CORNING – The journey for a third straight sectional crown came to an end Saturday afternoon for the Bobcats as top-seeded Candor defeated Bainbridge-Guilford 3-2 in an intense and exciting five-game match for the Class D Championship.
B-G battled back in both game one and game four to win their two games, ultimately forcing a deciding game five but the No. 1 Indians of Candor took the driver’s seat to start the final set and never looked back.
“Going into Saturday, I just wanted us to play a a good game,” said Bobcats’ head coach Tami Selfridge. “We were so close. we could have won that third game. It is a little rough but glad we played as good as we did. I’m already excited about what next year might bring.”
Saturday’s final Section IV Championship match of the day, Bainbridge-Guilford and Candor were the only two teams who have won back-to-back New York State Championships within the section. The Bobcats were champions in 2017 and 2018 while the Indians took home two titles in 2002 and 2003.
To start the day, Candor led a close game one at 10-8 but rallying to take back the advantage were the Bobcats as they jumped ahead 17-14. The Indians called a timeout to regroup but it did not work as Bainbridge-Guilford captured the first set 25-20.
Throughout the game, B-G made runs when they needed to shift the momentum, despite the even play from both teams – something that was evident the entire match. The Bobcats’ Selfridge slammed home a kill to end the set and give the second-seed of the Class D bracket a 1-0 match lead.
Game two started off with Candor returning to their dominate type of play, taking a 9-5 margin early. The No. 1 seed pushed the lead to 18-10 before winning the set 25-14, tying the match score at one game a piece. During the final stretch of the game two win, the Indians held B-G to just four points scored.
The Bobcats’ answered the call in the third set, gaining a three point lead early in the game and forcing Candor to take a break in the action. Out of the timeout, the Indians came out with a bit of fire to climb back into the set at 10-10.
After pushing ahead to a score of 20-16, Candor needed just five points to end game three and move one win closer to taking the championship.
Being in the situation they were in several matches before, Bainbridge-Guilford clawed their way back into the set. B-G’s Erica Selfridge and Sasha Lamoree led the charge and brought the score to a 23-23 tie.
The two teams then exchanged points, bringing the set to a win-by-two situation to determine the winner of the game. The Indians, however, gained the advantage and claimed game three with a final of 28-26 to take a 2-1 margin in the match.
Despite their backs being up against the wall, the Bobcats showed no signs of giving up and they went into the dogfight with vengeance.
Game four was the set of long rallies as neither team was ready to give in. The teams, fighting for their journey to continue, were tied several times throughout the set (10-10, 17-17 and 20-20) before B-G finished off Candor 25-23 and tying the match at 2-2.
The match’s deciding fifth game started with the Indians taking control with a four point difference in their favor. Continuing to find their rhythm, Candor pushed the lead to nine points.
The Bobcats fought back, closing the game down to six points before Candor built another small run to push the deficit back up. Bainbridge-Guilford did bring the score within five but it was the closest they were able to pull as the Indians ended the match at 25-20.
Erica Selfridge ended with 35 kills, 12 digs and two blocks while Lamoree was setting her up, coming away with 35 assists.
The Bobcats were defensively fighting off many scoring point attempts by Candor as the team combined for 83 digs over the five-game match. Bree Barber led the way with 28 and Taylor Parsons finished with 20.
Erica Selfridge had an additional 12 kills and McKenna Clark ended with 10. Clark also had six kills in the match loss.
B-G ends their season with a final regular season record of 14-1.