NYS VOLLEYBALL: TIOGA DOWNS JORDAN-ELBRIDGE, 3-1, TO WIN CLASS C REGIONAL (24 PHOTOS) (2024-11-16)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
CANDOR — The Tioga volleyball team was a runner-up in its previous trip to the NYSPHSAA regional finals in 2022, falling to eventual state champion Mount Academy. This time, the Tigers ensured their season would not end early.

It was a bit of a roller coaster day for the Section IV champions,something they've grown accustomed to this season, but they emerged with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Section III champion Jordan-Elbridge in the Class C final.

“I really didn't know which way it was going to go,” said coach Des Ford. “We started out and I said you guys are playing to not lose right now. There's that little panic of fear of losing you've got to get over. Just compete to win. You’ve got to stay focused. Compete to win.”

Tioga took the first set, 25-15, but dropped the second, 25-17. From there the blue and gold battled to 25-20 and 25-23 victories.

Ford had talked previously about having a roller coaster season, but at last week’s Section IV championships there was none. It returned for this match.

“The roller coaster was open today, but proud of them,” she said. “They stayed tough. Just proud of them.”

The third game win appeared to give the Tigers the confidence they would need to survive a dogfight in the fourth set.

Ford said winning game three was very important to her.

“To me, very important as a coach, and honestly, to think of going into the fifth set, which my brain's already starting to go there, but it's like finish tough. You’ve been there just one point at a time, get to the end result and it doesn't matter. Whatever that end result is, we move on to the next set, so I'm already starting to think, okay, we're going to that fifth set. My coaching process has to move on.”

Tioga built an 11-4 advantage with RaeAnne Feeko serving up five straight points, including an ace, but that cushion would not last.

The Eagles rallied back behind their senior leaders to trail, 13-12, before Alyson Chamberlain highlighted a five-point run with bookend aces. Again, Jordan-Elbridge attempted to fight back, but couldn’t get any closer than four points. After four J-E hits out of bounds gave the Tigers a 24-17 lead, the Eagles combined a sideout and two Tioga errors to close the gap to 24-20. Kali Bailey, the lone holdover from the 2022 team, ended the game with a hard sideout shot.

The fourth set saw Tioga jump out to an 8-2 advantage, but a J-E timeout sparked a rally as the Eagles worked an 11-9 lead.

A nice save by Feeko which Lilly Mezzatesta turned into a sideout sent Mezzatesta to the line where she served up an ace to tie the score at 11.

Again, Jordan-Elbridge rallied, going up, 15-11. A Tioga timeout did little to stop the surge as the Eagles worked themselves onto a 20-13 cushion. Key plays at the net from Mezzatesta, Audi Zorn and Vida Rossi, and an ace by Feeko cut the lead to 22-19.

With the Eagles ahead, 23-20, Rossi rejected J-E’s Madison Clochessy at the net for a sideout. With Mezzatesta at the service line, Jordan-Elbridge committed a trio of hitting errors and Bailey picked up a kill with a shot off an Eagle defender.

The Tigers scored the first four points of the match in the first set, but had to work hard to push their advantage to five at 10-5. An Eagle timeout helped the visitors inch closer at 10-7, then a pair of Bailey hits to holes in the back row followed by two J-E hits into the net made it 15-8.

Feeko’s sideout hit to the back row kept the lead at seven, 18-11, and Tioga pushed its advantage to 22-12 and the Eagles never got closer than eight points down the stretch.

Jordan-Elbridge regrouped and broke an early 5-5 deadlock behind a 9-3 run, but the Tigers responded with key plays from Bailey, Mezzatesta and Feeko to cut the lead to 16-15.

The Eagles responded, however, with a 6-1 surge, to make it 22-16, then scored three of the final four points on a Sydney Parsons sideout, a Brooke Chiaramonte ace and a Tioga hitting error.

Feeko finished with a triple-double, dishing out 13 assists, recording 11 kills and serving up 10 points, including two aces. Bailey added a double-double with 11 points (2 aces) and 10 kills; Zorn registered five kills, four blocks and four points.

Chamberlain chipped in with eight points, 10 assists and one dig; Mezzatesta had seven points (2 aces) and four kills; Jade Keaty contributed 10 digs and eight points (2 aces); and Rossi tacked on one kill and one block.

Abby Delfavero led the Eagles (14-8) with six kills, Claire Brown had 16 digs and Brooke Chiaramonte handed out 10 assists.

Tioga (14-4), ranked sixth in the state, heads to the Final 4 in Glens Falls Saturday to face top-ranked and defending champion Portville (20-0), No. 2 Mount Academy (21-1) and No. 10 Stillwater (22-2). Pool play begins at 2 p.m. and the championship match is Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

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PHOTOS BY CRISTINA ROSSI. ... TEAM PHOTO AND GALLERY BY TIM TAYLOR.
...click here for video or photo gallery

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