Gowanda Small Town Times

[photo] Pictured is Gowanda’s Holland Browning (#4) going down after a dig during the home game versus Randolph. Looking on is Ella Luther (#20).

On October 12, 2023 two Gowanda-connected teams fell to Randolph teams. There were only two Varsity games on Thursday both against Randolph. The Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team hosted Randolph and the Pine Valley Varsity boys soccer team was at Randolph.

With Randolph Varsity girls volleyball team standing unbeaten at the top of the CCAA East, Gowanda was close behind and could have taken over the top spot with a win. While doing so was certainly a possible task, it would have taken Gowanda’s best effort. Unfortunately, that didn‘t happen. It was an imperfect showing by Gowanda that left them in 2nd Place just a ½ game ahead of Cattaraugus-Little Valley, who they will square off with next week. The Gowanda lapses were not limited to the team as the scoreboard operator also missed Gowanda points in both the 1st and 3rd games.

Game 1 started off looking promising as Gowanda took the first point and soon was in a 6-1 lead. Aided by a number of Gowanda errors, Randolph climbed back into the game pulling into a tie at 10-10. After Randolph had gained a 1-point lead, Gowanda tied things again at 11. With Jillian Gernatt serving, a spirited volley ended as the ball went out of bounds. Initially, it appeared to be a point for Randolph, but the ruling on the play had Gernatt serving for the second time with the scoreboard still showing 11-11. (For the remainder of this game description keep in mind that the score showing on the scoreboard had Gowanda at a point less than they actually had.) Gowanda moved out to a 15-11 lead that slid back into a tie at 17. It was also tied at 18 and 20 before a Randolph surge gain them a 25-22 win.

Game 2 was all Randolph with them taking the first point and taking an early 4-1 lead. Gowanda did manage to tie the game at 4, 5 and 6, but never held a lead. The Randolph advantage slowly grew to max out at 19-13. A 25-19 win gave Randolph a 2-0 lead in the match. Game 3 was much like the previous one with the exception that Randolph held a lead throughout the game. After falling behind 4-1, Gowanda scored the next point, but steadily lost ground from there. With the score, 19-12 a Corrina John block for a score sent Aubrie Heron back to serve. As Heron was serving, the scoreboard still showed Gowanda behind 12-19 with the 13th point not added. It certainly didn’t make a difference in the outcome as this game was never close. A 25-16 Randolph win gave them a 3-0 win in the match.

Overall, the Gowanda stats from the game were very similar to those of the first game against Randolph. They are detailed below:

Aubrie Heron 5 kills, 3 aces, 2 digs, 3 blocks
Holland Browning 3 kills, 14 digs
Addison Kota 3 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 3 digs
Elizabeh Green 3 kills
Corrina John 1 kill
Lauren Kelly 1 kill, 1 dig, 4 blocks
Jillian Gernatt 15 assists, 1 ace, 5 digs
Tessa Kohn 1 ace, 5 digs
Ella Luther 2 aces, 23 digs

Meanwhile at Randolph, the Pine Valley/Gowanda closed out their regular season with an 11-0 loss to Randolph. Randolph had 4-goal efforts in both the 1st and 3rd quarters. They added 1 point and 2 points in the 2nd and 4th quarters, respectively. They finished the regular season with a record of 1-9 in CCAA Division 3-East.