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.

With the big showdown with Randolph just around the corner, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was at Eden on October 11 for a non-league game. Coming off an easy win over Silver Creek it was a valuable tune-up for the team. The game promised to be challenging as Eden had previously rolled over Randolph 3-0 [25-15/25-22/25-17].

In Game 1 at Eden, Gowanda started out with quick a 3-1 lead before slipping back into a 3-3 tie. Eden gradually pulled away from there. The gap maxed out at ten points at 23-13. The teams traded points to the eventual Eden 25-15 win. Game 2 was close to start with the scored tied at each point from 1 through 5 before Gowanda started to get some separation. The Gowanda advantage reached 4 points at 12-8 and wavered between 4 points and 3 points before a one-time 5-point Gowanda lead at 21-16 prompted an Eden timeout. Eden came back with a spurt that brought them into a tie at 22-22. Gowanda grabbed the next point bringing their most powerful server, Holland Browning, up. Gowanda secured the next two points for the 25-22 win to tie the match at 1 game each.

Game 3 also started out tight with ties at 1 through 3. Eden ramped things up blitzing into an 8-4 early advantage that grew to 18-8. From that point, Eden rolled on to win the game 24-13. Game 4 was an all-out battle. Gowanda clawed back from an early 8-3 deficit to pull into a tie at 10. The game was also tied at 12 and 13 before Gowanda moved into a 21-15 lead. Eden worked their way back into a tie at 22. The lead was tossed back and forth from there. A 24-22 Eden lead slid into a 25-24 Gowanda lead. The teams traded 1-point leads until Eden pulled away for a 29-27 win to take the match 3-1.

The power of the Gowanda defense to the Eden attack is evidenced by the total of 100 Gowanda digs registered as a team. Nine Gowanda players had one or more digs in the game and two players had more than 25. Full stats are below.

Aubrie Heron 7 kills, 1 ace, 3digs, 1 block
Corrina John 6 kills, 4 digs, 9 blocks
Holland Browning 4 kills, 1 ace, 29 digs
Addison Kota 4 kills, 3 assists, 18 digs, 2 blocks
Elizabeth Green 3 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig
Lauren Kelly 3 kills, 1 dig
Jillian Gernatt 2 kills, 21 assists, 1 ace, 7 digs
Ella Luther 1 assist, 26 digs
Tessa Kohn 11 digs

Meanwhile at Portville, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team had a challenge of their own. Portville went up 4-0 at halftime heading to a 9-0 final score. In this game Pine Valley did not manage a single shot on goal and did not release their own goaltender stats.

Coming off the Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ day holiday, sports team got back in action on Tuesday, October 10. With just two weeks left in the regular Fall Sports schedules things were largely business as usual across the board.

The Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team, coming off two tough games to end the previous week, had a relatively easy game at Silver Creek. Grabbing the first three points in Game 1, Gowanda quickly built an 11-3 lead. From there, Gowanda continued to power forward extending the lead to 16-4 on the way to a 25-9 victory. The final point came on a Addison Kota ace that had deflected off the top of the net.

Gowanda carried the momentum into Game 2 taking an early 7-0 advantage. The last two points of that run came with back-to-back aces from Holland Browning. Silver Creek finally got on the board with a hard block/kill shot. With things well under control, Gowanda was able to work more players into the rotation giving them valuable game experience. Silver Creek continued to work and was able to get as close as 17-15, but could not do better than that. One unusual moment came with Gowanda ahead 22-16. A Silver Creek dig flew high into the ceiling of the gym and got stuck there forcing a re-serve with a new ball. In the end, Gowanda secured a 25-17 victory in the game going up 2-0 in the match.

Game 3 started out again with a strong Gowanda burst, this time to 5-0. Silver Creek battled back, without gaining a lead, to tie things up at 6 and 7. From there, Gowanda rebuilt their lead to 12-8 and was able to coast to a 25-13 win to sweep the match 3-0.

Leading the Gowanda effort were Aubrie Heron (7 kills, 1 ace, 2 digs), Elizabeth Green (5 kills), Holland Browning (3 kills, 4 aces, 8 digs), Addison Kota (1 kill, 4 aces, 2 digs), Ella Luther (1 kill, 1 aces, 15 digs) and Jillian Gernatt (21 assists, 3 aces). Showing up strong in support were Lauren Kelly (3 kills), Corrina John (2 kills), Sydney Smith (3 digs) and Tessa Kohn (2 digs).

In other sports news, the Gowanda Cross Country teams came off an idle week traveling to Southwestern for a meet that also included Olean and Dunkirk. For the boys, Gowanda (39 pts.) finished in 2nd Place behind Southwestern (25 pts.). Olean was 3rd with 65 pts. Dunkirk had an incomplete team of less than 5 runners and did not figure in the scoring. Top runners for the Gowanda boys were Cashis Montour, Jayson Twoguns and Chase Bolen who finished 5th, 6th and 7th, respectively.

The girls results were similar to the boys with Southwestern finishing in 1st Place with 26 points. Gowanda (52 pts.) just edged out Olean (54 pts.) for 2nd Place. Dunkirk again was incomplete. Two Gowanda girls finished in the Top 10. They were Calie Hudson (2nd) and Autumn Pupo (4th).

