(Photo provided by Tarantino/Cortland Voice).
It was a packed house, as the Cortland Tigers defeated Whitesboro 3-1 to get their first Sectional win of the season at home. The Tigers are the #2 seed in the tournament.
It was a close game from the very beginning, with both teams going back and forth in long rallies.
“History says that Whitesboro has taken us out of Sectionals most of the time we’ve faced them in the past,” said Cortland Head Coach Cheri Olson. “You always get nervous, but we were confident that we were going to pull it through. I’m glad that we won.”
The Tigers lost a 17-14 lead in the first set, with Whitesboro scoring 6 unanswered points. However, Cortland came back from the deficit to win the set 25-22. Cortland won the second set 25-17.
Being down by two sets, Whitesboro came back to win the third set 21-25.
“They knew that we should've won that third set,” said Coach Olson. “We’ve been behind in a lot of games, and we’ve come through. It’s the first time in my coaching career that I don't get nervous when we are behind, because this team is really good about shaking it off and coming back.”
The Tigers went on to win the fourth set 25-18 in order to obtain their first Sectional win of the season.
“We did not want to play five (sets),” said Cortland captain Grace Call. “We thought that we could go easy on to the third set, but when they beat us, it was time to turn it back on,” added fellow captain Kayci Olson.
Olson led the Tigers in kills with 18 kills (she also had 17 digs). Call recorded 35 assists and 18 digs, while junior Alexandra Zacek had 9 kills and 13 digs.
Up next, the Lady Tigers will be hosting the winner of the quarter-final match between #3 seed Chittenango and #6 seed Watertown on Tuesday, February 11th. Last night’s game between Chittenango and Watertown was rescheduled for Monday, February 10th, due to weather conditions.
Here is a highlight video of last night's game:
