For the fourth time in seven years, the Corning-Painted Post School District added another State Championship to their trophy case when the Corning West High volleyball team captured the New York State, Class B crown in 1997.
Not only was it the fourth state championship in seven years for the District, but it was a fourth different sport. Two at each high school and two for the boys and two for the girls.
When the 1997 volleyball season got underway, the West High Vikings volleyball team and head coach Irene Furness had one goal in the back of their minds. Get back to the Final Four and the title game for another shot at the state title. They had lost in the championship match the year before to Livonia. But, before any thought of revenge, Coach Furness knew her team had to focus on the task at hand. Get the regular season off on the right foot and head into postseason play with positive momentum.
They did just that with an undefeated regular season, but as it turned out, that was just the beginning. The Vikings continued their unbeaten ways in the postseason playoffs and earned a trip to the title match. And guess who they would be facing? That same Livonia team that defeated them by a 3-1 margin in the title match a year ago.
This time it would be different. But not without a change of strategy when the match was literally on the line. The Vikings won the first game,15-13, by letting the action come to them. But that approach failed them in games two and three when they lost 15-8 and 15-11 to fall behind two games to one in the best of five matchup.
Keep in mind this was when teams only won points when they were serving, not the rally scoring used in the game today. In between games three and four, Furness decided it was time for her troops to start using their strong attack game and aggressive serving. No more waiting for the game to come to them. It was time to go out and get the game.
With one of the strongest frontlines of attackers in the state, which included Kimber Ayers, Roberta Ayers, Annie Schliching and Megan Thurkins with setter Sara DeClementa at the controls, the Vikings machine went to work and dominated the last two games of the match. They came at Livonia from every angle on the court in the fourth game with a dominating 15-4 score to even the match. The Bulldogs had no answer for the dominant serving and complete control West showed at the net and the Vikings captured the state crown with a convincing 15-7 win in the fifth and deciding game for a 3-2 victory.
The revenge over Livonia completed the Vikings’ undefeated 18-0 season.
These girls raised their game to another level when everything was on the line, especially the last two games of the match. Sara the engineered this squad with an amazing 66 assists in the championship match. And for good measure, she added seven kills. Kimber led the front line with 18 kills along with 25 service points while her cousin Roberta threw down 15 kills and 10 service points. Annie and Megan combined for 18 more kills and Melanie Walker contributed 10 service points.
As with any state championship team, you don’t go undefeated winning a title without depth. No matter the sport. Sure, the starters carry the load but this team was loaded from top to bottom. Furness was very forthright in recognizing the contributions from each girl on her team.
She noted it was a team full of girls would could “play ball.” They weren’t afraid to make a mistake, they loved playing with each other, trusted each other at all times and always worked together whether it was a practice, regular season game or a playoff game.
Coach Furness summed up her team by saying “It was probably the most well rounded team I’ve ever had. And by that, I mean everybody could be a part and they were. They were able to put offense in motion across the net. So, it really kept people guessing.”
And the door of that trophy case for the local school district just keeps swinging open for the next addition.
This article originally appeared on The Leader: West High volleyball won Corning’s 4th state title in 7 years | Column
Reporting by Larry French, Special to The Leader / The Leader
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Larry French, Special to The Leader | USA TODAY Network