Meanwhile at Pine Valley, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity boys soccer team hosted Ellicottville. It was the final home game for the team with one away game left to play in the regular season. Despite a relatively even 1st quarter that left Pine Valley down 1-0, it would not continue that close. Ellicottville scored three additional goals in both the 2nd and 3rd quarters before piling on four more in the 4th. With Pine Valley unable to score, the final score was 11-0.

On Friday, October 6, the Gowanda Varsity football team lost a golden opportunity to showoff in front of the home crowd. A scheduled game with St. Mary’s was cancelled. St. Mary’s had only played twice this season giving up 115 points without scoring a single point themselves. While the fans missed seeing quite a show by the Gowanda team they also avoided the rain that would have been a part of the second half.

Shortly before the original start time for the football game, the Gowanda Varsity girls volleyball team was starting play at Lake Shore in a non-league match-up. One thing that has been a strong point for the Gowanda team is their ability to outlast the competition in matches that are extended past the minimum three games. Gowanda had previously been involved in three 5-game matches, winning two of those with the one loss coming on the first game of the season. The ability to stay strong while the competition wears out served Gowanda well again at Lake Shore.

In Game 1, Lake Shore started fast grabbing an early 5-1 lead. That continued to grow through a 20-10 advantage to a 25-13 Lake Shore win. Gowanda rebounded in Game 2 taking four of the first five points. Lake Shore came back to tie the game at 5 and move into a brief 7-5 lead. Gowanda moved back into a tie at 7-7 with an Elizabeth Green ace on the way to a small lead of their own. The game was again tied at 17, 20 and 22 through 24 with Lake Shore holding the 1 point edge before slipping back. The battle continued with Gowanda up 25-24 followed by Lake Shore up 26-25 and 27-26. From a 27-all tie, Gowanda finally closed out the game with Jillian Gernatt collecting back-to-back service points for a 29-27 win.

Moving to Game 3, it was Lake Shore starting strong 5-1. That gap eventually grew to 17-8. The game was more competitive from there, but Gowanda was not able to avoid a 25-15 loss. In Game 4, an early 3-1 Gowanda start slipped back into a 5-5 tie. Fierce competition and long volleys saw a series of tie scores up to 13-13. from there Gowanda began to pull away. A 4-point run with Ella Luther serving brought the score to 21-14. The score was 22-15 as Elizabeth Green was up to serve. Starting with an ace, the Gowanda advantage went to 24-15. After a minor delay on a errant serve, Gowanda locked down the next point for a 25-16 win in the game.

With the match now tied 2-2, Gowanda went to work in Game 5. For the 4th time this season Gowanda came up strong while the opposition faded in the extended play. A 15-10 Gowanda win in the game gave them a 3-2 match win. As a measure of the intense competition in this match, Gowanda as a team recorded a total 162 digs in the game. Full stats are listed below.

Elizabeth Green 12 kills, 1 assist, 4 aces, 5 digs, 1 block
Aubrie Heron 10 kills, 1 dig, 7 blocks
Holland Browning 8 kills, 2 aces, 29 digs
Addison Kota 5 kills, 2 assists, 43 digs, 2 blocks
Lauren Kelly 5 kills, 2 digs, 4 blocks
Jillian Gernatt 1 kill, 39 assists, 1 ace, 10 digs
Corrina John 1 kill, 2 digs
Ella Luther 2 aces, 61 digs
Tessa Kohn 9 digs

Meanwhile, the Pine Valley/Gowanda Varsity girls soccer team was playing a rare night game at Salamanca. In a game that feature more back and forth defense than offense, Pine Valley came up short 1-0. The winning Salamanca goal came with 29:51 left in the first half. With possession of the ball in the corner and two girls positioned in front of the goal, Salamanca made a pass past the near-side girl to the second one. The Pine Valley goaltender, Destiny Lindquist, guarding against a shot from the first girl was unable to get to the other side of the net in time to keep the second girl from scoring. Lindquist did make saves on 13 other Salamanca shots. Pine Valley only managed 6 shots on goal in the game.

Football 3-2, 1-2

Friday, October 6

Saint Mary’s at Gowanda
- cancelled -

Girls Volleyball 11-2, 9-1

Tuesday, October 3

Gowanda at Pine Valley
Gowanda 3, Pine Valley 0
25-18/25-6/25-19

Thursday, October 5

Gowanda at Ellicottville
Gowanda 3, Ellicottbille 1
25-23/26-24/18-25/25-22

Friday, October 6

Gowanda at Lake Shore
Gowanda 3, Lake Shore 2
13-25/28-26/15-25/25-16/15-10

Cross Country

- no meets -

Boys Soccer 0-13, 0-7

Tuesday, October 3

Salamanca/Cattaraugus-L.V. at Pine Valley/Gowanda
Pine Valley 4, Salamanca 1

Thursday, October 5

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Portville
Pine Valley 0, Portville 9

Girls Soccer 2-9-2, 2-6-2

Wednesday, October 4

Franklinville at Pine Valley/Gowanda
- Senior Day -
Pine Valley 1, Franklinville 0

Friday, October 6

Pine Valley/Gowanda at Salamanca
Pine Valley 0, Salamanca 1