Wallkill falls to Cornwall in Class A volleyball final

By Mike Zummo
Posted 11/10/21

The Wallkill volleyball team hung with the Cornwall Dragons for two sets but weren’t able to keep up the pace beyond that, as the Panthers saw their season end with a 3-1 loss in Sunday’s …

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Wallkill falls to Cornwall in Class A volleyball final

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The Wallkill volleyball team hung with the Cornwall Dragons for two sets but weren’t able to keep up the pace beyond that, as the Panthers saw their season end with a 3-1 loss in Sunday’s Section 9 Class A championship game.

The Dragons and Panthers split the first two sets, but Cornwall won the final two, 25-15, 25-15 to end Wallkill’s season.

“I was really happy with the way that we came out,” Wallkill coach Julie Michella said. “I think we came out confidently. We came out playing really aggressively and the matching really could have gone either way. Toward the end of the match, we really couldn’t quite serve-receive the same way that we were earlier in the match. And that really decided the match for us because we were no longer able to be swinging hard on offense.”

The Dragons opened a 7-point lead in the first set, but the Panthers rallied back on a long service run by Lauren Hall who pulled the Panthers to within three points. A kill by Rylee Thomas pulled Wallkill to within a point but at 24-23, but a Sera Goering service area ended the first set, giving Cornwall a 25-23 win.
The Dragons built a 6-0 lead in the second set and the Panthers fought back to tie the set at 20-20 on a block by Thomas. Madison Noelizaire’s kill gave the Panthers the lead with a kill, and the Panthers went on to tie the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win of their own.

Cornwall took a 13-10 lead on the Panthers in the third set before quickly widening it to 19-11 and took a 2-1 lead in the set with a 25-15 win.

The Dragons broke a 6-6 tie in the fourth set and opened a 3-point lead before a long service run by Mia Dinnocenzio gave the Dragons a commanding lead as they coasted to another 25-15 win to clinch their section title.

“I think we gave a really great match to a really great team,” Michella said. “We just made a few too many unforced errors, and Cornwall is not a team that makes a lot of errors, so we need to capitalize when we get a good pass. We weren’t quite able to do that as often as we needed to.”

The Panthers made the finals, with a sweep of the second-seeded Minisink Valley Warriors on Thursday.

The Warriors eliminated the Panthers from sectionals in April.

Rylee Thomas had four aces, 14 kills, two blocks and 13 digs, while Grace Mesuch had 30 assists, nine digs. Sara Goering had two aces and 20 digs. Hannah Stewart had 13 digs sand Madison Noelizaire had four kills and three blocks.

However, on Sunday, it was the second time in three seasons that the Panthers were beaten by the Dragons in the championship game.

“They’re a team that goes to states every year,” Michella said. “He’s got a phenomenal program and we’re right there, but we can’t get over the hump and finish the season with the championship. I was really proud of them that they gave it the full 100 percent and I can’t ask for more than that. Just today, it didn’t go our way.”