Norwich recognized the six volleyball seniors prior to the start of an exciting five-set match win over Oneonta Tuesday night. Francesca Salerno, Sophie Dabbraccio, Mia Maiurano, Lexi Whaley, Chloe Winton and Sam Binelli were joined by their parents as the six were honored by head coach Shelly Alger. (Evening Sun Photo, Meagan Schulz)
NORWICH – Earlier this season, Norwich and Oneonta went the distance in the best-of-five with the Lady Tornado coming out on top after needing to the win the final two games in the Southern Tier Athletic Conference divisional match. In front of a packed gym, Norwich did the exact same Tuesday to defeat the Yellowjackets 3-2 on senior night.
With six seniors on the 2019 roster, head coach Shelly Alger, assistant coaches, the Norwich Volleyball booster club and the rest of the team honored all for their years full of dedication to the program. Lexi Whaley, Sam Binelli, Chloe Winton, Francesca Salerno, Mia Maiurano, and Sophia Dabbraccio then started on the floor for the first game of the five-set match
After a slow start to the opening set, the Lady Tornado attempted to come back but fell in the first 25-18 to the Yellowjackets.
Switching to the other side of the court, Norwich came out firing and put the opponent in a hole to climb out of. As it looked like the Purple Tornado were going to cruise to the set win, Oneonta mounted a slight comeback to pull within three points of the home team. Back-to-back points closed the second set to give the match a 1-1 score and forcing at least a fourth game.
With the same score of the first game, Oneonta took a 2-1 lead for the match and needed to win the next set to close out the road victory.
As the fans of the home Tornado looked on, Norwich wasn’t about to go down on senior night without a fight. With the 17-12 score in favor of the home team, it appeared the Yellowjackets were about to score point 13 and get the serve back on a hard spike attempt that looked like it was going to hit the ground on the Norwich side.
However, the Tornado defense volleyed the ball over the net after bodies were diving to the ground, hustling for the ball. As Oneonta wasn’t expecting the ball to come back to their side after the first hit by Norwich, the Yellowjackets began to hustle after the play but the third hit went into the net to give the point and serve back to the home team.
Norwich went on to win the fourth game 25-20, setting up the fifth and final match between the two rival schools for the second time this season.
Carrying the momentum from the fourth set win, the Lady Purple Tornado cruised to the 25-15 victory to win the match.
Megan Lindridge, Norwich’s libero (defensive player), came away with 10 digs in the match as she fielded several of Oneonta’s kill attempts to keep the rally going.
Francesca Salerno and Maddy Morris passed the ball well for Norwich as the two combined for 27 assists. Morris dished out 17 while on her senior night, Salerno set up 10 point plays for the home team.
Fellow seniors Sam Binelli and Chloe Winton came away with six and seven kills in the match while Mia Maiurano added an assist and Sophie Dabbraccio had a kill.
Lexi Whaley, a senior who was originally told she was likely to miss her final preseason on the court due to a knee injury in June, played in the match and recorded two aces, one assist, two kills and one dig.
