Fredonia, which beat Aquinas in a sub-regional at Lake Shore High School on Wednesday, will take on Windsor with a spot in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B final four on the line at Candor High School.
P-J photo by Christian Storms
CANDOR — This weekend at Lake Shore High School most of the Section VI volleyball teams are battling Section V in the Far West Regionals for a spot in the state semifinals.
However, that is not the case for the Fredonia Hillbillies as they already defeated Section V’s Class B champion Aquinas Institute 21-25, 25-17, 25-20, 26-24 on Wednesday in a sub-regional.
Instead, the Hillbillies will make the long drive today for a matchup with the Section IV champion Windsor at Candor High School at 3 p.m.
Fredonia’s road to states is a little longer than the path Southwestern took last year as Section VI and V came up in the rotation of sub-regionals for Class B, requiring an extra win for a trip to Glens Falls.
Along with Fredonia at Candor High School today, Section III’s LaFayette plays Section IV’s Candor in Class D, Section III’s Jordan Elbridge plays Section IV’s Tioga in Class C and Section IX’s Minisink Valley plays Section IV’s Union-Endicott in Class AA.
Fredonia comes into the regionals led offensively by sophomore Londyn Wilmot with 135 kills, 47 aces and 10 assists, then defensively Wilmot has 86 digs and 27 blocks. The ‘Billies will also rely on Elizabeth Morris with 101 kills, 21 aces and 134 digs; Maddie Saunders leads with 289 assists, 117 digs, 30 aces and 33 kills; Kaylen Rollins has 52 kills, 35 aces and 121 digs; Lydia LaBarr brings 59 kills and 120 digs; and Katherine Fortna adds 55 kills and 10 blocks.
In the sub-regionals, Fredonia was afforded the ability to make mistakes and prevail with relative ease against the Section V champion. That will not be the case against today’s Section IV opponent the Windsor Black Knights.
The Black Knights earned the top seed in their sectional tournament and in the semifinal pool play swept both Chenango Valley and Oneonta before a tie with Whitney Point to set up last Saturday’s final. Windsor went all five sets with Whitney Point, but prevailed 25-22, 25-17, 19-25, 16-25, 15-13 to earn the right to represent Section IV in the state tournament.
The Black Knights have a lot to live up to as the Section IV representative as the state title was won by it with Lansing taking the crown a year ago.
There is a lot of youth on the Windsor squad, but senior Ashlee Hagerman leads the team with 296 kills, to go along with 54 aces, 199 digs and 13 blocks. Sophomore Gabriella Hans follows with 219 kills, 66 aces and 61 blocks; Ruby Hans sets up the attack with 419 assists, 173 kills, 83 aces, 173 digs and 16 blocks; Allison Wisnieski adds another 365 assists, 95 digs and 37 aces; and Payton Otis provided 161 kills and 14 blocks.
The winner of today’s match will head on the road the following week for the state championships at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. This year the volleyball tournament returns to a pool play format in which each semifinalist will compete against each other for a spot in the championship match the following morning.
Section VIII’s Oyster Bay was the first team to clinch a spot in the state semifinals next week after defeating Section XI’s Center Moriches 25-16, 25-22, 28-26 on Friday night in the Long Island Regional Championships.
Along with Fredonia and Windsor’s regional today, Section I’s Blind Brook plays Section II’s Ichabod Crane and Section III’s Westhill takes on Section VII’s Beekmantown.
For updates of Fredonia’s regional matchup follow along on x.com @Chris__Storms.