Some parents of today’s players may have been in high school the last time Spencerport’s girls volleyball team won a Division title in 1992. The Rangers finished 6-2 to win the fifth division crown in program history (1977, 1978, 1981) and 13-5 overall.
Now they advance to the Section V Class A semi-finals after sweeping Greece Arcadia 25-13, 25-19, 26-24.
“I don’t know if you truly see it coming, but I know for a fact that these girls really worked hard, came together and united early as a team this year and, what stood out to me, is their support of each other and dedication they had to get better, so overall it was a great season,” Rangers second year head coach Jaime Passinault said.
“We’re trying to change the culture of this program … and last year I think we started that base and this year have really built on it and hope to continue.”
The Rangers jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set as junior setter Maya Voelkl had three consecutive aces and later rode freshman Jade Sylvester’s three kills and one block-for-kill on four consecutive points to a 13-3 lead.
With the second set tied 5-5, Spencerport had a 9-1 run highlighted by kills from junior Hailey Rooney and senior Alyssa Falbo along with an ace by senior Megan Laubacher. Sophomore Grace Campion later had kills on three consecutive points with Sylvester and Voelkl finishing the second set victory with kills.
Arcadia led for most of the third and final set and by as many as four points on several occasions, but with the score knotted 21-21, junior libero Sophia Buono registered an ace while Campion and Voelkl had kills and Rooney finished with a match-ending kill.
The Rangers rebounded with a regular season-ending win over Rush-Henrietta prior to the postseason to break a three-game losing skid after clinching their division title.
“When they found out they got the division title, I think we kind of got settled in our ways, so that last season match was kind of an awakening for us going in to the sectionals,” Passinault said. “It kind of stopped us and had us think about what we needed to do to get ready for sectionals.”
Sylvester had 11 kills with three blocks and three aces for the Rangers while Campion had ten kills, Voelkl six aces with 25 assists and Buono led with ten digs to go with three aces.
