus Central volleyball teams had their seasons ended in vastly different fashions Wednesday night in a Section 3 Class D semifinal doubleheader at Chittenango High.
The third-seeded Rockets were outlasted by No. 7 Manlius-Pebble Hill 25-18, 14-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-15 after the Red Lions, seeded fourth, were swept by defending champion and top seed Remsen 25-12, 25-11, 25-16.
M-PH and Remsen will return to Chittenango Saturday for the championship match, which is slated to start at 11 a.m.
Both matches involved extenuating circumstances. The Rockets trailed 10-9 in the deciding set against M-PH when senior middle hitter Cassondra Henry went down with an ankle injury. A bad DeRuyter serve followed by nine service points in a row by M-PH made it 20-9 and sealed the verdict.
Junior setter Cheyenne Phillips was unavailable for the Red Lions against a Rams squad that lost three players from last year’s champions, and Cincy was overmatched in the first two sets before settling down and making Remsen earn the victory.
“I think it kind of affected and deflated everyone,” DeRuyter coach Gary Burdick said of Henry’s injury after his team finished the season 8-5. “But this team never gives up, and kept on plugging. That won us a lot of matches, and it was a good season. I’m proud of what we accomplished.”
Senior middle hitter Andrea Newton had 16 kills, 10 blocks and five aces to lead the Rockets.
“Due to a lot better passing than we’ve had in the past, our senior setters, Ciara LaClair and Breanna Hare, were able to get a lot of easy sets to Andrea. Maybe overall we could have been a little cleaner; this year we ran a new offense, getting it to the setters,” said Burdick.
“One of our goals was to make it to the semis; we made it, and had a good shot at going farther. The way it ended is sad, but we had a good run. We lasted all but the last three days.”
Hare had 11 assists, 24 digs and a kill for the Rockets, while LaClair had seven assists, 10 digs, four aces and a kill. Henry, who got back in for the final few points of the match, finished with six blocks and five kill,s while junior outside hitter/middle hitter Amanda Hare (two aces) and sophomore outside hitter/middle hitter Emily Pilcher (one ace) had seven digs each.
The first set was tied eight times before the Trojans (10-10) went on a 9-1 run, keyed by three kills from senior Leandrah Shelmidine, to go up 22-14 and take control. The Rockets bounced back in the second set, scoring 10 straight points — nine off serves by LaClair — to erase a 13-11 deficit and go up 21-13. After M-PH finally broke the service, DeRuyter scored the final four points of the set, in which Newton had four kills.
The third set saw M-PH, which got another five kills and a set-ending block from Shelmidine, score five straight points after trailing 8-6 to take the lead for good, two of those points off aces by junior Kaylee Steiner. The Rockets never trailed in the fourth set but had to withstand M-PH rallies that made it a one-point set at 20-19, 21-20 and 22-21 before a kill by Henry and two in a row by Newton ended it. Newton had six kills and two blocks in the set.
The fans from both teams were noisy as the fifth set began, and it stayed that way through five early ties before Henry went down as DeRuyter earned a point on a bad serve return by M-PH. Steiner then served for the nine straight points that set up the final result, getting a pair of aces while Shelmidine had two kills and a block in that stretch. The Rockets got no closer than eight the rest of the way, an ace by junior Jordan Dunaway-Barlow closing things out.
“Staying focused was the key to winning,” said M-PH coach Jim Tuck, whose team ousted CCL champion Stockbridge valley, the second seed, in its first sectional match. “This is a great group of kids that never gives up, and when it came down to the end I saw great focus. You could see in the faces of a few of the girls that they wanted it more, and they picked each other up any time it was needed throughout the match.
“In the league we’re in (OHSL Liberty) we play three Class A teams — Cortland, Chittenango and East Syracuse-Minoa — as well as Class B CBA, which prepares us for faster balls. DeRuyter is a very scrappy team that serves well, and we knew that they’re a successful program.”
Shelmidine finished with 16 kills while sophomore Sophie Novak added 11 to go with two blocks. Steiner had 33 assists and sophomore Maggie Carmen eight digs.
Remsen 3, Cincinatus 0: “I think it made a difference,” Cincy coach Macy Cobb, whose team finished 8-7, said of being down one player against the defending champions. “This was a rebuilding year for us, after losing nine players from last season, and only two of our four returning players had seen a good deal of playing time. The girls were very excited to be here, but as soon as they got on the court you could see the nerves setting in, and that kind of dictated the whole match.
“We played better in the third set because we settled down. A couple of mistakes snowballed on us; we still need to work on our confidence. We’re very proud to have been in sectionals and to have gotten to semis. I told the girls after the match that to get here after the way we were playing when the season started back in December is amazing.”
Long Remsen runs typified the first two sets. The Rams (19-1) already had a 10-5 lead in the first set before taking nine of the next 10 points, senior outside hitter Kate Roos — the daughter of coach Greg Roos — with four kills in that stretch. Cincy got no closer than nine the rest of the way.
The Red Lions led the second set 2-1 before the winners scored the next 14 points, senior outside hitter Jolene Marfone’s five kills keying that decisive stretch. Kate Roos had two kills in a three-point burst down the stretch that ended any comeback hopes that Cincy had.
After six ties in the third set, the last at 13-13, Remsen finally took the lead for good with seven straight points as Marfone contributed three kills in the stretch that sealed the verdict.
“All season long we’ve preached passing and serving, the fundamentals,” Greg Roos said. “We played pretty well today. We got our offense going. We’d seen Cincy early at the CCL Tournament they hosted at the beginning of the season and knew they wouldn’t be a strong offensive team, and that if we hit the ball at them they’d have a tough time getting it back.
“It comes down to experience; we’ve got eight players back from last season (when Remsen beat Cincy in five sets in the semis), and next season we’re in the same boat they’re in this year.”
“We were confident we’d do well, but didn’t expect to go out and play that well,” Kate Roos said. “We’ were really cohesive, and our passing and experience were big parts of our success today.”
Roos finished with 11 kills, two digs and an ace while Marfone had nine kills and three digs and junior setter Hailey Murray 35 assists, two aces, a kill and a dig.
Junior middle hitter Kaitlin Manley and sophomore outside hitter/libero Cheyenne Nowalk had six digs each for the Red Lions, senior setter/outside hitter Lydia Newton with four digs and four assists and senior outside hitter Sydney Sherman four kills and three digs.