Cassadaga Valley’s Grace Warsitz serves during Wednesday’s game against Dunkirk at Cassadaga Valley High School. OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms.

SINCLAIRVILLE — The Cassadaga Valley Lady Cougars (8-4, 8-2) volleyball team squared off against the Dunkirk Lady Marauders (6-6, 5-5) for the second time this season and saw the same result in just three sets, 25-15, 25-12, 25-17 for another Section VI CCAA North division girls volleyball win at Cassadaga Valley High School, on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, our biggest struggle is the girl’s mindsets going into the game,” stated Dunkirk head coach Kate Stahlman. “If the girls are making mistakes or have been defeated by a certain team in the past, they have already given up before they walk on the court.”

The first set took the Lady Cougars the longest to begin to pull away from the visiting Lady Marauders as the score was tight early on at 11-8, in favor of Cassadaga Valley. Dunkirk began making mistakes that gave Cassadaga Valley easy points and the Cougars were playing near flawless as they went on a 10-4 run to get the 21-12 lead.

“I like that Abby DuBois came in to set in the first set,” said Cassadaga Valley head coach Denny Wakelee. “I’m trying to groom her for next year and get her some time… she did a great job doing that. I liked our serving, we served really well… didn’t have many errors and had a lot of aces.”

Despite being heavily outscored, the Lady Marauders made sure the Lady Cougars earned every point on their way to a first set victory. Cassadaga Valley got the final two points via a Heidi Williams ace and a back and forth long volley that fell in favor of the Lady Cougars and gave them the 25-15 win.

The second set saw the Lady Cougars carry their momentum from the first set, as Cassadaga Valley started off on a 7-3 run. Dunkirk looked to halt the early surge by the Lady Cougars and called a timeout.

The timeout worked as Dunkirk powered back into the set with Gina Salerno at the service line getting the score to 8-6. Salerno finished the night with two aces and a kill, doing her part in the Lady Marauders’ effort.

Cassadaga Valley got the ship back on track and responded with a 10-1 run, and established an insurmountable 18-7 lead. Dunkirk scored just five more points in the set as Cassadaga Valley cruised to the 25-12 second set victory.

“We often get a lead and squander it,” stated Coach Wakelee. “So we got a little saying ‘keep your foot on the gas pedal.’ So they’ll say ‘gaspedal’ to remind themselves that just because we have a lead they can let off and let up. They did well with that tonight.”

Cassadaga Valley looked poised to win the third set as they found a nice lead, 10-4. Unlike the previous sets, Dunkirk began to fight back and narrowed the lead to 11-9.

“I was happy to see the girls were hustling and diving to save the ball in attempt to keep it in the air,” stated Coach Stahlman. “Also, their coverage on tips and communication is improving.”

The Lady Cougars responded to the Dunkirk push back and went on another short run that forced a timeout, but it was already too late. The Cassadaga Valley lead reached 19-10 and the damage was done, the Lady Cougars powered to a 25-17 third set victory.

“Well it’s always exciting to play a bigger school and the girls always get excited for that,” stated Coach Wakelee. “We always try to prepare the same way. We do a lot of passing, a lot of serve receive.”

Dunkirk’s effort was led by Amari Carter with two kills, Nadara O’dell with two kills and Keit Lopez with two aces.

Cassadaga Valley was powered by Meghan LeBaron with six kills, two blocks and one ace, Brielle LeBaron with five aces, two kills and two blocks, and Jocelyn Faulkner who had three aces, three digs and went 17-of-18 from the service line.

Cassadaga Valley is back in action on Monday in Silver Creek and Dunkirk will host Pine Valley on Monday.