Friday, October 20, 2023
Volleyball Closes Regular Season
[photo] Senior Class members of the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team on Senior Night. In a mid-court photo op, pictured are (from left to right) Aubrie Heron, Madilyn Pawlak, Ella Luther and Chloe Luther.
On October 19 the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team closed out their regular season schedule at home hosting Salamanca. As is always the case for a team’s last regular home appearance the team celebrated Senior Night introducing the Senior Class members of the team and their parents before the game. Those Seniors were Aubrie Heron, Ella Luther, Madilyn Pawlak and Chloe Luther. Ten girls on Salamanca’s 14-player roster were also Seniors and they were recognized as a group. Although they had managed only a single win in the division during the season, Salamanca was not about to go down without a fight.
Gowanda grabbed the first point and held a lead through the first half of Game 1 that peaked at 6-3. It was a tight battle throughout with a tie score coming at 2, and again at 11. Salamanca took over the lead for most of the second half of the game. Gowanda stayed within three points as the game fell back into a tie at 14, 16 and 20. That 20-20 score came on an Ella Luther ace. Gowanda nailed down the next five points to take a 25-20 win.
Game 2 was even tighter in the early going with both teams having leads that did not exceed two points. The game saw ties at 1 through 4 and again at 8 and 10 through 14. From 14-all Gowanda moved into an 18-14 advantage then slid back into a tie at 18. After securing the next point, Holland Browning was up to serve. Gowanda went on a 6-point blitz that included 3 Browning aces. Gowanda’s 25-18 win had them fully in control up 2-0 in the match.
Game 3 was briefly close with ties at 1 through 3. Salamanca never had a lead in the game and Gowanda took off from the 3-3 tie while Salamanca faded. Gowanda steadily grew their lead. Madilyn Pawlak’s first ace of her Varsity career had Gowanda up 10-5. That advantage grew to 17-8 with Holland Browning coming up to serve again. Three more Browning aces fueled a Gowanda 5-point spurt to 22-8. Salamanca interrupted that surge scoring twice to bring their total to 10 before Gowanda locked down their final three points. The 25-10 win gave Gowanda a 3-0 match win.
The team is now waiting for news of their playoff seeding and to find out who the will be playing next. For now, the stats from this game are below.
Aubrie Heron 11 kills, 5 digs, 2 blocks
Elizabeth Green 7 kills, 2 digs
Holland Browning 4 kills, 7 aces, 13 digs
Addison Kota 3 kills, 3 assists, 3 aces, 8 digs, 1 block
Lauren Kelly 1 kill
Jillian Gernatt 22 assists, 3 digs
Madilyn Pawlak 1 ace, 4 digs (1st ace)
Ella Luther 3 aces, 14 digs
Corrina John 1 dig, 1 block
Tessa Kohn 1 dig