By CHRIS BROOKS, managing editor, wellsvillesports.com
ALMOND — With a brilliant start in the water striking all chords, the toughest challenge of the season for the Lions of Wellsville had arrived on Monday in their latest road trip to Alfred-Almond.
Right out of the gate, the host Eagles made some noise with back-to-back victories against the Lions. But after they were able to take a key 200 individual medley relay win to come back within reach, Alfred-Almond went back to work by scoring the next six wins in a row to pull away for good, handing Wellsville their first defeat of the campaign with a 58-41 victory.
“We met a much bigger team tonight and suffered the team’s first loss,” Lions coach Steve Hand said. “The boys didn’t swim their best times tonight, and our first relay got out-touched at the end of the race and it just never quite turned around. There were plenty of good swims and Tyler (Rahr) just missed his high score on the board. It will be good to get a long stretch of practice, and not prepare for a meet.”
Wellsville (5-1) garnered just three first place finishes over the course of the meet — two of them individually from Ben Jordan in both halves of the meet, as he garnered his first in the 200 individual medley (2:15.63) and added his second later on, in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.47). The Lions would score one final victory at the very end of the meet in the 400 freestyle relay (4:01.88).
Alfred-Almond was led by Andrew Diestler and Owen Lawrence, as both Eagles swimmers recorded two first place finishes. Along with two relay victories, Quinn Palmer, Isabel Jusianiec and Patrick Power had an individual victory to chip in each.
Canisteo-Greenwood 54, Alfred-Almond 7
ALMOND — With a phenomenal 33-point performance against Olean now in her back pocket, Bailey Mullen picked up right where she left off over the weekend on Monday in the latest road trip for the Lady Chargers to Alfred-Almond, as she posted a game-high 22 points to pace the attack towards a 54-7 victory over the Lady Eagles to propel back above .500 on the season.
Along with another dominant outing from Mullen, who also had nine rebounds to help lead the Canisteo-Greenwood (4-3) offense once more, the Lady Chargers also saw McKenna Ferris’ best game of the season unravel across the night along with it, as she posted 16 season-high points to go with 16 rebounds, completing a double-double.
Rounding off the Lady Chargers scoring was Sidney Drouin, who posted seven points to couple with 15 more rebounds off the glass.
Alfred-Almond was paced by a two-point basket each from Maeve Turner, Alexis Kuhn and Lillie Perkins. Kaylianna Clark had the team’s last point from the free throw line.
The Lady Chargers will head out on the road for their final game before Christmas break, as they pay a visit to Campbell-Savona for a 7:15 p.m. contest on Friday.
Canisteo-Greenwood 18 14 11 11 – 54
Alfred-Almond 0 3 4 0 – 7
CANISTEO-GREENWOOD: Bailey Mullen 8 3-4 22, Lexi Winslow 0 3-6 3, McKenna Ferris 6 2-6 16, Harlie McCaffery 2 0-0 4, Sidney Drouin 3 1-4 7, Jaden May 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 9-20 54.
ALFRED-ALMOND: Noel Emerson 0 0-2 0, Kaylianna Clark 0 1-2 1, Taylor Flaitz 0 0-2 0, Maeve Turner 1 0-0 2, Alexis Kuhn 1 0-0 2, Lillie Perkins 1 0-0 2, Olivia Flaitz 0 0-2 0. Totals: 3 1-8 7.
3-point goals: C-G 5 (Mullen 3, Ferris 2).
Total Fouls: C-G 11, A-A 13. Fouled out: None.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Arkport-Canaseraga 3, Bolivar-Richburg 0
ARKPORT — In their final match before the holiday break, the Arkport-Canaseraga Wolves continued to keep pace with last year’s County Finalist Allegany-Limestone with their fifth win in their first six games on Monday, starting fast and never looking back against visiting Bolivar-Richburg to record the straight-set sweep by a 25-12, 25-20, 25-14 count in Arkport.
The Wolverines (0-6) were headlined by a five-kill night from Dustin Murray, adding in two aces and two blocks along the way. At the front of the net, Owen Unfus chipped in nine helpers to go with two aces.
As for the host Wolves, Noah Drouin paced the attack with five kills, four aces and two blocks. Curtis Hartman had four more kills, while Aydan Button recorded four aces. Arkport-Canaseraga now awaits a road trip to Friendship/Scio after the break, on January 2 at 6 p.m.
