By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORTVILLE, NY – For over a week, the Portville volleyball team had been waiting in anticipation. For the outset of their season, they were one of, if not the, favorites to defend their spot atop Section VI and in their first glimpse of playoff action, they showed why.
Hosting their next door neighbors, the Panthers dominated their first opponents, downing Allegany-Limestone in three straight sets as they defiantly kicked off their postseason run.
“We had a couple hiccups in the regular season so my confidence, I don’t want to say shaken but I was a little more anxious than normal” said Portville head coach Paul Mann, whose team finished 14-3. “Obviously, you saw the product tonight. They were all together and they balled out. I don’t know what else to say.”
Going against the five-time defending state champions, the Gators needed momentum as they walked into hostile territory, and they found it in the first round. Ending their season with the ninth seed, A-L initially opened with a road trip against No. 8 Roy-Hart, cleaning the floor with a 3-0 sweep of the Rams. Looking up at the largest uphill battle in the bracket, they would need to batten down the hatches in order to stay alive.
“We knew we had to change our defense and put some more blockers at the net. We moved our middle around so that she could kind of be up there with (Portville’s) biggest hitter,” said Allegany-Limestone head coach Tara Battone. “We knew that our offense wasn’t going to be the key tonight, it would be our defense.”
However, from the get go, it seemed as if the Panthers had just too many claws.
Despite some early contention in the immediate action, Portville quickly built a lead, one built by several contributors. Jumping out to a 11-6 advantage, everyone on the court was finding contributions. Gaitley Miaolo and Emily Scanlon sent thunderous slams down over the net, Marissa Carls found gaps in the defense with her taps and digs and Elaina Thompson and Ava Scanlon worked the service line for unreturnable volleys down range. As Portville’s cast worked in momentum, they strung together a 11-2 run to pull ahead 20-8.
“I think when we can stay out of our heads, I think our chemistry is awesome. Everybody’s involved,” said Mann. “(We have so many pieces this year) so it’s a lot more across the board and the chemistry has to be good.”
Meanwhile, the Gators’ points came few and far between. Struggling to outlast the rallies or absorb the powerful shots, A-L’s source of scoring consisted of capitalizing on Portville’s miscues and violations. And as the margin of error closed towards the end of the first, they suffered an initial set loss at 25-12.
With a head full of steam, Portville continued to outplay their visitors, amassing a 12-4 lead out of the gates. While the Gators found ways to settle shots and send them back over, the repeated pressure proved too much to handle. The initial 12-4 lead blossomed to 20-9 before culminating in a 25-13 victory and 2-0 set lead for the Panthers.
In the third, the Gators’ wheels fell off. Although they found their first lead of the night, albeit, at 2-0 with a Portville serve to the net and block from Mya Hayes, the tide would turn, quickly and violently.
After securing the lead once again with a 5-0 run, Portville ultimately tacked on another nine points to A-L’s two, before erupting for 17 unanswered points. Coasting to the finish line, the Panthers tallied their first playoff win of the year with a final 25-6 victory.
“We’re going to take it one set at a time, work on the things we need to improve on, keep working on our defense,” said Mann. “We’ve won nothing yet. It’s still ground zero. Even though we’re last year’s champs, we’re not this year’s. It’s just one set at a time.
Emily Scanlon led the Panthers with ten kills, two blocks and a dig while Maiolo ended with nine kills, five digs and two aces. Marissa Carls finished with four aces and six digs, also tallying 27 assists.
A-L’s Leora Dreher ended with four kills while Avery Gonzalez had four assists.
While the Panthers will advance to the semifinals, seeing No. 4 Chautauqua Lake on Monday at 6 p.m., A-L’s season comes to a close. While it may not have been the ending their hoped for, the season as a whole stood on silver linings and fostered growth.
“I told the girls (after the game) that I would rather have a great group of girls than win a state championship any day. They’ve always been positive, they own their mistakes, they never yell at each other,” said Battone. “I pulled my seniors aside and told them, ‘you’re about to go out on your own and the most important thing is that you learn from ups and downs. You’re going to have losses and wins and they’re going to make you better people.’ I hope that’s what they got from this.”
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