By HUNTER O. LYLE
BUFFALO, NY – Returning to the brink of the New York Public High School Athletic Association State tournament, the Perry volleyball team walked out under the bright lights with a sense of ‘finally.’ It had been 39 years since the Section V Yellowjackets had claimed a Sectional title and earned a chance to play for a state bid.
However, marching onto the other side of the court was the Portville machine, a prolific, five-time state championship program that practically reserved their bus tickets to the big stage at the start of the season. Having claimed their 13th straight Section VI title, the Panthers quickly reset their focus, taking aim at a sixth state banner.
“The girls do a good job of (resetting) on their own. When you’ve had a run like we have, you take each opponent as they come. We obviously get a little time to celebrate on the way home, but then tomorrow it’s back to business,” said Portville head coach Paul Mann. “It’s a quick reset unfortunately sometimes, but the girls have just an uncanny ability to be able to get one goal and focus on the next job at hand.”
In a clash of David versus Goliath, the giant won. Besting Perry in three clean sets, Portville inched one step closer to returning to the NYPHSAA Pool Play, vying to retain their spot atop the Class C throne.
With a cast of hard hitters and defensive minded setters, the Panthers’ power easily jumps off the stat sheet when looking at the road that brought them to Tuesday’s sub-regional showdown. However, in the early goings against the Yellowjackets, their efficiency from the service line led the charge.
When not seeing their front line of Gaitley Maiolo, Leigha Stives and Emily Scanlon thrash Perry with a barrage of thunderous spikes, Portville added to their budding 7-3 lead with crisp and accurate serves, which snuck through gaps or left the Yellowjackets with no way to return. Through the first set, Portville fired off with seven aces as they pulled away to a heavy-handed 25-15 win.
“We always try to serve those seams and create a little confusion. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Tonight we were fortunate enough to keep Perry out of system,” said Mann. “They had some really good hitters and keeping them out of system definitely slowed them down and that’s our goal no matter who we play, getting them out of system. And that comes with serving aggressively.”
Having confidence in spades, the Panthers then continuously fed their star slammer. Building a 7-3 advantage, Maiolo ripped off four early kills as Portville’s momentum swelled. Despite the increasingly up-hill battle, Perry pulled back on the reins.
Capitalizing on a few Panther miscues, grinding out long rallies and finding production from their own inside and outside hitters, the Yellowjackets sparked a comeback, seeing a 5-1 run that ultimately ballooned to 11-3, giving them their first lead of the night at 11-10.
“I just think we get a little bit tight. On the second set we were on Perry’s side, they had a big crowd and that gets in your head a little bit,” said Mann. “I’m always reminding the team to stay within their limits, stay within their abilities. You don’t have to jump higher, you don’t have to hit harder. You just have to do you job and trust your teammates will do their jobs.”
With the tables reset, the Panthers dialed in. Ending the Yellowjackets’ run with a tap-over shot from Marissa Carls, Portville reciprocated with a streak of their own, tallying four unanswered kills. The margin then stretched again in the favor of the defending champions at 20-14 and despite a grit-and-grind battle of back-and-forth kills, Portville managed to come out with a two-set advantage at 25-21.
But Perry wasn’t going away easily. In the most contested set of the night, each opened with their own run of consecutive points. Portville started with a 3-1 spell before Perry answered and knotted the game at 9-9. Every time the Panthers pulled away, the Yellowjackets were hot on their trail, using their own bigs and persistence to pull themselves back within striking distance.
However, when closing the gap on the scoreboard to just one at 15-14, the Yellowjackets broke down under the pressure. Seeing Maiolo and Stives take over at the net, Portville opened the valves, breaking away and coming out with a third-and-final set win at 25-20. Ending Perry’s historic season, the Panthers had secured their spot in the regional round of the bracket, now sitting just one win away from state tournament pool play.
Maiolo ended with a team-high 19 kills alongside her 13 digs. Stives had seven kills, nine digs and three aces while Ava Scanlon led from the service line with four aces and 14 digs. Carls came away with 36 assists, seven digs and five kills.
Earning a three-day break from action, Portville now heads back to the lab where they will prepare for their meeting with either LaFayette (Section III) or Trumansburg (Section IV). No matter who they face, their preparation will say the same.
“We’re still at ground zero. I don’t know who’s coming out of the other brackets yet and we still have a big match on Saturday, and that’s going to be our main focus,” said Mann. “What I saw tonight was more of a complete match, more controlled. Completing our assignments, implementing what we put in our practices the last couple of days. That’s what I saw and I think if we can continue to stick to our practice plan, stick to our limits, we can be trouble with any team that comes our way.”
(This game was covered remotely.)
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