STAC VOLLEYBALL: WAVERLY REBOUNDS WITH SOLID WIN OVER CV (September 21, 2026)
By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
WAVERLY — On paper the Chenango Valley volleyball team appeared to be the favorite. On the court, Waverly was clearly the stronger team as the Wolverines dropped CV, 3-1, in a STAC Central Division clash here Monday night.
The Warriors came in with a 3-1 division record, trailing only Owego (4-0) while Waverly was looking to bounce back from a tough setback against Seton Catholic in a battle of 1-3 teams.
Coach Hailee Rote was pleased with her team’s overall performance , although she admits there is still work to be done for her young squad to improve.
“We came off a tough loss on Thursday night to Seton, so it was good to come out and get a win,” she said.
“I think we missed a lot of serves. We missed 21 serves and you can't really win a game not making serves, so definitely something we're going to go back in and work on, but I was happy with the rest of our play. We’ve just got to clean up the serving.”
The Wolverines won the first two sets by significant margins, 25-16 and 25-14. Waverly reserves got plenty of court time in the third set although CV turned away the home team for a 25-22 win. There was no doubt who was in charge in the fourth and final set as 12 of the first 15 points went Waverly’s way en route to a 25-22 result.
The home team took control quickly in the opening set as Foster and Meeya Wheeler found holes in the middle of the CV defense, and Ava Heath served an ace to make it 3-0. An ace by Layla Oechslin, a block from Kendall Rockwell and a Leraya Teeter kill shot down the left sideline helped push the advantage to 10-2.
The Warriors would battle back, taking advantage of a pair of aces and some nice hitting by Emma O’Brien, as well as a few Waverly mistakes, to close the gap to 17-13.
The Wolverines regrouped and stretched their lead to 22-13, then the teams split the final six points.
CV kept the Wolverines a bit closer in the early stages of the second set, tying the score twice. Still, Waverly looked like it might pull away, grabbing a 3-point lead before a trio of miscues allowed the Warriors to tie the score at nine.
A CV hit out of bounds put the Wolverines ahead to stay, 10-9.
With the home team ahead, 13-11, Heath stepped to the line and served up six points to create a 19-11 cushion.
The Warriors would manage a pair of points, but Waverly closed out the set with a 6-1 run.
The third set saw the Wolverines give their reserves a chance to get some playing time as CV came away with the 3-point win.
Rote made some changes in the lineup and then adjusted communication, and we’ve just got to keep communication strong when we make adjustments.
“We got some people in, got some people experience, and making sure that we're strong all the way around.”
The Warriors grabbed an early 3-2 edge, but the teams were tied on five occasions until CV broke a 13-13 deadlock and built a 19-14 cushion. Waverly attempted a comeback, trimming the margin to 23-22.
A Wolverines serve out of bounds and an ace by CV’s Madison Meinhold closed out the set.
Waverly shrugged off the setback in the fourth and final set as Wheeler opened the scoring with back-to-back aces.
An ace by Heath made it 5-1, then Oechslin served up a couple of points, and Addison Foster had a solid hit off a front row defender and Teeter did likewise off a back row player to make it 12-3.
CV battled back to make it 12-6 with the help of a pair of aces by O’Brien, but Heath’s shot off a back row player and an ace by Mady Briggs increased the Waverly lead to 17-7. Wheeler and Foster came up with big plays at the net to give the Wolverines a 23-13 cushion and a soft tap shot at the net from Rockwell pulled Waverly within a point of victory at 24-15.
The Warriors gave it one last effort with a 6-point run before a CV serve out of bounds ended the match.
Waverly heads to Norwich on Wednesday.
——————
IN PHOTO1:Waverly's Leraya Teeter. IN TOP PHOTO: Elizabeth Cole (front).… PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
Print Friendly Version
