MAC Championship game

Unadilla Valley 3, Oxford 1

OXFORD  -  Less than four weeks ago, Oxford eked out a close four-set victory on Unadilla Valley's home court.  With the league championship on the line, the Storm flipped the script.

UV (11-2) captured the program's first-ever Midstate Athletic Conference volleyball championship winning in Oxford's home gym on Friday, 25-8, 25-18, 14-25, 25-21.

"We played an exceptionally well-rounded game tonight," said UV head coach Amanda Ruggles. "The girls came out swinging from the very start, and set the tone for an exciting match."

In the previous meeting, all four sets were decided by four points or less. In the return contest, the Storm set the tone with a dominating 25-8 first-set victory.

"The team did pretty well in the first round of the MAC championship, but UV proved to be a really tough opponent, and we couldn't pull it off," said Oxford coach Kim Martin.

Maddi Sayles and Melanie VanValen set the tone at the set with 10 kills and seven kills respectively to lead UV.

The Storm's Kate Conway and Hudson Lyons were a strong one-two punch setting up the kills totaling 13 and 10 in that order

"The whole team passed and served very well tonight, making for a clean, low-error game," Ruggles said. "The standouts were both outside hitters (Maddi Sayles and Melanie VanValen), who brought their best game like never before. It was remarkable to see this team operate so fluidly under such pressure in order to walk away with the first MAC league championship in Unadilla Valley history."

Oxford (10-2) received nine kills and 11 digs from Madalyn Barrows, and Mallory Olsen-Nichols picked up a team-high 15 assists.

Leaders:

Oxford:  Madalyn Barrows 9 kills, 2 aces, 11 digs; Anaiya Davis 4 digs, Tamera Hurlburt, 4 digs, 2 aces, Quinnlin LaMonica 3 digs, 2 blocks; Mallory Olsen-Nichols 15 assists, 5 aces; Julia Northrup 2 digs, 2 aces; Hailey Richardson 2 digs, Jadyn Ruff 2 digs, 2 kills.

Unadilla Valley:  Maddi Sayles 11 digs, 10 kills, 6 aces; Melanie VanValen 7 kills, 4 aces, 1 block; Shannon Kelly 11 digs; Bella Jones 1 block, Kate Conway 13 assists; Hudson Lyons 10 assists.