Wednesday Roundup: B-R outduels GV/Belfast in back-and-forth battle, clinch four-set road win; Lady JagDogs end And/Whi’s 5-game win streak with big home triumph

Bolivar-Richburg’s Rudy Polk (7) sees his shot at the net receive a block from Genesee Valley/Belfast’s Canaan Sullivan, off-center, during Wednesday night’s contest in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Genesee Valley/Belfast’s Gavin Kenyon (3) prepares to serve it up to Bolivar-Richburg during Wednesday night’s home contest in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Bolivar-Richburg’s Hunter Walp (2) saves the ball from exiting play during Wednesday night’s road contest against Genesee Valley/Belfast, in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

Genesee Valley/Belfast’s Dominic Marra (12) sets the ball for his teammates at the front during Wednesday night’s home contest against Bolivar-Richburg, in Belmont. [Chris Brooks/WellsvilleSports.com]

BELMONT — In what was a match filled with tons of ups and downs on both sides of the floor, Bolivar-Richburg and Genesee Valley/Belfast put together their fair share of battling all throughout their match, Wednesday night in the Jungle in Belmont.

Each team would exchange a set in the first two sets of play to deadlock the battle at one. Even after dropping the second set closely in extra serves to the host JagDogs, the Wolverines were able to find a way to shake it off and bounce back, providing two 25-20 victories in the last two sets to complete their rebound toward victory by a 25-19, 24-26, 25-20, 25-20 count.

Both teams started with a pair of 5-1 quick runs to open the first set, with Genesee Valley/Belfast grabbing the first early upper hand before Bolivar-Richburg followed up with their run a short time later. Since the 6-6 tie, they would go back and forth until the Wolverines (3-6) found an opening that would allow them to take the first set, but not without a last effort from the JagDogs to chip away at the deficit at the end, getting to within four before the visitors closed up the win.

The potential rebound bid was carried over into the second set where the JagDogs (1-7) were able to put together a lead of their own after some early exchanges, building a run of seven straight points to pull ahead. As the set went down, Bolivar-Richburg came right back with a punch of their own — completing a deficit to force extra serves, after scoring five of the last six points.

But the set would go to the JagDogs to tie the game.

For the remainder of the way, each team would go back and forth, but the Wolverines would come out on top with the victory, remaining resilient through numerous bumps on the road to come away victorious.

No individual statistics for the Wolverines were provided upon publication. As for the JagDogs, Canaan Sullivan paced the offensive attack with a game-high nine kills along with two aces and two blocks, while Sean Mahon chipped in with six kills of his own.

Bolivar-Richburg will head back home to host unbeaten Cuba-Rushford in a 6 p.m. contest tonight, while Genesee Valley/Belfast looks for a bounce back at Arkport/Canaseraga at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Arkport/Canaseraga 3, Wellsville 1

WELLSVILLE — After dropping the first two sets of the evening, the Lions of Wellsville, despite being pushed to the brink, found a way to stay alive with a narrow third set win. But in the end, it would not go any farther, as visiting Arkport/Canaseraga made sure the job was done after four sets, taking the 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-17 decision on Wednesday in the Lion’s Den.

Leading the charge for Wellsville (4-4) was Lucius Griggs on offense, compiling a team-high five kills to pair with three digs and two aces. Furthering the cause was Gavan Dickerson, who added in three more kills to go along with three aces and three more digs, while Xavier Scott posted three aces, two kills, two digs and two blocks.

The Lions hung right with Arkport/Canaseraga through the opening set, but then fell behind quickly with a second set win going to the Wolves, pushing them to the brink. But they would survive a close battle in the third set to keep their hopes of victory alive to cut their deficit in half. But the visitors were able to put the finishing touches of the match to take the victory back home with them.

Wellsville will look to bounce back Friday night back on their home floor with a 6 p.m. contest against Scio.

Cuba-Rushford 3, Fillmore 0

FILLMORE — Another dominant performance was put together by the unbeaten Rebels of Cuba-Rushford on Wednesday, as they hit the road to visit Fillmore and came away with their ninth straight victory, starting strong and never looking back on a straight-set victory over the Eagles by a 25-17, 25-12, 25-20 count.

Maddox Keller led the offensive attack for Cuba-Rushford (9-0) with seven kills and two aces. Andrew Achey helped the cause with five more kills of his own to pair with two additional aces, while Nate Cole provided four kills, four aces and four blocks for the visitors in blue and white, who pushed Fillmore to the brink with two distant victories in the opening two sets.

The Eagles (2-8) saw Joe Derck pick up three service points to go with two aces. Matt Majoros added in three service points and one ace, while Hayden Freeman had three more service points to add.

Cuba-Rushford will look to eclipse the 10-win mark tonight back on the road, visiting Bolivar-Richburg in a 6 p.m. first serve, while Fillmore looks to bounce back on the road in Wellsville next Wednesday in a 6 p.m. contest of their own.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Genesee Valley/Belfast 47, Andover/Whitesville 43

BELFAST — Since the start of the season, Andover/Whitesville has been red hot, winning seven of their first eight games, with five of them coming right in a row.

On Wednesday, they put the hot streak on the line against a team that would issue a challenge — Genesee Valley/Belfast, a team also on a tear themselves, winning four of the last five games. Between the foes, something had to give way.

Through the majority of the night, Andover/Whitesville was able to keep themselves several footsteps ahead of Genesee Valley/Belfast, holding a lead after every quarter. The pressure would continue to mount on Andover/Whitesville coming down the stretch, and in the fourth quarter, it soon boiled over.

