BY MICHAEL KELLY
Gazette Sportswriter
SARATOGA SPRINGS — With a frenzied start, Shenendehowa set the tone for a dominating performance in Saturday’s Section II Class AA girls’ volleyball championship match against Bethlehem.
“We were just so excited to play,” said Shenendehowa junior Julia Paliwodzinski, whose squad picked up its sixth consecutive sectional title with a 3-0 win. “We were pumped.”
It showed. Head coach Lori Kessler’s Shenendehowa team scored 19 of the match’s first 20 points on its way to a 25-6, 25-18, 25-15 victory.
“We were a little awestruck at first,” Bethlehem head coach Jason Wood said. “Lori’s got a great team, and they came out strong and aggressive.”
In their flurry of a start, the No. 1 Plainsmen received four aces from Paliwodzinski, while No. 2 Bethlehem failed to return Shenendehowa’s serve on 14 of the game’s first 20 points. The Plainsmen scored the match’s first 11 points.
“We wanted to come out and serve really tough, and they did,” said Kessler, whose team advances to play next Saturday at Chittenango High School in a 7 p.m. match against either Section III’s Baldwinsville or Liverpool.
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Members of the Shenendehowa girls’ volleyball team celebrate after winning the Section II Class AA championship Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, in Saratoga Springs. (Michael Kelly/Gazette Sportswriter)
For Shenendehowa, Paliwodzinski had a total of 21 assists, six aces, and six digs; sophomore Nicole Adams collected 14 kills and six blocks; sophomore Charlotte Macken had six aces and four digs; and, junior Rachel Millington added six kills.
While the sixth title in a row for Shenendehowa, this year’s bunch of Plainsmen is a relatively inexperienced — and very young — group. Only Paliwodzinski was a major contributor on last year’s title team, but lone senior Hannah Elmer said the Plainsmen were not jittery heading into the championship.
“Honestly, no, we weren’t,” said Elmer, who had three kills. “I knew if we showed up and played our game, we had it. We were so excited, so prepared, and we came out and played amazing.”
Shenendehowa never trailed beyond early 2-0 and 1-0 leads for Bethlehem in the second and third sets.
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Shenendehowa girls’ volleyball fans are shown at the Section II Class AA championship Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, in Saratoga Springs. (Michael Kelly/Gazette Sportswriter)
In their regional game, Shenendehowa will look to earn the opportunity to head back to the state final four for the second consecutive year. With such a young group — the team’s 17-deep roster has eight freshmen or sophomores — Kessler said her team’s expectations have grown with each week of the season.
“Obviously, you set goals at the beginning of the season of where you want to go,” she said. “Our goals have changed as we’ve improved and progressed throughout the season, and ultimately we knew this was the first step for us.”
This report originally appeared on dailygazette.com.
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