IAC VOLLEYBALL: WAVERLY DROPS 5-SET THRILLER TO NEWARK VALLEY (24 PHOTOS) (2019-10-09)
BY TIM TAYLORValley Sports ReportWAVERLY - It may go down as one of the most evenly-matched battles of the volleyball season. It certainly kept onlookers at the edges of their seats right up until the very end.
Newark Valley would outlast Waverly in a key IAC South Large School clash, 3-2, here Wednesday. The final outcome wouldn't be decided until an Emma Graves kill and a Wolverine hit out-of-bounds gave the Cardinals the final two points of the match for a 26-24 win in the fifth set.
"If you've watched my girls play the last few weeks, that's the best we've probably actually played," said Waverly head coach Kesha Sinsabaugh.
The match pitted a pair of 8-3 teams trying to claim the division title. Waverly is the defending division champ, and also the defending IAC Large School champ, but NV is hungry for a champ and is a legitimate contender this season.
"It is what it is," Sinsabaugh said of the loss. "It's not like the end of the world. It sucks to lose this way at the end, but you win that good that many games I won't complain one bit."
The Wolverines dominated their previous three matches with 3-0 sweeps.
Waverly won the first and third games by 25-22 verdicts while NV won game two, 25-21, and game four, 25-20.
"Every single game was intense," said NV head coach Kelsey O'Donnell. "There wasn't one game that was easier for one team or another. We had to fight the whole time. We were in deep holes. They were like stronger than ever and it was an awesome battle to see."
In game five, the Cardinals attempted to pull away early, building an 11-6 advantage, but three consecutive hitting errors drew Waverly right back in it. However, a trio of Wolverine hitting errors helped turn a 17-15 NV edge into a 21-15 lead. Waverly remained persistent and took advantage of some NV mistakes, and two nice hits by Sidney Tomasso and Morgan Adams to knot the game at 24.
The opening game was a back-and-forth battle, with Waverly scoring the first of its two 25-22 victories.
In game two, the Wolverines saw a 21-17 lead slip away as NV scored the last eight points in a 25-21 win.
Newark Valley went to the front in game three for a 16-11 advantage, but Waverly rallied down the stretch, tying the set at 20 before posting its second 25-22 victory if the evening.
That fourth set saw NV rally from a 15-7 deficit, the largest by either team at any point in the evening, as the Wolverines appeared to have some communication issues on the court.
"They were definitely in our heads at that point," said O'Donnell, who had no explanation for the turnaround.
"Honestly, I couldn't tell you," she said. 'They just pulled it together. It was nothing on my end, that I did differently. It was all them. They get all the credit. They just dug deep and they were like we have to do this. I think it just took one strong play and that just got them up and they kept going up. It takes one play for them to turn around, which is cool. We've gotten in some deep holes and we've been able to bring ourselves out of most of them."
"They changed their defense up a little bit, their serve receive up a little bit over the last couple weeks," Sinsabaugh said. "I said at the beginning of the year that was going to hurt us. Definitely something that impacted us in that game, but I won't take a loss on just one game. It definitely goes for the whole entire time."
The communication issue doesn't help, but is fixable.
"(It) doesn't help, definitely something we should have sealed and taken care of with us communicating and being able to push through that fourth game," Sinsabaugh said. "It could have been different."
The loss will make it more difficult to win the division, but it doesn't end Waverly's hopes of repeating as sectional champions. As the postseason draws closer, and Sinsabaugh thinks her team can build off the experience.
"I definitely hope so, because they have a tough schedule at the end of the season, but they're definitely going to have a tougher schedule when it comes to them going to sectionals," she said, "so making sure that they're able to stay that momentum and continue the build-up and continuation on is going to be key going into postseason, so definitely finishing out the season, if we can continue that way, it would be great. Hopefully, we don't lose it and just kind of go backward. Hopefully, we can continue to build from here."
For NV, Chelsie Fuller had one assist, one kill and three digs; Emma Graves contributed three aces, 20 kills, five blocks and seven digs; Kayla Malarkey pitched in with one assist, two kills and 12 digs; Libby Northrop recorded three aces, two kills and 17 digs; Izabel Rosalez had three digs; had Jordan Stiffarm two aces, one kill and 36 digs; Allie Wandell registered eight aces, 24 assists, four kills, one block and nine digs; and Gracie Gardner added five kills and three blocks.
The Wolverines' Maddy Goodwin notched and 13 points, 10 digs; Paige Lewis had 15 points, nine kills, six blocks and 17 digs; Morgan had Adams 16 points, 10 kills, four blocks; Adrianah Clinton contributed 13 points, eight aces and 15 digs; Sidney Tomasso had seven points and 10 digs; Chloe Croft chipped in with five points, 25 assists and 19 digs; and Aryan Peters added 15 digs.
Waverly visits Newfield Friday.
JV: Newark Valley won by scores of 25-9 and 25-17.
For Waverly, Paighten Streeter and Taylor Hall served six points each; Kennedy Herriman added six points, four assists and four digs; and Sydney Nierstedt had four kills.
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Sidney Tomasso. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
