Red Storm claim fifth straight title | News, Sports, Jobs – The Adirondack Daily Enterprise
The Saranac Lake volleyball team poses with the Section VII championship banner on Saturday at Saranac Central High School.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
SARANAC — In a wild back-and-forth Section VII, Class C championship game played Saturday at Saranac Central High School, the Saranac Lake volleyball team defeated the AuSable Valley Patriots 3-2 by scores of 25-17, 25-15, 24-26, 24-26 and 15-7. The win marked, the program’s fifth straight sectional title, but unlike in recent years, the title match was anything but easy.
With the Red Storm leading 24-21 in the third set, the team needed just one point to close out a 3-0 sweep. However, the Patriots had something else up their sleeve, scoring six straight points to win the set. Then the team jumped out to a 21-12 lead in the third.
Trailing by nine, the Red Storm erased the deficit with a 12-3 run to tie the game at 24-24. However, the Patriots scored two straight points to tie the match at 2-2.
In the fifth set, Saranac Lake jumped out to an 8-6 lead before closing out the game with a 7-1 run.
Red Storm head coach Mike Navarra said the biggest factor in the win was that his team accepted the fact that they were going to make mistakes.
Saranac Lake’s Malea White, left, hits the ball over the head of two AuSable Valley players during Saturday’s Section VII, Class C championship match.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)
“And accepting the fact that your competitors on the other side are going to never quit,” Navarra said. “I think that is exactly what happened. They just didn’t quit. AuSable just kept coming and coming. No matter who hit the ball, it kept coming back.
“I think the only difference was a minute difference in whether or not they were able to handle the pressure. I think in the fifth, we handled the pressure,” he added. “We were able to get control of the serves from the very beginning, which I liked. When we switched sides some of our key servers, who missed serves during the match, got their serves in and that was important.”
Junior Anica Null paced the Red Storm with a career-high 42 digs and 21 kills. Null also contributed with eight points and two aces. Senior Azra Michael had a standout game with 37 assists, 10 digs, 10 points, three aces and two kills.
Saranac Lake’s Malea White contributed with 25 digs, 13 kills, six points and one ace. Emily Gay had 11 points, six kills, four digs, four aces and one assist, while Payton Barry had 18 digs, 14 points, three kills and two aces. Eighth-grader Lexie Donaldson had 15 digs, 13 points, four aces and one assist.
“The perseverance of this team and the grit that they showed helped them reach a different level,” Navarra said. “They should be proud of their efforts, but AuSable should be more proud of what they were capable of doing being two games down. I mean it was an unbelievable play. Their libero is an absolute beast back there and she is very calm, cool and collected. I think she did a tremendous job.
“I’m happy for my girls because they did pull it out,” he added. “We talked about the differences between winning and losing and their emotions of how it would feel. Well, the emotions of winning are a lot better than the emotions of losing. But it’s the competitiveness that we were looking for and that’s what came out in the fifth match. We knew what we needed to do and that was to get our serves in.”
With the win, the Red Storm improved to 11-7 on the season. The team will take on the Section II, Class C champion Galway at AuSable Valley High School Thursday at 4:30 p.m.