Clarence, Will East Keep the Status Quo

Both the Clarence Red Devils and the Williamsville East Flames entered and finished their respective Sectional title games at Sweet Home as the Queens of Volleyball in WNY.

The #1 Red Devils swept the #2 Lancaster Legends in the Class AA Girls Volleyball Championship game and the #2 Flames swept the #1 Grand Island Vikings in the Class A Girls Volleyball Championship, both winning their third consecutive sectional titles.

The Red Devils started the first set strong, jumping out to a 10-6 lead. Lancaster battled back to tie the set at 20, but Clarence kept their composure and ended up winning the set 26-24.

Senior captain Meghan Neelon wasn’t worried when the Red Devils fell behind at times in the first set. “We talked about it before, if we are down we’re still in the game. We never looked back and we always kept looking forward,” said Neelon.

From then on the Red Devils never looked back. Lancaster kept the second and third sets close but Alabama-commit Meghan Neelon and the Clarence Red Devils would win their third sectional title on Friday night.

“I don’t know what we would do without (Neelon),” said Clarence Head Coach Mike Meyer.

“Lancaster’s defense is probably the best in Western New York. We knew we were probably going to have to take multiple swings to get a point,” said Meyer. “I thought we showed great composure, there were points when we got down but we got up from them every time.”

“We were pretty steady. I didn’t want to get them too worked up, but we started off each of those sets a little behind and we caught up, but let it slip again towards the end,” said Lancaster Legends Head Coach Becky Edwards.

As for winning a third straight sectional title Neelon is just proud of her team. “My freshman year we were 2-10, we built this program up so much. We brought the intensity , the grit. The players have worked so hard as they’re coming up. It means so much to us that we keep advancing,” said Neelon.

Despite being the two-time defending champs, the Williamsville East Flames entered their Sectional title game as the underdog. According to junior Ally Jozwiak, the unusual spot sparked the Flames.

“We knew that we were the underdog and had nothing to lose so we went out their full force,” said Jozwiak.

The Flames got off to a very quick start, going up 5-0 in the first set. Grand Island battled back with five straight. Will East got their lead up to 17-13, but the Vikings came back again to take their first lead of the game, 19-18. Will East quickly regained the lead to win the first set 25-20.

After going back-and-forth in the beginning of the second set, the Vikings then jumped out to a 9-6 lead. The Flames, with Jozwiak on the serve for most of the set, came back to take the lead and ended up winning the set 25-22. In the third, Will East went for the kill beating the Vikings 25-14.

“They were just a little bit better in everything,” said Grand Island Head Coach Jonathan Head. “We served them a little bit tougher the second set, but in that third set we were a little slow on our blocks.”

The loss also marked the last game Head had with his senior class, which includes West Virginia-commit Lindsay Proctor.

“They put in so many hours, to make this program better. Words can’t express how grateful you are as a coach,” said Head. “Lindsay is the best player I’ve ever coached. She did whatever the team needed from her, can’t say enough good things about her.”

Williamsville East Head Coach Scott Wright was proud of his team after the game. “I couldn’t be happier for (the team)” said Wright. “When girls commit to a program, and really commit to Volleyball being their number one sport, good things can happen.”

With the wins, Clarence and Williamsville East advance to the Far West Regionals next Saturday. At this point, WNYAthletics.com does not know their opponents. The site of the games, is yet to be determined. When we have that information, we will report it.