STAC VOLLEYBALL: YOUTHFUL WAVERLY BATTLES HARD IN LOSS TO POWERHOUSE OWEGO (September 8, 2026)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
WAVERLY — The Waverly volleyball team put up a solid challenge against Owego here Tuesday evening, but the 14-time defending STAC Central Division champion River Hawks rode their advantage in experience to a 3-0 sweep in the divisional opener for both teams.

The youthful Wolverines kept the match close during the majority of the first two games before the River Hawks won, 25-20 and 25-19.

In the third set, Waverly fell behind, 7-2, rallied to build an 19-11 advantage, but stumbled late in a 29-27 setback.

“We are a young team,” said Waverly coach Hailee Rote. “I have four freshmen that start, so we're trying to get our mental toughness and our grit, and keep working hard. We're figuring it out.

“I was proud of the way they played. I think we’ve got some things we’ve got to work on, but we're going to get there.”

Owego worked a 7-2 lead in the final game, but the visitors battled back and tied the game at 8-8 on an Ava Heath ace and took the lead on another ace.

The Wolverines made it 12-9 on a Natasha Lane ace. Lane would remain at the service line for two more points.

Following a swap of side outs, Savannah Dorsey stepped to the service line to help give Waverly an 18-10 advantage.

The teams would trade side outs again with the Wolverines’ Addison Foster glancing a hard shot off the top of the net and past the Owego defense to make it 19-11.

Wavery’s youthfulness started to show as a hit out of bounds, a service receive error, and a 4-hit violation helped Owego close the gap to 19-16, but Heath’s cross court shot for a side out slowed the River Hawks’ surge momentarily.

Mady Briggs would serve the next point to make it 21-16, but a pair of Waverly errors narrowed the margin to 21-18.

Joslynn Space and Braelea McLaren won battles at the net to knot the score at 22, then Owego pushed the lead to 24-22.

The Wolverines refused to surrender, picking up a side out, then a River Hawk service receive went back over the net where Kendall Rockwell was there to tap the ball for a point and a 24-24 tie.

A Leraya Teeter side out hit knotted the score at 25, and a pair of bad serves by Waverly and one by Owego contributed to a 27-27 deadlock.

The River Hawks would wrap up the sweep on McLaren’s hit off the Waverly front row and a Wolverine hit out of bounds.

In the opening game, Owego jumped out to a 3-0 lead on two Waverly errors and an Rylie White ace, then pushed it to 5-1 on a bad serve and an Ava McKeon ace.

The Wolverines came back to tie the score at 7-7, but solid plays by the River Hawks’ Emme Bennett, White and McKeon pushed the lead 18-13.

Waverly closed within four points at 19-15, 21-17 and 24-20, but fell behind by seven down the stretch and could get no closer.

“We missed a lot of serves, just some mistakes early,” Rote said. “In our first match, we had seven missed serves and we can't win a game if we're not making our serves.

“I think in the first set that was definitely the difference and then that kind of put us in a hole going in the second set, so definitely something that we're going to continue to work on.”

In the second game, Owego built a 7-3 lead early, then the teams combined for 12 side outs during the next 15 points, leaving the River Hawks hanging on for a 14-11 advantage.

Heath had a deep side out hit off an Owego player, then served an ace to trim the lead to 15-13, but a rejection at the net by McLaren, and big plays at the net by White, McKeon and Izzy Herceg helped the River Hawks pull away.

Meeya Wheeler dished out 27 assists and had three digs for Waverly; Heath contributed seven kills, three aces and eight digs; Teeter chipped in with six kills and 13 digs; Foster had a half-dozen kills; Dorsey added five kills and two digs; Elizabeth Cole had five digs and an ace; Layla Oechslin recorded 2 aces and six digs; Rockwell had four kills; and Lane and Briggs tacked on one ace apiece.

McLaren paced the River Hawks with 10 kills, eight digs and one block; White had six kills and four digs; Payton Newman handed out 15 assists, and had one kill and six digs; McKeon pitched in with four kills, four aces and one block; Macey Shaw added seven assists and seven digs; Bennett registered 11 digs, four assists and two aces; Taylor Talnut accounted for five kills; Space had three kills and two blocks; Herceg added two kills and two digs; and Ella Gilliland had three digs.

Waverly (2-1 overall) hosts Oneonta Thursday.

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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly’s Kendall Rockwell. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly’s Leraya Teeter. … PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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