Gowanda Small Town Times

[photo] Gowanda’s Addison Kota (#12) goes up for the ball during the September 21 home game versus Cattaraugus-Little Valley

The Gowanda Varsity Lady Panthers hosted the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Lady Timberwolves on September 21. It was as scrappy a battle as one might expect from Panthers and Timberwolves in the wild. Both teams had recently been in very competitive battles with Randolph recently and this was expected to be equally competitive. By every measure, the match could not have been closer as it was pushed to the very limit.

Gowanda got off to a slow start in Game 1. Cattaraugus ran up the first three points before a net serve put Gowanda on the board. The Lady Panthers battled back to take a short lived 4-3 lead. Cattaraugus answered with a slow, steady climb back into a 19-11 advantage. Gowanda was able to close the gap and take a 1-point lead at 23-22 only to have Cattaraugus knot things again at 23. Gowanda took that to 24-24 after Cattaraugus had gone one up with an ace. In the end, a pair of Cattaraugus points gave them a 26-24 win.

In Game 2, again Cattaraugus started with an early lead at 5-1 before Gowanda got into the game. As hard fought as the previous game, this one was tied at 6, 8, 9, 13, 15 and 16 with both teams having the lead for a time. From there a Cattaraugus spurt gained them a 3-point lead at 21-18. They were able to hold the lead from that point. Gowanda did manage to pull back to 23-24, but not avoid a 23-25 loss.

Down 2 games to 0 in the match Gowanda headed into Game 3. Cattaraugus led off with an ace on the way to an early 4-0 lead. Once again Gowanda battled back to tie things at 4. An exchange of errant serves moved the score to 5-5. Cattaraugus opened up a 10-7 lead before Gowanda started their big push into a 13-11 lead of their own. Cattaraugus narrowed that to 13-12 only to have Gowanda mount a 7-point surge that started with a Cattaraugus net serve. The Gowanda lead had grown to 20-12. From that point they were able to hold on for a 25-16 win forcing a fourth game.

Much like previous games, Game 4 started with a slight Cattaraugus lead and was tied several times. The high point of the Cattaraugus lead was at 9-4. Gowanda was finally back ahead to stay at 20-19. Outscoring Cattaraugus 5-1, Gowanda tied the match at 2-2 with a 25-20 win.

Gowanda opened with a Holland Browning ace in Game 5. Cattaraugus answered building a slim 4-2 lead from there that Gowanda reversed to a 6-4 advantage of their own. The lead reversed again to an 8 to 6 Cattaraugus advantage. At that point in Game 5, the team switched ends of the court. The game continued with Gowanda pulling into a tie at 8. The score was also tied at 9 and 10 before Gowanda climbed into a 13-10 lead. Although Cattaraugus was able to pull into a tie at 14 on a very strange call from an official who later admitted he didn’t see what happened, Gowanda was able to nail down the back-to-back points to take the final 16-14 win for a 3-2 win in the match.

Over the past couple of years the one official on this game has always been known for some strange calls. There were certainly a number of bizarre and controversial calls throughout the match, but several people have agreed that, in this case, both teams equally benefited from them.

There were many players that made big contributions to the Gowanda effort. They are listed below.

* Aubrie Heron 9 kills, 3 aces, 15 digs, 5 blocks

*Holland Browning 6 kills, 2 aces, 9 digs, 1 block

*Corrinna John 6 kills, 1 ace, 2 digs, 8 blocks

*Addison Kota 6 kills, 5 aces, 15 digs, 5 blocks

*Lauren Kelly 4 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks

*Elizabeth Green 1 kill, 3 aces, 2 digs

*Jillian Gernatt 28 assists, 1 ace, 7 digs

*Ella Luther 1 ace, 23 digs

*Tessa Kohn 4 digs

In other sports news, The Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team’s disappointing season continued at Ellicottville on the 21st. Ellicottville went up 6-0 in the 1st quarter with one player earning a hat trick in the process. Pine Valley was down 9-0 by halftime and 12-0 after three quarters. A scoreless final quarter left Ellicottville with a 12-0 win with nine different players scoring in the game.