New Hartford wears sectional volleyball crown

WATERTOWN - The New Hartford Spartans won their third Section III winter volleyball title in five tries Saturday by beating 2023 champion Rome Free Academy for the second time in three tries this season.

New Hartford won 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18 in four games in the fourth match of the day at Watertown High School. Beaver River defeated Mt. Markham 3-2 in a rematch from last year's Class C final, Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse beat Clinton in Class B, and Cincinnatus was the Class D winner over Fabius-Pompey.

More: Mt. Markham, Rome Free Academy return to defend volleyball title in finals

Saturday's matches represent the end of the season for winter volleyball. Section III is the only section that offers the sport during the winter season, and even a significant portion of Section III has shifted to the fall to participate in the NYSPHSAA-sanctioned season.

The finales were played in Watertown for the second consecutive year. They are scheduled to move to Ilion next winter for the first of two years at that site.

Class A: New Hartford 3, Rome Free Academy 1

Tri-Valley League rivals New Hartford and Rome Free Academy had each lost once entering the playoffs, and they had won matches on each other's home court. At a neutral setting, 2022 champion New Hartford was a 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18 winner over 2023 champion Rome Free Academy.

New Hartford (19-1), also the 2019 sectional champion, finishes the season on a 19-match winning streak having lost its opening match 3-2 to Rome Free Academy (18-2) at home. The Spartans were 3-2 winner in Rome Dec. 21, ending a 6-0 start by the Black Knights who had won 12 matches in a row entering Saturday's showdown.

Senior Elise Courto, already New Hartford's career kills leader and coming off a season-high 22 in Wednesday's 3-1 semifinal win over East Syracuse-Minoa, put down 23 more and broke the Spartans' season record, raising that bar from 322 to 332.

New Hartford had beaten Carthage in the 2019 final, and Carthage turned the tables the following year. There was no postseason play because of COVID in 2021, and Whitesboro had been the runner-up the last two years.

Class B: Christian Brothers Academy 3, Clinton 0

Christian Brothers Academy, the No. 2 seed from Syracuse, swept three games from No. 4 Clinton, a finalist after No. 9 Oneida had knocked out No. 1 Canastota in its first playoff mach.

The championship is the first for the Brothers (15-4), who had lost their last two matches of the regular season, since 2000.

Class C: Beaver River 3, Mt. Markham 2

The unbeaten top two seeds met in the final for the second year in a row and got a different result with Beaver River's 28-26, 21-25, 25-19, 18-25, 15-3 victory.

Mt. Markham (18-1) had swept the title match last yea and entered Saturday's contest with 37 consecutive victories.Beaver River the No. 2 seed, finishes this season at 19-0. The Beavers had last won a title in 2020 whe they defeated Onondaga in the final.

Junior Adalynn Olmstead and sophomore Kaelyn Boliver each had 16 kills, Rori Mattis had 22 assists and Boliver had 12, and Kylee Grau, Ashlyn Boliver Kennedy Becker combined for 10 of the team's 11 aces.

Class D: Cincinnatus 3, Fabius-Pompey 1

Cincinnatus, the No. 1 seed, lost its first game of the postseason but completed but closed out 2023-24 with a 15-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-22 victory over the No. 3 seed from Fabius-Pompey.

The teams had met twice during the regular season with each winning 3-1 in its home Gym.

Allyson St. Germain recorded 15 kills for Cincinnatus and Lucy Finch had eight. Setter Kaedance Latta had 25 assists, and Cassia Schuyler served six aces with 35 digs, one less than team leader Payton Gerrard; St. Germain added 25 digs.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: New Hartford wears sectional volleyball crown