Gowanda Small Town Times

As the regular season for Fall Sports is winding down, October 17 was a very busy day. The Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball had a extremely important game against Cattaraugus-Little Valley. With C-LV just a half game behind Gowanda in CCAA East, Gowanda’s hold on 2nd Place in the division was on the line. Additionally, cross country was at Maple Grove and the soccer playoffs were getting started.

At Cattaraugus, Gowanda took the early lead in Game 1. It was a game that remained close throughout. The game ebbed and flowed with Gowanda building leads only to have Cattaraugus close the gap. Gowanda’s largest lead of the came at a score of 18-13 before Cattaraugus rallied back to within a point at 21-20. From there Gowanda cruised to a 25-22 win. Game 2 was much the same with Gowanda building leads only to fall back again. The hard fought battle saw a tie score at 2, 9, 17 and 24 before Gowanda secured a 26-24 win. Cattaraugus came out strong in Game 3 moving into a quick 3-1 advantage. The gap maxed out at 6 points at 10-4. Gowanda slowly clawed their way back, but could not do better than to close the margin to a single point at 16-15. Cattaraugus pushed back into a 20-15 lead that they rode to a 25-21 win. With Gowanda up 2-1 in the match, game 4 was very important to both teams. While the game remained close in the early going, another early 3-1 Cattaraugus lead would see the game tied at 7 as Gowanda pulled ahead. A 5-point run with Addison Kota serving would eventually give Gowanda an 18-12 lead. From there they were able to hold on for a 25-18 victory and a 3-1 match win.

As a side note, Sydney Smith got her first two varsity career aces in the game. Full game stats are below.
Aubrie Heron 13 kills, 1 ace, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Corrina John 8 kills, 2 digs, 11 blocks
Addison Kota 8 kills, 1 assist, 2 aces, 20 digs
Elizabeth Green 7 kills
Holland Browning 5 kills, 2 aces, 28 digs, 1 block
Jillian Gernatt 37 assists, 1 ace, 6 digs
Sydney Smith 2 aces, 5 digs
Tessa Kohn 1 ace, 3 digs
Ella Luther 34 digs

The boys and girls cross country were also in action in a meet at Maple Grove along with Franklinville/Ellicottville and Fredonia. The Gowanda boys took 2nd Place as a team with 38 points behind Maple Grove (26 points) with Franklinville/Ellicottville (88 points) and Fredonia (95 points) 3rd and 4th, respectively. Gowanda was led with strong efforts by Jayson Twoguns (4th), Chase Bolen (5th), Cashis Montour (7th) and Nathan Warrior (10th).

For the girls, it was Maple Grove (25 points) in 1st place followed by Fredonia (50 points) and Gowanda (69 points). Franklinville/Ellicottville was incomplete. Gowanda’s Autumn Pupo of took 1st Place with a time of 21:17.

Over in Pine Valley, the Pine Valley /Gowanda boys soccer team hosted Silver Creek in a Class C pre-quarter final game. In a 3-0 loss, the boys season came to an end.