Genesee Valley/Belfast pushed all of their chips to the center of the table for one last game-changing sequence, one that proved very successful, as they held Andover/Whitesville still on defense while converting massive chances on the other end to come up with a big run that saw them spring forward and into the lead at the end of the night, ending their five game win streak with a 47-43 home win in Belfast — perhaps the biggest for the team this season.

“I believed in all these girls, and they are finally figuring out that they can play this game,” said GV/Belfast coach Jim Schneider. “It was up to them to try and out-defend them, and play better offense than them. The girls played their best game of the season, and I’m definitely not taking anything away from Andover/Whitesville but they have a really nice team. They worked their tails off, and we just got them into foul trouble enough to force them to change their approach. We just managed to work through it to get this win.”

The biggest obstacle that the Lady JagDogs (7-3) had to contest with was stopping Allegany County’s leading scorer in Vanessa Hall, who has provided an electric junior season thus far. Her efforts would fuel Andover/Whitesville’s strong first quarter, along with Maria Riloba, as they combined for 17 of the team’s 19 points to take the early lead out of the gate.

Genesee Valley/Belfast would chip away at the deficit each time all the way to the end to make sure they were still within a stone’s throw of Andover/Whitesville (7-2) when it came down to crunch time, as they narrowly outscored their opposition in the next two quarters to get within as close as five points when the third quarter came to a close.

In the fourth, the tide would begin to turn for the Lady JagDogs, as they accounted for a game-changing 17-8 run of Andover/Whitesville led by an all-balanced attack from several different scorers. At the same time, the defense would buckle down and hold Hall to just one basket in the last eight minutes to keep their go-ahead lead in tact.

When it was all said and done, Hall finished with a season-low 16 points — a task that Schneider credits both Alicia Borden and Adison Grusendorf for handling all game long.

“Alicia and Aidson had the assignment against Vanessa Hall, and they held her to just 16 points on defense. I don’t portray to know much basketball, but I do know a lot about energy, and these girls gave everything they had to get this win for us,” he said. “Mary Hamer and Kaitlin Sadler both provided excellent games to lead our offense. The girls were fun to watch, and my guards were right at par. We were good for all 32 minutes.”

Kaitlin Sadler led the Genesee Valley/Belfast offense with a team-high 14 points in the midst of a balanced effort across the board. Following closely behind was Mary Hamer, who had 13 points of her own to add in, while Borden chipped in eight points.

Finishing behind Hall for Andover/Whitesville was Riloba, who tallied 15 points. Serena Ainsworth netted 10 additional points to further the cause.

Genesee Valley/Belfast will now search for their fifth consecutive win come Saturday, as they hit the road for an 11:30 a.m. tip-off against Jasper-Troupsburg in Greenwood. As for Andover/Whitesville, they will be on the rebound back home on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. battle in store against incoming Bolivar-Richburg.

Andover/Whitesville 19 9 7 8 – 43

Genesee Valley/Belfast 11 11 8 17 – 47

ANDOVER/WHITESVILLE: Maria Riloba 6 0-0 15, Serena Ainsworth 5 0-0 10, Vanessa Hall 6 4-6 16, Gabbi Hall 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 4-6 43.

GV/BELFAST: Alicia Borden 2 3-6 8, Anna Drozdowski 2 1-2 5, Adison Grusendorf 1 0-0 3, Mary Hamer 6 1-5 13, Kaitlin Sadler 6 2-4 14, Harley Proctor 1 0-0 2. Totals: 18 7-17 47.
3-point goals: A/W 3 (Riloba), GVB 2 (Borden, Grusendorf).
Total Fouls: A/W 19, GVB 13. Fouled out: Riloba (A/W), Morgan (A/W).

Fillmore 60, Bolivar-Richburg 25

BOLIVAR — The Lady Eagles of Fillmore are the first team to reach the 10-mark on the hardwood, eclipsing that plateau over the road on Wednesday by holding Bolivar-Richburg at a standstill across all 32 minutes to start strong and never look back to race away with a 60-25 win over the host Lady Wolverines.

Four different Lady Eagles (10-0) all scored at least 10 points on offense to lead an attack that saw them hold Bolivar-Richburg to no more than seven points across all four quarters on defense, building the start they wanted to have all the way to the end to record their 10th straight win to begin the season.

Of those scorers, Emma Cole led the way for Fillmore with a game-high 16 points. Preslee Miller put together a season-best performance, scoring 12 points of her own, while Hope Russell and Jadyn Mucher each followed with 11, and 10 points respectively.

On the other side, the Lady Wolverines (2-8) were led by a team-high 12 point performance from Kayli Giardini. Jessica Majot and Nadia Baldwin each chipped in with four points.

Fillmore returns to the court back on the road Saturday afternoon, taking on Canisteo-Greenwood in a 1:30 p.m. tip-off, while Bolivar-Richburg heads to Andover to visit host Andover/Whitesville in a 7:30 p.m. battle of their own on Friday.

Fillmore 16 14 16 14 – 60

Bolivar-Richburg 4 7 7 7 – 25

FILLMORE: Hope Russell 5 1-2 11, Grace Russell 2 0-0 4, Emma Cole 7 2-2 16, Jadyn Mucher 5 0-2 10, Zoe Beardsley 1 0-0 3, Preslee Miller 6 0-0 12, Madi Geertman 2 0-0 4. Totals: 28 3-6 60.
BOLIVAR-RICHBURG: Nadia Baldwin 2 0-0 4, Emma Sisson 1 0-0 3, Destiny Cantrell 1 0-0 2, Kayli Giardini 5 0-0 12, Jessica Majot 2 0-0 4. Totals: 11 0-0 25.
3-point goals: Fillmore 1 (Beardsley), B-R 3 (Giardini 2, Sisson).
Total Fouls: Fillmore 8, B-R 6. Fouled out: None.