By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
GLENS FALLS, NY – There are some moments in sports, some spans of time when all the pieces fall into place. Potential is a word often associated with these teams and can be held over them with the threat of wasting it.
The Portville volleyball team, on the other hand, embraces their potential, manifests it. Their destiny materialized as they claimed their fourth-consecutive New York Public High School Athletic Association State Championship, beating Mount Academy in four sets for the program’s ninth title.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said Portville head coach Kelly Unverdorben. “It says that we have amazing kids that work really hard.”
The Lady Panthers have been undeniable the entire year. Already having three state banners under their belts, Portville continued their dominance with an undefeated regular season where they conceded only two sets in 17 matches. From there, they cruised through the Section VI Class C postseason, sweeping their way to the finals where they took down Falconer, again in just three sets.
Sitting atop their Sectional throne, the Lady Panthers then moved into the NYPHSAA tournament, earning a bye-week through the first round. In the Far-West Regional, Portville met Section V champions Bloomfield before moving into the semifinal pool play on Saturday, where they would play three pool-play matches.
Against Stillwater from Section II, the Lady Panthers won their best-of-three match 25-20 and 25-15. Next up was Mount Academy of Section IX, who fell 25-23 and 25-19. Lastly, Portville faced Tioga of Section IIX, who were defeated 25-15 and 25-13.
“(Pool play) is a little scary, because they cap it at 27 and then they’ll cap it at 17 in the third set. That happened to a couple teams, luckily not us. But it’s scary because all that work through the season could come down to just one point,” said Unverdorben. “My team definitely played really well on Saturday and helped themselves out with a clean sweep across the board. Then we didn’t have to stress the rest of the day.”
Securing the spot in the title game, Portville would get a rematch against the Lady Eagles, who won two of their pool play contests, earning another crack at dethroning the defending state champions.
After a night’s rest, both squads took to the court once more. This time, Mount Academy refused to be pushed over, drawing a win in the first set at 25-23. While they were able to temporarily celebrate, their moment in the spotlight would soon fade as Portville retook control with authority.
“In the first set, we had kind of a rough set which is appropriate for us. I don’t want to take anything away from Mount Academy, they played really well,” said Unverdorben. “They decided to put three people on Ali Haynes, as the day before they only had one try and stop her.”
In the next set, the Lady Panthers evened the score with a 25-15 win before fending off the Lady Eagles once again in the second, 25-18. Sitting just one win away from yet another state championship banner, Portville seized their potential, dominating once again for a 25-15 set three win over their listless opponent.
“Back in 2019, when we were playing in the championship game against Valhalla, we had lost to them on Saturday so we had to go in and really figure out what we were going to do to beat this team. We had so much momentum and so much hype, so much going into that first set that we won it, but I think we gassed ourselves out,” said Unverdorben. “That memory came back to me when (Mount Academy won the first set.) It took every ounce of energy I think Mount had and they kind of did exactly what we did in 2019.”
While Mount Academy had come the closest to beating Goliath, they still couldn’t find an answer. All they could do was watch as the Lady Panthers hoisted the trophy once again.
“You know, it’s funny because I’m always telling myself, ‘just get to 15 and we’ll be good.’ Then it’s ‘we need 18,’ then 22,” said Unverdorben. “Then we hit 24 and they were at 14, so there’s no way they could score 10 points without us getting one, right? It’s kind of one of those roller coaster things.”
Leading her crew with 27 kills and 13 digs, Ali Haynes earned the title of State Most Valuable Player. Mia Rhinehart and Adelyn Walker were both selected to the All-Tournament team, with Rhinehart posting 32 digs and four aces and Walker finishing her season with 50 assists and eight digs. Laney Vincent recorded 10 kills, 19 digs and five aces while Adriana Ensell had 13 kills and 18 digs. Leigha Stives defended the net with three blocks while also recording three kills.
“Every team member brings a lot, even those that people don’t see on the court. They’re extremely important, but what can you say about those three?” said Unverdorben. “That’s a huge core of your game and then you throw in Adriana and Laney into that mix and you’re really rolling.”
