By HUNTER O. LYLE
ROCHESTER, NY – Walking off the court for the last time, the Olean volleyball team struggled with the bitter sweet ending to their season.
On one hand, they had raised their young program’s ceiling, making it to the New York High School Athletic Association state tournament for the first time in five years. But on the other, they faced the reality of finality, being dispatched by Charles G. Finney in the Far-West Regional sooner rather than later.
“I think we did everything we could to prepare. We’re a really close knit team and the emotions you’re seeing now is not necessarily about losing, but we’re sad that we’re done playing together,” said Olean head coach Michelle Acierno. “It stinks to lose but I think we’ve had such a good season, we’ve played so much that we’re just sad that it’s over.”
After beating Roy-Hart to claim their Section VI crown, it had been a week since the Huskies had taken the court and the hints of atrophy were visible. Facing a well-oiled Falcon squad, Olean struggled to get their feet under them, quickly surrendering six unanswered points as CGF clogged the middle and pounded the zone with hard slams over the net. However, after a recollective timeout, Olean responded with a run of their own.
With a flurry of spikes from Elizabeth Bailey and Haylie Bednarski, the Huskies turned the tide to pull within one at 6-5. Resetting the momentum, both teams chipped back and forth at each other, with the Falcons maintaining a lead and the Huskies constantly chasing. After falling behind by four once again, Olean again closed the gap with battles of attrition during long rallies, but still couldn’t find a way to put themselves in front. Before that answer arrived, CFG pulled away for good, sparking a 7-4 run that gave them a 25-20 set one victory.
Entering the second, Olean refused to give up the reins early once again. Fighting tooth and nail, both squads scored back-and-forth without either finding separation on the scoreboard, knotting the game at 7-7. However, after two points from a powerful spike from CFG and a subsequent Husky miscommunication, the Falcons began to find their rhythm. Two unanswered points turned into four, which turned into six which eventually snowballed into a 9-2 run that put CFG up 16-9.
“In my opinion, I think our nerves got to us for sure. I think (CFG) did a good job of shutting down our middle hitters and while my outsides were able to step up, we just gave them too many free balls and too many easy plays,” said Acierno. “You give that to a team that has hitters that can really put a ball down and they’ll run it. We were having trouble setting up our own offense.”
Tying on a tourniquet with another early timeout, Olean once again began clawing their way back into the game. Bailey again led the way, finishing off two slams that sparked the Huskies’ largest run of the day at 4-0. Although the Falcons pushed ahead again at 20-15, Olean stayed steadfast in their pursuit. A 6-1 run by the Huskies knotted the game at 21-all, prompting CFG to take an emergency timeout.
“I tried to call timeouts early and just remind them of who we are. At times, I think we were trying to adjust too much to what they were doing instead of playing with our consistent game and going with our own defensive instincts,” said Acierno. “I almost think we were overthinking it at times.”
Facing a mounting wave against them, the Falcons rose to the occasion. Coming out of the timeout, they closed out the sets with a final push, scoring 4-1 to seal a 2-0 lead on the day.
Sitting one set away from the end of their season, the Huskies buckled. After a few rounds of back-and-forth scoring, the Falcons broke away with their largest scoring run of the day at 8-0, placing them atop a 15-9 advantage. Although Olean found some life late in the set, their efforts fell in vain. Dropping the sweep-sealing third set, their season came to an end.
Bednarski and Alyx Henzel ended with 12 and six kills, respectively, while Ari Finch contributed 28 assists and Ava Moses three blocks.
I love this team. This will be one of the most memorable seasons for many reasons, not just because we won Sectionals but we’ve just had a lot going on. We were really close and we’re just sad it’s over,” said Acierno. “Aside from our three seniors, the other girls are all freshmen and sophomores so I’m hoping this will light a fire under them and hopefully we’ll be back.”
