Gowanda Small Town Times

On October 5, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was at Ellicottville. From the earlier meeting in Gowanda it was expected to be a challenge where both teams would have to earn every point they got.

Ellicottville jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in Game 1 before things tightened up. Gowanda did managed to tie things at 4. It was another one of those games where both teams traded slight leads and tie scores were frequent. From a 20-20 score, Gowanda finally grabbed the final lead in the game. That lead never exceeded two points and was as narrow as 24-23 before the eventual 25-23 Gowanda win.

In Game 2 it was Gowanda taking the early lead 5-2. Ellicottville worked back into a tie at 7 on the way to their own 10-7 lead. Although Gowanda managed to get back into a tie at 13, they slipped back again. Gowanda was in a 20-14 hole before they pulled out of the skid. With Elizabeth Green serving, Gowanda pulled to within 1 at 20-19. They eventually tied the game at 22. Gowanda had 1-point leads back into ties at 23 and 24 when Addison Kota came up to serve. Back-to-back aces gave Gowanda the 26-24 win.

Down 2-0 going into Game 3, Ellicottville rose to the do or die challenge. They quickly moved into a 4-1 advantage and increased that lead to 17-10. From 22-14 down, Gowanda make a minor comeback, but was not able to prevent a 25-18 loss.

On to Game 4. It was back to both teams holding small leads with several tie scores for the first half of the game. From a 12-11 advantage, Gowanda finally made a move. Again with Kota serving, their lead grew to 16-11. Unable to take back the lead, Ellicottville did manage to pull into a tie at 18, 21 and 22 before a pair of Holland Browning kills set Gowanda up with a 24-22 advantage. One point later, Gowanda had a 3-1 match win with a game score of 25-22.

Gowanda stats are as follows:
Holland Browning 13 kills, 3 aces, 17 digs
Corrina John 6 kills, 1 dig, 9 blocks
Aubrie Heron 5 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs, 7 blocks
Addison Kota 2 kills, 3 aces, 13 digs, 2 blocks
Elizabeth Green 2 kills, 1 ace, 2digs
Lauren Kelly 2 kills, 1 dig, 2 blocks
Jillian Gernatt 24 assists, 1 ace, 11 digs
Ella Luther 1 ace, 43 digs
Tessa Kohn 5 digs

Over in Pine Valley, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team was hosting Portville. It was another long day for the boys. In a 4-0 hole after one quarter, Pine Valley/Gowanda was down 6-0 at halftime. Portville added two goals in the 3rd plus one in the 4th quarter for a final 9-0 win.