Cuba-Rushford volleyball avenges five-set defeat to Wellsville to capture Allegany County Championship with distance-running win of their own

Written By Chris Brooks

WELLSVILLE — In their last meeting nearly three weeks ago, the Lions of Wellsville and the Rebels of Cuba-Rushford, at the time, assembled a preview of this year’s Allegany County League Championship game. From that point onward, it was just a matter of getting to the final day of the volleyball season.

After being handed a crushing five-set defeat by the Lions, Rebels head coach Nick Perillo said he eagerly pushed his team to transmit a revenge mindset for the homestretch of the campaign, which ultimately resulted in a grudge match from their meeting back on January 22 to seek out who would take a seat on Allegany County’s volleyball throne.

To have that second chance, he said it’s what they’ve wanted since that loss.

“I think it’s safe to say that if the guys didn’t have that revenge factor coming into this game, I made sure they did in the weeks following that bitter loss,” he said. “I said after that game that it was the toughest loss of the season. It still is, and it’s great to have that second chance to come back here after losing in five sets, and do it all over again to this time, hopefully redeem ourselves with a championship.”

As expected, the impending championship matchup meshed both Cuba-Rushford and Wellsville volleyball communities together under one roof for Tuesday’s season finale. The war also an added bonus through the form of yet another distance run between both the Rebels and Lions, determining the Allegany County champion in yet another five-set affair.

But this time, a different outcome.

Inside what became one of the more gritty battles between the two teams this season, Cuba-Rushford and Wellsville went side by side in the race to 90 points. The tide turned for the Rebels after a fourth-set domination that witnessed both Devin Tullar take over the show with multiple blocks, which resulted in kills along the way, and Chandler Wirth, who ended the game with a right-handed hack at the ball on the left side of the net, dumping it to an open spot near the front of the net to close out a 15-12 final set win for Cuba-Rushford to clinch the County’s top prize (21-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 15-12).

“It’s awesome. We were down with one of our best players in Caden Granger, who’s been battling bronchitis the past couple of days. We weren’t able to have him, and he’s one of our best hitters,” Perillo said. “But despite that, it was awesome to see everyone step up in his place, and play well. Wellsville is a very tough opponent, and I don’t know if Isaiah (Scott) lets anything drop around him, but he is a tough competitor. It was a great team effort from start to finish, through and through.”

Before the end-of-the-season homestretch caught fire, the Lions (10-2) would garner the first-set victory after pulling their way toward 8-4 lead through the first 12 serves. After the Rebels scored five straight with Devin Tullar’s help at the service line, the hosts would run off to their biggest lead of the night at that point, scoring nine of the next 13 points to pull back out in front to fend off a late Rebels rally to hang on for the victory.

In the next frame of action, a far cry from the initial set. The Rebels (10-2) and Lions went back and forth to start things off, weaving their way through the early stages before an opening was created by the visitors, who were trailing with a four-point deficit, made up for it quickly with a 10-6 lead that was extended on by as much as seven points to stay ahead, continuing to capitalize on mistakes the Lions had issued. Now with a 20-14 lead in hand, Cuba-Rushford finished off the set with five of the last eight points, including a Tullar kill, going their way.

But they couldn’t quite turn the tide to push Wellsville to the brink just yet, entering the third set, as the Lions recovered fast despite falling behind near the midway point. After 10 of the 12 points headed toward Cuba-Rushford’s direction after a 4-1 lead for the hosts, the deficit was chewed down to a single point with six of the next eight points on offense with Isaiah Scott and Walker Waldon both leading the efforts.

Both teams would go on to trade eight points on the board in multiple successions to remain in a dead heat coming down to the tail end of the set, which sees a tie 18-18 score. But then the Lions made sure they went up on top heading into the fourth set, pushing the Rebels to the brink with seven of the last 11 points to come away with a 25-22 victory.

To force a fifth and final set, the Rebels would have to find a way to absolutely make sure the tide was turned into their favor.

They would do just that almost immediately out of the gates in the second to last set of the night, as Caden Larabee put his serving to good use through the first four serves, turning them all into points on an unanswered basis to get the Rebels off and running. It ultimately assisted in setting up a lengthy 12-2 run of the Lions through the first 14 serves, taking the night’s largest lead along the way.

Wellsville refused to give in, challenging the Rebels from the midpoint until the end of the set for the lead. But they would never gain control of it, cutting down what was a pair of double digit deficits to as low as four points behind the command of Waldon at the service line in the first initial run, and later a spread-out offense that supplied seven out of eight points in the back half to trail Cuba-Rushford, 21-17.

But after a couple of Tullar blocks at the net, the match would see a five-set decider take place as Joey Frederick forced it with a block on Waldon at the front of the net for a 25-20 win.

“I think that goes to show with some of the new guys playing in some new positions tonight, they handled the pressure pretty well with it,” Perillo said. “It was going to take time, and I told them it takes 75 points to lose a game. Today, it took more. But if you mess up, it’s short-term memory loss in volleyball. You can’t dwell on it long, you have to keep playing, and they were able to eventually snap out of that mentality.”

In the last set of the season, it saw a pair of attackers step up for the Rebels to aid their championship, as Tullar took absolute command of the front of the net with multiple blocks, which saw some of them result in kills on the Wellsville side of the floor. Even though the Lions fell behind by as low as three points, Cuba-Rushford made sure the County title was theirs, as Chandler Wirth settled the score with one final kill after a Caden Larabee pass to his left to seal the deal on the crown.

“We had a great season,” said Lions coach Jaguar Santas. “It didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but couldn’t have asked for a more exciting finals match. Both teams brought at ton of energy onto the court, and we got to see a lot of the bigs attacking on both sides. The aggressive serves by the Cuba players tipped the scales tonight, but I am encouraged by the discipline demonstrated by both teams. The Cuba/Wellsville rivalry that has been building all season, does not end here.”

Tullar and Frederick captained the Rebels offense with 11 team-leading kills each, with Frederick coming up big with eight blocks and seven aces. Tullar added in five blocks of his own to pair with his three aces from the service line. Perillo said that both of his performers came up large tonight for his team.

“The seniors really led us to victory. Joey is a player that I critique the most, because he’s played for me since his freshman year,” he said. “He’s the only player on our team that’s played all four seasons here. He hears it a lot from me, but it’s awesome to finally see what he can do when we ask of him to do it. Devin has never played volleyball ever. To see him pick this up so quickly, is amazing. He’s a big, passionate guy, and he’s fun to watch. I joked with the guys, and I said if they aren’t matching his intensity, you shouldn’t be playing competitive sports.”

Rounding off the Rebels was Larabee, the team’s setter, as he dished out a game-high 20 assists to his teammates to go with three kills. For Wellsville, Waldon led the way with 11 kills, seven blocks and six aces. Scott added in eight kills and five digs on defense, while setter Matt Bittel handed out 17 assists at the net. Helping the offense was Mason Parks, who contributed four kills and four digs of his own.

The 2019-2020 boys volleyball season has officially come to a close in Allegany County with the Rebels coming away as this year’s champion. Both teams finish with a record of 10-2 on the season, and for Perillo, he hopes that this championship-winning season will provide a massive building block for next year’s team, despite losing a bunch of playmakers to Graduation this June that helped them get to the very last day of action.

“It’s been great from start to finish, and usually we have small teams from when I started here a few years back,” he said. “We had one or two substitutes on those teams. This year, we had subs that could play here, play there. To get some many kids to come out and partake in volleyball, and to stick around through it all is great. The young kids really seem into it, and as a plus, it will be easier for next year when you’re coming off a championship.”

Chris Brooks
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