Lady Bobcats capture NYS Volleyball title for first time in school history
GLENS FALLS – A 33-second volley in the fourth set is what it took for the Lady Bobcats to bring the Class D New York State Volleyball championship to Bainbridge-Guilford for the first time in school history.
With B-G’s Marissa Cuozzo serving to the Panama Panthers at 24-12, all Bainbridge-Guilford needed was one final point to take down the defending state champs. Panama sent the ball flying hard back over the net, hoping to finish the point to get the serve back to close the 12-point gap.
But the Bobcats’ Erica Selfridge refused as she saved her team with the first dig, keeping the point going. Teammate Zamira Caldwell tried to catch Panama off guard by tipping the ball over. However, the Panthers weren’t fooled and set up a spike as they again tried to close the point.
That’s when Abi Selfridge dove for the ball, reached her hands out for the dig, and saved the point.
Enter Alexis Carr into the play. She used Erica Selfridge’s perfect set and smacked the ball over the net, forcing the Panther player to mishit the ball out of bounds, thus crowning the Lady Bobcats as the Class D State Champs.
“It feels incredible,” said Abi Selfridge on being a state champ. “Our team worked really hard to get to this point. I can’t thank the coaching staff and my team enough for all the long hours and effort it took to get us this far. My team really stepped up our play this weekend and it definitely paid off.”
After a long day of pool play on Saturday, the Bobcats came out as the second place team of the four that were playing for the Class D Title.
Bainbridge-Guilford started out Saturday against the Argyle Scots of Section II. They split the games with the Scots, taking the first game by a close margin of 25-23. The Bobcats grabbed the game two win with a final score of 25-21. That left both teams at 1-1 going into their next games.
“I think we were all just trying to figure out where we had to be,” said head coach Tami Selfridge. “The arena itself is loud with fans cheering as there were one or two other games going on.
“We have played in a lot of high-level games against a number of high-level teams this season, but this weekend seemed to have bigger stakes. It definitely took some time to adjust.”
B-G then faced Tuxedo of Section IX, where the Bobcats straight out dominated the two games, winning 25-7 and 25-10.
Heading into the last matchup of the night for Bainbridge-Guilford in pool play, which was against the Panthers, the standings after four games were: Panama 4-0, Bainbridge-Guilford 3-1, Argyle 3-1 and Tuxedo 0-4.
If Bainbridge-Guilford won one of the two or both against Panama, they would have locked one of the top two spots, landing them in Sunday’s final match.
But the Panthers had been in the position before. Knowing what it took to get to that finals match, Panama took down the Bobcats in two close games, 25-17 and 25-21, securing themselves the first spot in the finals.
Bainbridge-Guilford had to wait for the contest between Tuxedo and Argyle, hoping that Tuxedo could snag one game, allowing the Bobcats to slide into the second spot in Sunday’s final.
Argyle grabbed wins in both games (25-18 and 26-24), forcing a tie-breaker.
The tie-breaker match is a one set match to 25, with the win-by-two rule in effect for a close match.
B-G jumped out to a quick 9-0 run before Argyle scored a point. The Bobcats never looked back as the Selfridge duo took over.
Abi Selfridge recorded one ace, eight assists, six kills and four digs during the tie-breaker match while sister Erica finished the game with six assists, four kills and seven digs as Bainbridge-Guilford took down Argyle 25-13 to advance into the finals.
“It’s very exciting,” said Erica Selfridge on winning. “We worked very hard to get there. Our fans were screaming, we were screaming. It’s all very exciting.”
After a good night’s rest and a good meal, the Bobcats returned to the arena for the best-of-five match against the Panthers.
Bainbridge-Guilford started the match on fire as they climbed to an early two set lead over Panama, winning the first set 25-10 then taking the second 25-14.
“The games were close when we played them [Panama] on Saturday and I think we were still in that adjustment period,” said coach Selfridge. “On Sunday, we had gotten good rest, hadn’t been playing all day so I think we just got down to business.
“I think we caught them off guard a little bit. I don’t think they were expecting us to be that confident on the second day.”
Panama made some adjustments in set three to take the win from the Bobcats 25-15.
But the third set was all Bobcats, as they crowned themselves after the 33 second volley for the final point.
Sunday was full team-effort. Carr finished with three aces, one block, six kills – including the final point – and 12 digs in the four sets, landing herself an All-Tournament Team nod.
Erica Selfridge was also awarded an All-Tournament Team spot, as she ended tournament play with two aces, 16 assists, one block, 11 kills and 13 digs.
Caldwell recorded four blocks, four kills and one dig while teammates Mackenzie Drown added one assist, one block and two kills, Bree Barber finished with four digs and Cuozzo ended with one ace, one assist and seven digs.
Abi Selfridge received the well-deserved Most Valuable Player award for Class D, as she posted 21 assists, one block, 15 kills and seven digs on Sunday afternoon.
Coach Selfridge reflected on how proud she is of her team.
“Last year we were Class C. This year we dropped down a class to Class D. I was fairly confident that we could take the section and I was hopeful we could get to regionals.
“To be honest, I just wanted to get to the state tournament. But then when we came into the state tournament, I just wanted to get to Sunday. Then we when we got to Sunday, I just wanted to win.
“I’m just so happy for the girls. They have worked so hard and they give up just about every Saturday during the season to go play in tournaments. Sometimes we would leave at 6:30 in the morning. That’s a huge sacrifice to make and I want their sacrifices to pay off. And winning states is just what that did.” said coach Selfridge.
