NTL VOLLEYBALL: SAYRE COMES UP SHORT IN 3-0 LOSS TO WELLSBORO (September 24, 2026)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
SAYRE — Wellsboro traveled to Sayre Thursday evening and swept the Redskins, 3-0, in NTL volleyball action. The Green Hornets won by scores of 25-15, 25-21 and 25-16.

Sayre coach Colby Sangrey knew the Hornets would be a tough customer, but was also aware that playing quality competition is a plus.

“It's always nice playing a team that's high level,” he said. “They're going to give us a lot of stuff, really push us to make ourselves better. We did some great things out there, like the way that we were passing against some of the strongest hits we've seen all year, and just gives us some ideas on things to work on.”

Wellsboro coach Darci Pollock was happy to get the victory.

“I thought they did okay,”she said.”We've been a little flat this week, so coming out a little bit stronger next week and working a little bit harder than we have in the past few days.”

Kendall Sweet set the tone for the visitors with a pair of aces to start the first set. Wellsboro would build a 7-2 lead before Sayre cut it to 7-5.

“She's come a long way,” said Pollock. “She's really been working hard and really been an offensive, dominant player for us this season.”

The Hornets would work their advantage back to five, 11-6, but Sayre wouldn’t go away, trimming the gap to 12-10.

A side out by Peyton Keane followed by an ace from Madison Cuttenden sparked a 4-point run and an ace from Sweet gave the visitors a 20-11 cushion.

Trailing, 21-11, the Redskins attempted to chip away at the lead, but Wellsboro was finding holes and an ace by Keane ended the set.

Sayre scored five of the first six points in the second set and grabbed an 8-2 lead, but the Hornets rallied with key hits from Keane and Sweet helped them rally to tie the score at 10 and 11 before the Redskins surged back in front, 14-11 and then 15-12.

The battle continued with the score being tied at 15, 16 and 17, but a pair of Sayre miscues allowed Wellsboro to surge ahead, 19-17. Sayre closed within 19-18 on a Hornet mistake, but Wellsboro turned back the Redskins down the stretch.

Sweet served the first five points of the third set, but an ace by Yhale Doon helped Sayre narrow the gap to 5-3, but a handful of errors and a couple of key hits by Sweet allowed the Hornets to double up the score at 14-7.

Wellsboro increased its lead to 18-10, but Azalea McClenny rejected a shot at the net for a side out, but never got closer than 18-11.

Down 22-11, the Redskins attempted to rally, cutting the Wellsboro advantage to 22-16, but could get no closer.

With the win, the Hornets improved to 7-2 overall while the Redskins slipped to 4-5.

The Redskins gave away a few points at various times throughout the match,something Sangrey says his team is working on.

“That's been the major point of focus for us, limiting the points that we give them,” he said. “It just makes it a lot harder to take home wins and it's something we've definitely improved on throughout the season, but it's something we’ve still got to keep working on.”

Sangrey liked the effort the Redskins’ put forth defensively.

“I like how our defense, they're not afraid to step in against a hard hit,”he said. “I thought we got a lot of good touches.”

Reghan McGaughey recorded nine digs, seven kills, one assist and one ace for Sayre; Alex Schack had six digs and five kills; Doon contributed two digs, 16 assists and one ace; Emily Strickland had one kill; Mylee Medina chipped in with four digs; McClenny registered three digs and four kills; and Grace Russo tacked on 15 digs.

Wellsboro won the JV match, 2-0.

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IN PHOTO 1: Sayre's Yhale Doon. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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