Lake George, Galway win girls' volleyball championships

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Lake George defeated Fonda.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Fonda-Fultonville fought until the end, but Lake George proved too powerful in Friday’s Section II Class C girls’ volleyball championship match at Saratoga Springs High School.

“They wanted it until the very last bit. It was a great season,” Fonda head coach Ashleigh Griswold said. “The second set we came out strong. We had the serve, had a couple points on them. It was like they needed a challenge to play like they did in the third set. These girls, they really wanted it, and had a heart for it and had that inherent drive to make history.”

Top-seeded Lake George, though, advanced into the state tournament with a 25-20, 25-13, 25-22 victory against No. 3 Fonda. Lake George was led by Maddie Burke with 16 digs and Mikayla Duffy with 13 kills, while Fonda received eight kills and 19 digs from Marilyn Whitcavitch, 16 digs from Madisyn Duneen and seven kills from Krystal McSpirit.

“They worked every single day of this season to get this victory, so I’m pretty impressed with them tonight,” Lake George head coach Brittany Jones said. “This was their No. 1 goal this year, so from Day 1 we’ve been working to win this game and they came out and did it. I’m very happy with them. Seeing them so happy is what makes me so happy.”

Fonda had early leads in the first two sets, but couldn’t sustain its momentum. In the third set, the teams were tied at 19 before Lake George surged to victory.

Lake George will next play in a regional semifinal game against Section X’s Canton.

CLASS D FINAL

Top-seeded Galway needed four sets to get past No. 2 Argyle and claim the Section II Class D championship with a 25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 25-13 victory.

“We were just relentless,” Galway head coach Mike Glenn said. “We just keep coming and coming and coming. Even if we are down a set, we don’t stop, and just come right back and don’t give up.”

Galway advanced to play Section X’s Chateaugay in a regional semifinal.

Galway was led by Hannah Hoffman with 28 assists, Katy Kurtzner with 32 digs, Western Athletic Conference MVP Julia Reedy had 26 kills and Amber Kolpakas had 15 kills.

“In the beginning, we just really wanted to get to the sectionals. We had no idea we would make it this far,” Reedy said.

After playing in the sectional championship game last year against Mayfield and coming up short, though, Galway was determined to pull through this season.

“We were here last year and we lost. So I think that really pushed us a lot more and we had a lot of returning players too,” Reedy said. “We kept telling ourselves we were not going to lose like we did last year, and we all wanted it for the seniors so bad.”