The team was welcomed back into town with a police and fire truck escort, as well as a large group of community members exhibiting their pride of their high school athletes’ accomplishment.
With B-G’s Marissa Cuozzo serving to the Panama Panthers at 24-12, all Bainbridge-Guilford needed was one final point to take down the defending state champs. Panama sent the ball flying hard back over the net, hoping to finish the point to get the serve back to close the 12-point gap.
But the Bobcats’ Erica Selfridge refused as she saved her team with the first dig, keeping the point going. Teammate Zamira Caldwell tried to catch Panama off guard by tipping the ball over. However, the Panthers weren’t fooled and set up a spike as they again tried to close the point.
That’s when Abi Selfridge dove for the ball, reached her hands out for the dig, and saved the point.
Enter Alexis Carr into the play. She used Erica Selfridge’s perfect set and smacked the ball over the net, forcing the Panther player to mishit the ball out of bounds, thus crowning the Lady Bobcats as the Class D State Champs.
“It feels incredible,” said Abi Selfridge on being a state champ. “Our team worked really hard to get to this point. I can’t thank the coaching staff and my team enough for all the long hours and effort it took to get us this far. My team really stepped up our play this weekend and it definitely paid off.”
After a long day of pool play on Saturday, the Bobcats came out as the second place team of the four that were playing for the Class D Title.
Bainbridge-Guilford started out Saturday against the Argyle Scots of Section II. They split the games with the Scots, taking the first game by a close margin of 25-23. The Bobcats grabbed the game two win with a final score of 25-21. That left both teams at 1-1 going into their next games.
“I think we were all just trying to figure out where we had to be,” said head coach Tami Selfridge. “The arena itself is loud with fans cheering as there were one or two other games going on.
“We have played in a lot of high-level games against a number of high-level teams this season, but this weekend seemed to have bigger stakes. It definitely took some time to adjust.”
B-G then faced Tuxedo of Section IX, where the Bobcats straight out dominated the two games, winning 25-7 and 25-10.
Heading into the last matchup of the night for Bainbridge-Guilford in pool play, which was against the Panthers, the standings after four games were: Panama 4-0, Bainbridge-Guilford 3-1, Argyle 3-1 and Tuxedo 0-4.
If Bainbridge-Guilford won one of the two or both against Panama, they would have locked one of the top two spots, landing them in Sunday’s final match.
But the Panthers had been in the position before. Knowing what it took to get to that finals match, Panama took down the Bobcats in two close games, 25-17 and 25-21, securing themselves the first spot in the finals.
Bainbridge-Guilford had to wait for the contest between Tuxedo and Argyle, hoping that Tuxedo could snag one game, allowing the Bobcats to slide into the second spot in Sunday’s final.
Argyle grabbed wins in both games (25-18 and 26-24), forcing a tie-breaker.
The tie-breaker match is a one set match to 25, with the win-by-two rule in effect for a close match.
B-G jumped out to a quick 9-0 run before Argyle scored a point. The Bobcats never looked back as the Selfridge duo took over.
Abi Selfridge recorded one ace, eight assists, six kills and four digs during the tie-breaker match while sister Erica finished the game with six assists, four kills and seven digs as Bainbridge-Guilford took down Argyle 25-13 to advance into the finals.
“It’s very exciting,” said Erica Selfridge on winning. “We worked very hard to get there. Our fans were screaming, we were screaming. It’s all very exciting.”
After a good night’s rest and a good meal, the Bobcats returned to the arena for the best-of-five match against the Panthers.
Bainbridge-Guilford started the match on fire as they climbed to an early two set lead over Panama, winning the first set 25-10 then taking the second 25-14.
“The games were close when we played them [Panama] on Saturday and I think we were still in that adjustment period,” said coach Selfridge. “On Sunday, we had gotten good rest, hadn’t been playing all day so I think we just got down to business.
“I think we caught them off guard a little bit. I don’t think they were expecting us to be that confident on the second day.”
Panama made some adjustments in set three to take the win from the Bobcats 25-15.
But the third set was all Bobcats, as they crowned themselves after the 33 second volley for the final point.
Sunday was full team-effort. Carr finished with three aces, one block, six kills – including the final point – and 12 digs in the four sets, landing herself an All-Tournament Team nod.
Erica Selfridge was also awarded an All-Tournament Team spot, as she ended tournament play with two aces, 16 assists, one block, 11 kills and 13 digs.
Caldwell recorded four blocks, four kills and one dig while teammates Mackenzie Drown added one assist, one block and two kills, Bree Barber finished with four digs and Cuozzo ended with one ace, one assist and seven digs.
Abi Selfridge received the well-deserved Most Valuable Player award for Class D, as she posted 21 assists, one block, 15 kills and seven digs on Sunday afternoon.
Coach Selfridge reflected on how proud she is of her team.
“Last year we were Class C. This year we dropped down a class to Class D. I was fairly confident that we could take the section and I was hopeful we could get to regionals.
“To be honest, I just wanted to get to the state tournament. But then when we came into the state tournament, I just wanted to get to Sunday. Then we when we got to Sunday, I just wanted to win.
“I’m just so happy for the girls. They have worked so hard and they give up just about every Saturday during the season to go play in tournaments. Sometimes we would leave at 6:30 in the morning. That’s a huge sacrifice to make and I want their sacrifices to pay off. And winning states is just what that did.” said coach Selfridge.
The team was welcomed back into town with a police and fire truck escort, as well as a large group of community members exhibiting their pride of their high school athletes’ accomplishment.
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