MASSENA — After winning its sixth straight Section VII, Class C title this past Saturday, the Saranac Lake volleyball team’s season came to an abrupt end at Massena High School on Wednesday.
Facing the Section X champion Canton Golden Bears in the Class C state subregional playoff round, the Red Storm were swept 3-0. The Golden Bears won the match by scores of 25-14, 25-23 and 25-22.
Canton, which improved to 12-9 overall, advanced to the regional round, where the Golden Bears will match up against the Galway Golden Eagles at noon on Saturday in Lake George.
The Red Storm ended the year with a 12-7 record. The loss marked the sixth straight time Saranac Lake has ended its season in the following round after sectionals.
Red Storm head coach Susan Waters said this wasn’t the way her team wanted to end the year. She added that Canton just played a good match.
“We just couldn’t get our offense going,” she said.
Saranac Lake, which averaged around 20 kills per match this season, recorded a total of seven kills on Wednesday. The Red Storm also posted just five aces in the loss.
“We missed some serves at critical moments, which didn’t help,” Waters said, “and we just were ineffective in shutting down some of their hitters.”
The Golden Bears opened the first set with a 7-0 run and we’re never really threatened the remainder of that game. In the second set, Canton jumped out to a 20-12 lead, before Saranac Lake caught fire with a 10-2 run to even the game at 22-22.
Canton once again took control of the early stages of the third game. While the Red Storm kept the score close the Golden Bears held an advantage for most of the final set.
Saranac Lake took its first lead of the match at 20-19, but after extending its advantage by one point, Canton rallied with a 6-1 run to close out the contest.
Freshman libero Lexie Donaldson had 12 digs for the Red Storm, while teammates Anica Null had 10 digs and Alice LaDue recorded nine.
“Our defense wasn’t working for us,” Waters said. “Typically, we’re a pretty good passing team, and we just couldn’t get our passes to the setter and get our offense.”
Saranac Lake finished with five assists. Junior Emily Gay had three of those assists. Donaldson led the team with five points.
Wednesday marked the final high school volleyball game for three Red Storm seniors — Null, Payton Barry and Madi Hathaway — who have played key roles in the team’s success this season. Barry had two digs, one ace and one point. Null finished the game with three points, two kills and one point, along with her 10 digs. She closed out her career with 392 kills, having led the team in that category the past two seasons.
Saranac Lake will return 11 players to its roster next year. Among those returning include three players — Donaldson, Gay and Gracen Foster — who were named to the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference all-star team.
Despite coming up short, Waters said it was good for her younger players to get the experience of playing in the
“It is a young team and we had a couple of injuries plaguing us this week,” she said. “We’re just trying to build on this.”
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Canton 3, Saranac Lake 0
25-14, 25-23, 25-22
SL- Emily Gay 2 points, 1 kill, 3 assists, Lexie Donaldson 5 points, 12 digs, Anica Null 3 points, 1 ace, 2 kills, 10 digs; Payton Barry 1 point, 1 ace, 2 digs; Gracen Foster 3 points, 1 ace, 1 kill, 1 assist, 4 points, Whitney Warner 3 kills, 2 digs; Sophia McBride 1 digs; Alice LaDue 3 points, 1 assist, 9 digs; Mackenzie Crane 2 blocks; Rori Chenaille-Schenk 4 points, 1 ace; Abby Isabella 5 points, 1 ace.