Local Sports

Emotional victory

Grieving Cougars beat Maple Grove to reach sectional final

SINCLAIRVILLE -- Less than four days after tragedy struck the Cassadaga Valley school community, the Cougars needed a reason to smile.

For three hours Tuesday evening, their volleyball team gave them something to celebrate.

No. 1 Cassadaga Valley won the first two sets, then held off No. 4 Maple Grove in the fourth set to win their Section VI Class D semifinal 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23 inside the Art Asquith Gymnasium.

"We've come together as a district. Tonight was incredibly difficult. Coach (Melissa) Kelly said 'I've got something, I'm going to say it to my team and we're going to make this happen," Tammy Mangus, Cassadaga Valley superintendent, said postgame. " ... Coach Kelly acts with integrity, morality, kindness, compassion and goodness, and her players do the same."

Tuesday's match was postponed 24 hours after a Saturday morning accident claimed the life of one Cassadaga Valley student and left another in the hospital. The school made counselors available over the weekend before students returned to class Monday. A moment of silence was held prior to Tuesday's match.

"I believe it was back in the summer of 2024 when (Coach Kelly) said point blank she was going to build a team of winners," Mangus said. "They're not just winners, they are the most compassionate human beings."

After making it a 2-1 match with a third-set victory, the Red Dragons looked poised to force a winner-take-all fifth set when they took a 23-22 lead on a Lucy Castro kill late in the fourth set. But the Cougars' Kristyn McVey answered with a kill to tie the set at 23-all.

"The fact that I can go into my bench and still compete is huge. I had Kristyn McVey step up big for me when I put her in the front row," Kelly said. "She took a little easy shot at first and I just said to her, 'that one's out of the way, now you swing. You got your little one out, now you swing hard.' She did exactly that."

Cassadaga Valley's Melanie Myles then took over on the service line and Maple Grove hit a spike long to set up match point. After a Red Dragons timeout, Myles sent a line-drive serve over the net that fell in for an ace.

"When I look back there and I see her on that line, I know that it's going in," Kelly said of Myles. "I'm just hoping for it to hit the ground to be an ace."

After the teams went through the customary handshake line, Cassadaga Valley's student section stormed the bench area to celebrate with their classmates.

"Cassadaga Valley just rode their emotions in the right way," Maple Grove head coach Ardelle Rambacher said, "and came out and got the wins like they needed to."

Cassadaga Valley took a 22-21 lead in the first set when a Maple Grove spike went into the net and Kailee Lacki gave the Cougars a two-point lead with an ace before a Mia Fanara block made it 24-21. Alexis Pattyson eventually closed out the set with one of her 14 kills on the night.

In the second set, Kendall Danielson gave the Red Dragons a 20-15 lead with an ace before Cassadaga Valley rallied. Two Pattyson kills sandwiched around an emphatic block of Maple Grove's Meg Ryan by Liz Lewis made it 21-19 before the Cougars completed the comeback with the help of aces from Pattyson and Eliana Katilus.

"We practiced really hard to play Meg. ... I was blocking against them and nobody wanted to be blocked by Coach," Kelly said. " ... She's a big asset to that team. When we beat them at home, she wasn't part of that team. We knew we were going to have to beat them with her in the mix."

But Maple Grove did not go away quietly as it jumped out to a lead as big as 19-7 in the third set. Much of the damage was done by Castro, who came alive with four of her team-high 11 kills during the set. The Red Dragons closed out the game when a Cassadaga Valley serve went into the net.

"I was happy to see my group come in and take the third set like they did because that's hard to do," Rambacher said. "We were hoping to get that reverse sweep."

"We have talked all year about how mistakes are OK, it's about how we respond to them," Kelly said. "In that huddle at the start of the fourth game, I told them 'that's over, we made some mistakes and we missed some serves. Now, it's about how we choose to respond.'"

Maple Grove took the lead six different times in the fourth set, but could not avoid errors at the service line. The Red Dragons made service errors leading 1-0, trailing 4-3 and 7-5, and tied 9-9.

"Honestly, it came down to our serves. Usually our serve is right on. We missed too many and that's what caused the difference," Rambacher said. "We are used to starting off with Annie Steffen as our first server, but I decided to rotate differently so I could line up Meg with their big hitter."

The Cougars made their fair share of errors in the set as well, but were able to survive with Myles' final two points.

"Maple Grove was an outstanding opponent, and they have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about. They are a talented team that competed with so much heart, and they should be proud of what they accomplished. But what impressed me even more than their play on the court was the class and sportsmanship they showed us before the match," Kelly said. "The way those young women carried themselves and the gesture they made toward our team was something truly special. Wins and losses are part of sports, but the character these young women displayed is what people will remember. Maple Grove has a very special group of young women, and I have so much respect for them."

Next up for Cassadaga Valley will be a sectional final date with No. 7 Ellicottville at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Jamestown High School. The Cougars will be seeking the second sectional title in program history and first since 1977.

"I'll be speechless," Kelly said of potentially winning the first title in 49 years. "I can't tell you how much that's going to mean if we can go down in history."

NOTES: For Cassadaga Valley, Pattyson had 14 kills, seven digs and three aces; Lacki had six kills, 11 digs and three aces; Myles had 25 assists, 12 digs and two aces; Anna Burlingame had four kills and three digs; Lewis had three blocks; McVey had three kills; and Katilus had 15 digs and four aces. ... For Maple Grove, Zoey Foley had nine kills, 14 digs and two aces; Castro had 11 kills, two aces and 18 digs; Hailey Ullman had 15 digs; Savannah Rambacher had 27 assists, two kills, two aces and three digs; Ryan had seven kills and two aces; Danielson had four kills and three aces; and Steffen had three aces and three kills.